brief encounter on broadway and netflix

One of my favorite films of all time, Brief Encounter, has been adapted for the stage, and is in previews on Broadway right now.  I saw it over the weekend with my good friend Colleen.

Unfortunately, seeing a new show on Broadway doesn't get me any closer to completing an item on my list (unless it's playing at a particular theater, which might help with #31, but I've already seen many things at Studio 54 where Brief Encounter is currently playing).

Watching movies on DVD, cable or streaming, however, is on my list.  So, when my friend Caren mentioned that she hadn't yet seen the film, I invited her over for a movie slumber party.  Fortunately, the film is streaming on Netflix, and we've got a big screen tv that knows how to have secks with the internet!

The film of Brief Encounter is based on a Noël Coward one-Act play called Still Life.  Set during World War II, it's about a woman named Claire, and how her suburban marriage is up-ended when she unexpectedly falls in love with Alec, a physician.  Alec and Claire meet each other on Thursdays for several weeks, as it slowly becomes clear that the furtive nature of their affair is untenable.

I think one of the reasons I love this film so much is because of the performances by Trevor Howard and especially Celia Johnson.  At one point in the film, Trevor Howard's character is talking about his job, as a physician, and while he's speaking, you can see on Celia Johnson's face that her character falls in love with him at that precise moment.  She doesn't say anything, but you watch it as it happens.  It's just stunning.

I was concerned that the stage production (particularly in a big Broadway house) wouldn't have the same emotional core that the film has.  So much of what happens in the emotional lives of the characters isn't articulated in clunky dialogue.  The genius of the film, to me, is not about quotable lines or brilliant zingers (shocking, given Noël Coward's involvement, right?).  Instead, I love the subtlety of the performances, and how when certain things are said, it's clear that many more, very specific things are not said.

I'm happy to say that my fears about the stage production not living up to the film were largely unfounded.  As theater goes, Brief Encounter is simply terrific.  At first, I was a bit put-off by the musical interludes, and the overly-broad comic bits from the supporting cast.  The staging is inventive, as well, so at times, it was a bit like the recent Broadway production of 39 Steps.  But the Broadway outing of Brief Encounter, doesn't lose the emotional core of the characters' dilemma.  Hannah Yelland, who plays Claire, communicates those same complex emotions with few words, and the quiet despair registers on her face--even all the way up in the mezzanine, where I was sitting.  Tristan Sturrock plays Alec.  Because of his focused performance, the character reads as less of a cypher than Alec does in the film.  The way Sturrock plays the character is sexy and charming, and it's clear that Alec is just as anguished as Claire is.

I love this movie, and I loved this play.  If you haven't yet seen the film of Brief Encounter, buy yourself a Roku box and stream it today.  And, if you can get yourself to New York, make your way to Studio 54 to see this play before it's gone.  Because you love my blog and you do everything I tell you to do, that's why.