This film is currently unavailable
The Passionate Friends
David Lean’s other, lesser known film about a love triangle spent too long in Brief Encounter’s shadow, but is now regarded as a fine, gripping drama.
Director: David Lean
Overview
Adapted by Eric Ambler from an HG Wells novel, David Lean’s subtle study of emotional turmoil is a an unfairly neglected work in the director’s filmography, largely due to its perceived similarities to Brief Encounter.
Although it’s ostensibly a similar story of repressed desires, the film expands upon the earlier work’s psychological palette of desire, guilt and denial to include jealousy, betrayal and resentment. Lean deploys a sophisticated flashback structure to explore the dark corners of a romantic triangle: Mary (Ann Todd) and her rich banker husband Howard (Claude Rains), and Stephen (Trevor Howard), whom Mary knew before she married and whom she reencounters by chance while holidaying in Switzerland. Gauging the past’s inescapable influence on the present, and alert to the ambiguities of sexually charged relationships, Lean elicits fine performances from his cast (Rains is especially good) while fashioning a gripping drama that’s almost Expressionist in its intensity. Restoration supported by The David Lean Foundation.
Contains suicide referencesRelated
Barrio Boy Barrio Boy
Romance 2022 83 mins Director: Dennis Shinners
A Latino barber embarks on an erotically charged odyssey of self-discovery over one hot summer in Brooklyn.
Rafiki Rafiki
Drama 2018 83 mins Director: Wanuri Kahiu
Romantic sparks fly between the daughters of two opposing politicians in Wanuri Kahiu’s neon-bright story of forbidden love in Kenya.
Luxor Luxor
Romance 2020 86 mins Director: Zeina Durra
Andrea Riseborough stars as an aid worker processing the trauma of working on the frontline on the Jordanian-Syrian border.
About Dry Grasses About Dry Grasses
Romance 2023 198 mins Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Turkish Palme d’Or-winner Nuri Bilge Ceylan returns with an icy portrait of a teacher whose life unravels following an accusation of inappropriate behaviour.
If Beale Street Could Talk If Beale Street Could Talk
Crime 2018 119 mins Director: Barry Jenkins
Barry Jenkins follows his Oscar®-winning Moonlight with an audacious, distinctive and assured adaptation of James Baldwin’s account of love, injustice and racism in America.
Unicorns Unicorns
Drama 2023 120 mins Director: Sally El Hosaini and James Krishna Floyd
Sally El Hosaini and James Krishna Floyd have created a moving romance between an Essex mechanic and a South Asian drag queen.
Great Expectations Great Expectations
Drama 1947 118 mins Director: David Lean
The first of David Lean’s two Dickens adaptations is one of the finest British literary interpretations and one of the most acclaimed of all British films.
Oliver Twist Oliver Twist
Period drama 1948 116 mins Director: David Lean
Arguably the essential Dickens adaptation, David Lean’s evocative portrayal of Victorian London in sooty black and white features Alec Guinness as a memorably sinister Fagin.
A New Kind of Wilderness A New Kind of Wilderness
Documentary 2023 84 mins Director: Silje Evensmo Jacobsen
A tragedy shatters the idyllic world of a family living off-grid in the Norwegian wilderness.
Riefenstahl Riefenstahl
Documentary 2024 115 mins Director: Andreas Veiel
Captivating insight into the controversial filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, who became world-famous for her Nazi propaganda.
Blue Road: The Edna O'Brien Story Blue Road: The Edna O'Brien Story
Documentary 2025 100 mins Director: Sinéad O'Shea
A candid portrait of a literary sensation that’s as enchanting as O’Brien’s wonderful novels.
The Penguin Lessons The Penguin Lessons
Drama 2025 112 mins Director: Peter Cattaneo
Steve Coogan is superb as a disillusioned teacher whose life is turned upside-down when he rescues a penguin in turbulent 1970s Argentina.
Cloud Cloud
Drama 2024 124 mins Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
An online scam leads to deadly consequences in Kurosawa Kiyoshi’s chilling tech thriller.
La Cocina La Cocina
Drama 2024 139 mins Director: Alonso Ruizpalacios
Tensions rise in a frenzied New York diner, in this loose reworking of Arnold Wesker’s 1957 play.