Where
I found myself less than enthusiastic was with the narrative energy,
and the
spareness of detail in the storytelling—a kind of spareness that can
often work
in film where camera angles can change so starkly and the lens can fall
in love
with a face; but that onstage, because visiually you're forever at that
pulled back perspective, leave “spaces” that have to be filled by other
things; and if sufficient—and sufficiently organic—added dialogue, plot
and
characterization are not included among those things, those spaces can start to
seem padded and/or attenuated. Bear in mind, Brief Encounter is, as the title might suggest, about an illicit
affair between two married people who brush up against each other by chance.
There’s really not much story there.
I
will admit, there are those viewers, and of course many (given the production’s
success), who have fallen as in love with this staging as its hero and heroine
have with each other; but there seem to be an equal number (and I fall into
their ranks) who find themselves impatient with the space filling, and for whom
Brief Encounter isn’t brief enough. It
really depends on whether you’re able to let mood and ambience sweep you away to
a place where you don’t ponder the beats too much. The meal here consists of
style way over substance. So choose to “dine” or not accordingly…