Use of light in the film ‘Brief Encounter’

The black and white film that I saw recently saw used a lot of light and shadows. Lighting was used to create bright and dark patches, which add meaning to the scene and also create the right kind of ambience to suit the mood of the scene. In a black and white film, light is used to make objects brighter or darker and thus becomes a very important agent in conveying messages and creating effects visually for the audience.

The first thing I noticed in the film was that the faces of all the main protagonists were lit, so as to draw our attention and show their expressions clearly to the viewer. This was evident from the first scene itself, where Mrs. Dolly, the Doctor, and Laura are sitting in the café at Milford station. There is bright light on all the characters faces.

There’s also use of the backlight in scenes, so as to make the characters stand out from the background, and not merge with the background especially in scenes where the clothes of the characters match the backdrop. One very good scene is when the Doctor and Laura walk down the subway, its dark and yet lit up perfectly enough to show them pass through it. Clever use of backlight and light coming through both the ends of the subway helps the scene immensely.

Also, in a lot of scenes when Laura is sitting in the train, we are shown the movement of the train not by things moving back outside her window; but by showing shadows move across the protagonists face as she sits and thinks and thoughts cross her mind. Shadows have also been used to depict moods in the film – long, dark shadows to depict broody, sad, melancholic state of mind, for e.g. in the scene where Laura is sitting in her house and thinking about her brief affair with the doctor – the mood is very gloomy and brooding. Similarly, in scenes of happiness the light is bright and without much shadows, making it bright and ‘clear’!