Brief encounter [study extract]

An extract from “Brief encounter” directed by David Lean. An ordinary suburban housewife, and a young married doctor, meet casually, fall deeply in love, but realises family ties do not permit their passion so they part. In the extract Laura and Alec spend their last day together before he goes to South Africa. They part where they met - in the station buffet. Their last moments are shattered by the arrival of a talkative friend of Laura’s. In despair she almost commits suicide but reason prevails and she returns to her husband. The extract is dominated by the heavy atmosphere of the railway station, the emotional dialogue and the climax of the suicide attempt.