The story behind the story of Brief Encounter

"Brief Encounter" (David Lean, via Noel Coward) makes a lot of "best film" lists, and it's still 55 years later, very classy, classic almost, though it also feels kind of strained and stagy. Story, from a Coward play, man and woman meet at a train station, then cross paths in town, by chance (not quite - he, a doctor, pushes himself toward her it seems) they have lunch together, then begin a little flirtation, then fall in love - but each is married, with children. We know nothing of his domestic life, but she to all appearances is happily married to a sweet but rather dull man. It's clear, or seems to be, that she and the doc would be very happy - one of those horrible accidents of fate, both that they hadn't met earlier and also that they now have met when it's too late - but who knows? It's kind of easy to have fun when you're dangerously flirting with each other, playing hooky from work, going to the movies and for boat rides - in short, when you have none of the responsibilities of life, family, work, which can make the rest of your life seem drab and demanding. In other words, it wouldn't have lasted. What makes it strong is that they both seem to realize this, and they depart, never to see each other again, and return to their responsibilities and obligations - but, with a great deal of sorrow and longing. I can't be the only one to see this story, today, as a cryptic story about a repressed homosexual passion, can I? If it were to be remade today, I think it could be much more powerful if it were about two married men who fell for each other. (A brief Brokeback Mountain.) It's kind of interesting to look at 1945 Britain, the crowded streets, the old cars, the ugly heavy clothes - and the million trains. Such an unromantic setting for a romantic drama - that's what makes it powerful still, in its odd way.