Carnforth Accommodation

'If we control ourselves and behave like sensible human beings, there's still time''.

Celia Johnson as Laura Jesson. Her narrative voice is riddled with guilt and told in confessional

Heritage plaque at Carnforth Station - actually the film was made in 1945!

There go me Banburys all over the floor'. The reconstructed cafe at Carnforth Station.

Brief Encounter and Carnforth Station Visitors Centre Lancashire Celia Johnson Gay Film

"Forbidden love in ordinary lives, says Richard Dyer, '' makes (Brief Encounter) an obvious appeal to gay readers, as do fear of discovery and settling for respectability''. (Richard Dyer, BFI Classics, Brief Encounter, 1993) Dyer draws attention to the fact that the film feels 'gay' to himself and others because it was made with gay feeling, infused by it's writer Noel Coward. Brief Encounter (1945), filmed largely here at Carnforth Station, now restored into a visitors' centre, tells the story of Laura's illicit love for doctor Alec Harvey. The narrative, as Dyer suggests, is told by Laura (Celia Johnson). It all started 'just through me getting a little piece of grit in my eye', at Milford Junction station (aka Carnforth Station). Alec obligingly removes the grit, and accompanied by the lone playing of Rachmaninov's second piano concerto by soloist Eileen Joyce, Laura tells her story silently and in confessional / guilt ridden tone in flashback to 'ultra ordinary' husband Fred - bastion of patriarchal authority. "

'If Brief Encounter feels gay to me and many other gay people that I know, it is because it was made with gay feeling''. (Richard Dyer, 1993) Brief Encounter has captured the imagination of audiences, gay and straight for many years. The intensity of feeling, the oppression of a patriarchal society which dumbs down passion - this film still continues to connect, whilst commenting simultaneously on the everyday goings on of small town England (this British film reminds of a time when British cinema presented 'a pretty narrow idea of Englishness, a white one, and facile class distinctions - note Myrtle Bagot, the buffet manageresses' - a figure of fun to Laura (Celia Johnson), and denotations of middle class life with times for dinner and servants - British cinema still focuses on middle class characters and live, Hugh Grant comes to mind!). Well worth taking a look at the film, and Richard Dyer's book, before visiting the now splendid reconstruction of Milford Junction station caf� and the accompanying visitors centre, where in one room the film is constantly showing. Find Carnforth Hotels Find Carnforth Accommodation Back to Blackpool Coast Tourist Information

The Weight of Patriarchal Disapproval and 'English' Restraint - Listening to Laura Jesson's Voice

Do you notice in the film, Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson) likes to read, mostly Kate O'Brien's books, which were historical novels mostly and novels which often concluded that romance and marriage don't go together - akin to the message in 'Brief Encounter'. As Laura's voice struggles to be heard within the overt masculinist framework, the emotional pain of restraint in an effort to conform is perhaps the crux of continuing connection with contemporary audiences.

Does middle-class Laura ever really stand a chance in a post-war society which demanded conformity to patriarchal authority - that authoritative patriarchal voice is everywhere in the film. Fred, her husband, the Clergyman on the train, the policeman near the war memorial, and even Alec the potential lover speaks for Laura. But somehow, as Dyer suggests, we the audience are invited in as Laura's confidante and we do hear her voice as she internalises male authority, whilst recognising it and - go girl you have that cigarette in the street if you want to!

Despite the film's resolute deposit of Laura back into conformity it seems that along the way age old issues about the release of passion, emotion and desire are explored and as relevant today as then. It's a rich text, excellently explored by Richard Dyer (see 'Brief Encounter', BFI Classics, 1993).

Loving Against the Grain - Middle Class Repression and Working Class Independence

'You must help me to be sensible'', says Laura to Alec. As they struggle to repress their desire, Beryl and boyfriend Stanley run past them giggling, superior in not sharing their repression. Although working class characters like Myrtle and her Banburys, Albert (beloved music hall star Stanley Holloway, and Beryl - Myrtle's cafe assistant are seen as figures of fun by Laura and Alec, their contrast is marked and noted by Dyer in his book. Myrtle, who supports herself through her job, can and did leave her husband, Beryl shares none of Laura and Alec's repression of desire and longs to be free from the cafe to see boyfriend Standley. Albert banters with Myrtle, but Myrtle can handle it.

The equation it seems that Laura is drawing through her narrative is that marriage - her marriage - and passion do not go hand in hand in middle class ranks. She doesn't want to hurt anyone, particularly husband Fred, she can't bear what others are thinking, she can't stand the guilt - the emotion leads her to an attempt at suicide. It's a film that can seem to be read on many levels, with differing interpretations - the gay feeling that Dyer writes of, and generally of the struggle between romance and everyday life. The repression of emotion - is this Britishness?? Well, 'white' middle class English culture perhaps?

If you haven't discovered 'Brief Encounter' yet - get it, watch it, and relive the brief encounter at Milford Junction's dark corners, billowing steam and the clock at Carnforth Station visitor centre.

Camping it up at Carnforth - 'There Aren't Any Pantomimes in June'.

'I have presented the presence of Brief Encounter in gay discourse in a campy way, but this is itself a characteristically gay way of handling powerfully emotional material''. (Dyer, 1993)

You've got to 'camp it up' at Carnforth - the only thing that's missing is the Rachmaninov second piano concerto music over a loud speaker on the station - has anyone thought of this??? 'My dear, I've been shopping till I'm dropping' says Dolly Messiter, 'There go me Banburys all over the floor' says Myrtle, love those lines.

As Dyer (1993) reminds, 'Laura's home is in her closet'. He also reminds that it is 'necessary to say that not all homosexual men participate in gay culture', and that it is the subject matter of forbidden love in ordinary lives and fear of discovery and 'settling for respectability' that is the crux of appeal in 'Brief Encounter' for gay readers.

Restoring Carnforth Station - it's been a struggle, but 'I'll be Seeing you later Mr Godby'

It's been a struggle to restore the station, and mark it as a heritage site. Lottery funding has not been forthcoming, so the project is largely backed by private investment. With the worldwide cult following of the film 'Brief Encounter' and the potential to attract large numbers of visitors (it was packed when I was there just after the opening in October 2003) lack of funding seems unusual. Still it's been managed. The website doesn't seem to be quite up and running - but keep checking back at www.carnforth-station.co.uk

The appeal of the visitor's centre is that although it donates a large part of it's space to the famous David Lean film, shot here, it also explores the social history of Carnforth residents, as well as the railway itself. Carnforth Station sits on an important railway linking spot. In 1846 the Lancaster & Carlisle Railway was opened and a small station was built very near the site of the present Carnforth Station. In 1857 the Furness Railway was opened and Carnforth was a main terminus linking Barrow and the Furness Peninsula with the main West Coast London to Scotland route. A partnership between the Midland Railway and Furness Railway Companies then resulted in the opening of the railway line in Wennington in 1886 which linked Carnforth with the Midland Railway to Settle and Leeds.

Railway life and the stories of those who worked in the station is explored in the many exhibitions in the Visitors Centre with some fascinating photographs! There's a rather stilted letter from Celia Johnson also on display, outlining her thanks and thoughts on the workers at Carnforth Station - all jolly wot wot stuff!

''I can't look at you now because I know something. That this is the beginning of the end''. Melodrama incarnate! www.irvinetaylor.co.uk/specproj/cforth/cforthproj.htm

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