Encounter (1945)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | encounter |
| Original title | Brief Encounter |
| Country of production | United Kingdom |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1945 |
| length | 85 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | David Lean |
| script | David Lean, Noël Coward , Anthony Havelock-Allan |
| production | Noël Coward, Anthony Havelock-Allan, Ronald Neame |
| music | Sergei Rachmaninov |
| camera | Robert Krasker |
| cut | Jack Harris |
| occupation | |
| |
Encounter (Original title: Brief Encounter ) is a British film drama by director David Lean from 1945. The play Brief Encounter ( Still Life , 1936) by Noël Coward served as a literary model . The film received a good response when it was released and is considered a classic film as well as one of David Lean's best films. The British Film Institute voted Encounter No. 2 in 1999 in the Top 100 British Films of the 20th Century.
action
England in 1938 : Laura Jesson is married with two children. The relationship with her husband, Fred, is harmonious, but is dispassionate. She is a perfectly normal housewife who goes to town once a week to do the shopping and go to the movies. On one of these weekly trips into town, she meets the doctor Alec in the waiting room of the train station. He is also married and has two children. Both decide to meet at the train station every week from now on. Soon both of them have their problems with these meetings not turning into an affair.
Laura and Alec go to cafes and the movies, always afraid of being seen by acquaintances. After several meetings they go to the apartment that belongs to a friend of Alec. But they are disturbed by the unexpected return of the acquaintance. Both realize that their relationship has no future unless they want to destroy their families. They decide to split up - to make it easier, Alec decides to take up a job offer in Johannesburg .
They meet one last time at the train station to say goodbye. But they are disturbed again, this time by Dolly, a talkative friend of Laura. Laura and Alec have no way of saying goodbye. Alec's train arrives and the doctor gets on without looking back. Laura steps on the platform when the train is gone. She plays with the idea of killing herself, but then returns to her family. Fred shows her that he has noticed her inner conflict and thanks her for coming home.
Production background
The stage play by Noël Coward on which the film is based was a one-act play that lasted about half an hour, which is why director David Lean had the plot expanded for the feature film. For example, in contrast to the stage play, he let the action take place outside the train station. The producer Anthony Havelock-Allan later said that these extensions made the effect of the film much more realistic, for example in its immersion in normal small town life. Coward's play was completely chronological, but the decision was made to incorporate a flashback for the film : In Ronald Neame's opinion , this ensured that the audience was grabbed in the first scenes. The special situation between the two main characters can be seen in these, but is not explained. The viewer gets interested in what happened between them.
Coward and David Lean had previously worked together on several films. Celia Johnson had previously starred in Coward and Lean-made In Which We Serve (1942) and Wonderful Times (1944), which is why she was offered the role. For Trevor Howard , encounter was only the third feature film of his career and brought the experienced stage actor his breakthrough as a film actor. The shooting took place in the spring of 1945. In order to protect the film crew from possible air raids, Carnforth train station in Lancashire was chosen as the main location , which was remote and therefore an unlikely target. The scenes in the train station's waiting room were shot at Denham Film Studios in Buckinghamshire.
Excerpts from Sergei Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Concerto , recorded by Eileen Joyce , are repeatedly heard in the film . This was arranged by Coward, who was otherwise little involved in the production of the film, as he appeared with Allied troops abroad. He described Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto as the only piece of music he could imagine for history.
synchronization
The German dubbed version was created in 1964 for television on behalf of ZDF.
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Laura Jesson | Celia Johnson | Marianne Kehlau |
| Dr. Alec Harvey | Trevor Howard | Sebastian Fischer |
| Albert Godby | Stanley Holloway | Günther Jerschke |
| Myrtle Bagot | Joyce Carey | Ursula Grabley |
| Fred Jesson | Cyril Raymond | Ullrich Haupt |
| Johnnie, soldier at the station | Sydney Bromley | Charles Brewer |
| Bill, soldier at the station | Edward Hodge | Klaus Höhne |
| Herminie Rolandson | Well Davey | Katharina Brauren |
| Doctor with Laura's son | Wallace Bosco | Wolfgang Engels |
Awards
The film was nominated for an Oscar in the categories of Best Director , Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Actress (Celia Johnson) . At the Cannes International Film Festival , which was first held in 1946 , the film was awarded the Grand Prix , along with other films such as The Lost Weekend and Rome, Open City . Celia Johnson won the award of the New York Film Critics Circle as Best Actress .
The British Film Institute voted Encounter No. 2 in 1999 in the Top 100 British Films of the 20th Century . In a similar survey by Time Out magazine of 150 filmmakers, Brief Encounter was ranked 12th among the best British films.
Reviews
The film-dienst described the encounter as a "sensitive intimate play with perfect coordination between sensitive action, nuanced representation and atmospheric photography". For Cinema it was a "quiet black and white melodrama about a great love without a future". According to 1001 films , encounter is "one of the most effective tear-suppressors in cinema history". The two main actors Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard are "terrific in this infinitely sad story".
literature
- Noël Coward : Short encounter. A piece in 5 scenes (original title: Still life ). German version by Martin Dongen . Bloch, Berlin approx. 1969, 67 pp.
Web links
- Encounter in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Meeting at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Joshua Klein: Encounter . In: Steven Jay Schneider (Ed.): 1001 films . Edition Olms, Zurich 2013, p. 206.
- ↑ Documentation: A Profile of 'Brief Encounter' (2000) , 3:30 minutes
- ↑ Documentation: A Profile of 'Brief Encounter' (2000) , 4:30 minutes
- ↑ Tim Masters: Brief Encounter's Margaret Barton turns 90 . In: BBC News . May 27, 2016 ( bbc.com [accessed October 25, 2018]).
- ↑ Documentation: A Profile of 'Brief Encounter' (2000) , 11:00 minutes
- ↑ encounter. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing index , accessed on June 23, 2017 .
- ^ The 100 best British films . In: Time Out London . ( timeout.com [accessed October 25, 2018]).
- ↑ encounter. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed June 23, 2017 .
- ↑ See cinema.de