'Brief encounter', a deliberate reference?

rayincumbria,

Any thoughts?

Director Todd Haynes spoke about it several times; here's one longer quote (source: http://www.indiewire.com/2015/11/todd-haynes-explains-the-cinematic-influences-that-impacted-his-carol-52091/):

[...] And then I just started to watch a lot of love stories on film and found that some of the strongest ones always put you on the side of the more vulnerable subject.

Like which movies?

Well, the first film that I thought of when I read it was "Brief Encounter." And it made a real direct impact on some changes in the structure of the story. So we repeat that same structure in "Brief Encounter" that begins and ends with the same scene. The difference is that in "Brief Encounter" you realize that this is Celia Johnson’s story. She goes home and begins to recount this experience to her husband. And you come full circle and then you realize what that conversation that was interrupted in the beginning of the film meant.

And in this case we do the same thing, but you also shift point of views by the end of "Carol," so by the time we come back, it’s no longer Therese that’s in the vulnerable position, but Carol.

He said something similar after the screening at the NYFF last October:

https://filmschoolrejects.com/8-things-we-learned-from-carol-director-todd-haynes-at-nyff-af1538885668#.fr4x3wswu

So, it's not really an inside joke, it's in fact a deliberate reference done by the director.

Oh, and someone put both scenes side by side in a clip on vimeo:

https://vimeo.com/149791810

and a bit longer on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyAP1lDk9T8

Best wishes,

janar

"Love [...] is the most incredible gift to give and to receive as a human being." - Ellen Page

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