Best movie of this year hands down!

That was an excellent one.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Lovers meet again after they had gone separate ways years earlier when she married an older man. With the parallels to "Brief Encounter," there is little doubt that Lean was going for another success like the 1945 classic. He even has Howard again playing a man involved with a married woman, but the magic is not there. In fact, it's quite a dreary affair based on a novel by Wells of all people. Not only is the script meandering, but the story is poorly structured, with flashbacks within flashbacks. It's a shame because a good cast is wasted. Todd, whom Lean married shortly after making this film, is radiant as the woman at the center of the love triangle. Howard as the lover and Rains as the unromantic husband are both fine.

As I watched this film, I couldn't help but thinking that it looked an awful lot like BRIEF ENCOUNTER. Like this other film, Trevor Howard plays a man who is married (once again playing "the other man") but in love with someone else (Ann Todd). In addition, the music, cinematography and style all look like BRIEF ENCOUNTER. The big difference is that instead of two married strangers meeting and falling in love, this film concerns two people who were once in love and have since gone their separate ways. Now, they meet once again and the old love is rekindled--even though she is now married to another man (Claude Rains).The film is told through flashbacks. The first is when the two were both single and in love. Somehow, despite their love, they separated and went their own way. Several years later, Todd is married to Claude Rains and meets up with Howard again. They begin an affair but Rains soon finds out about it. Despite it looking like Todd will leave her husband and go with Howard, she stays. Now, almost a decade later, Todd and Howard meet by chance in Switzerland. She is still married to Rains and Howard has finally married as well. In an interesting daydream, you see Todd imagining that when they met again that Howard had told him he never married. Only if...Now in Switzerland, the two old lovers spend a lot of time together--boating, hiking and the like (though, like in the rest of the film they never get around to sleeping together). Unexpectedly, Rains arrives back at the hotel unexpectedly early to find that his wife, once again, has taken up where she left off a decade earlier. He is furious and is determined to not only divorce her once and for all, but name Howard as the co-respondent--thus ruining Howard's marriage as well.What happens next, is simply amazing and makes the film. Up until then, the film seemed to excuse or even glamorize adultery. However, in a splendid twist, Rains' character opens up emotionally AND the film's ending is simply terrific.Like BRIEF ENCOUNTER, I was at first irritated with the couple because of their selfishness. Rains seemed like a nice enough but perhaps too emotionally-controlled guy and Todd cheating on him just seemed tawdry. Had he been a monster or if the affair didn't damage others or if she had divorced Rains and later taken up with Howard, then the film would have resonated more with me. However, the last 20 minutes of the film really turned my opinion around.Exceptionally well-paced, interesting and worth seeing--I ended up liking this one much more than BRIEF ENCOUNTER. I'm glad I stuck with it.

When I saw the trailer for this 1948 film on "UTube", I was immediately struck by the similar musical format to "Brief Encounter".In the latter film, Lean wisely increased the dramatic tension by adding a classy soundtrack by selectively dubbing on Rachmaninov's 2nd piano concerto in C minor (played by Eileen Joyce).In "The Passionate Friends" he dubbed on the adagio second movement of Grieg's famous piano concerto in A minor.By casting Ann Todd as the leading lady he added more verisimilitude in the minds of the paying public who had previously seen her play a concert pianist in "The Seventh Veil (1945).As I have only seen the trailer I have graded it 7/10 which was the average universal rating of other informed reviewers many of whom have given very sagacious comments above.

THE PASSIONATE FRIENDS is a truly underrated film by David Lean. A simple story about a married couple and what happens when, over the years, the wife (Ann Todd) falls in love with another man (Trevor Howard) who eventually marries someone else. Todd must then reconcile her married life (to Claude Rains) with the realization that "romantic love" is not always the right answer.The film was quite controversial in its day because of the adultery theme, and it stands up quite well today because the film is very honest and very adult as it examines the dynamics of marriage and love. The film was retitled ONE WOMAN'S STORY for American theaters. The three stars are all superb under Lean's direction and turn in performances that allow the audience to sympathize with the characters caught in the web of love, desire, and deceit. Photographed in glistening B&W by Guy Green, the film is just gorgeous in its use of close- ups and on-location photography. Trevor Howard plays the "other man" in a straightforward way. He seems a decent sort of guy who just happens to fall in love with another man's wife. When it becomes clear that things will not work out, he moves on, marries, has children, etc. but never forgets. Claude Rains is excellent as the tolerant husband, an older man who knows his younger wife does not really love him. But after he reaches his breaking points (after the Swiss tryst) and files for divorce, he becomes a man of passionate rage.Ann Todd (Lean's wife) is superb as the conflicted wife who waivers between romantic love with Howard and sensible love with Rains. Even at age 40, Todd here is simply gorgeous and lovingly photographed in beautiful close-ups. When the divorce papers are filed and all three people are thrown into emotional turmoil, Todd realizes that the only way out is to plead with Rains to stop legal actions. In a brilliant scene, Rains rages and admits that his idea of a "sensible" marriage have been shattered because he has fallen in love with his own wife. Devastated (but not hearing the full confession) Todd decides to take drastic action as a way ofending everyone's emotional pain.Perhaps not as great as BRIEF ENCOUNTER, this film nonetheless packs a huge emotional wallop thanks to the three terrific performances. Highly recommended.