Sophia Loren Archives - Brief Encounter (1974)

FOREIGN TITLES & RELEASE DATES

USA (NBC network) - November 12, 1974 - Brief Encounter - 113'

Spain -

1975 - Breve encuentro - 74' (attendance: 306,428)
Italy - March 15, 1975 - Breve incontro -
France (Paris) -

September 27, 1975 - Brève rencontre -

West Germany -

November 10, 1975 - Rüchtige Begegnung -


Australian DVD	American poster	French DVD	Spanish poster

PLOT

A woman, married with children, who lives in the suburbs of London, often goes into nearby towns for various social service activities. One day, she meets a doctor by chance in a little station; he is also married. They talk, they understand one another, and they end up falling in love. Their meetings are brief and occasional. One day he proposes that she leave everything behind and follow him to

Australia

where he has been offered a contract for a job. But the woman does not accept, and returns to her ordinary life with her husband and son, holding only the memory of a brief, but beautiful encounter.
Story from the play "Still Life" by Noel Coward.

FILMING LOCATIONS

Winchester, Brockenhurst (England)
Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath (England)

Filming dates: August through October 1974

MAIN CAST

Sophia Loren (Anna Jesson)
Richard Burton (Alec Harvey)
Jack Hedley (Graham Jesson)
Ann Firbank (Melanie Harvey)

CREDITS

Story:
from the play ‘Still Life’ by Noel Coward
Photography (Eastmancolor):
Arthur Ibbetson
Costume design:
Beatrice Dawson
Hair Stylist:
Barbara Ritchie
Makeup Artist:
Eric Allwright
Still photographer:
Norman Parkinson, Steve Wood, Tazio Secchiaroli
Production:
Cecil Clarke for Transcontinental Film Productions
Carlo Ponti for c.c. Champion

NOTES

Remake for TV of the film of the same name directed by David Lean in 1946 starring Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard.

The film was made for TV, but in Italy it was distributed through normal channels
for the big screen.

Sophia arrives in London in July and installs herself with Ines in the
Savoy Hotel's Riverside suite.

QUOTES AND REVIEWS

"Miss Loren is considerably more effective (than Burton) but her stunning beauty becomes a distinct and insuperable
handicap in a portrait of an ordinary English housewife.
John J. O'Connor, New York Times, 12 nov 1974

Updated 08/31//2009