Absolutely brilliant acting on the part of the main protagonists, Streep and de Niro. I don't believe for one single moment you can find love by taking the train - I have been travelling daily for years on public transport and have never encountered anything remotely resembling what happens in the film - but films ARE made to make us dream and this film certainly does. Why, pray, if you want daily reality, then you watch a documentary.

These two characters and the actors that portray them are ideally suited to the script and film. They're both pretty reserved, shy and respect the contract of marriage, but something inexorably brings them together. You watch, thinking "this cannot last" but somehow it does. One or other of the characters takes the right initiative at the right moment. Truly unbelievable when you look at stark reality but oh boy is it fun to watch on the screen.

The same story played out by ordinary actors would be a total flop, but with Streep and De Niro, success is guaranteed right the way thru ! A must for all those who have never found true love but secretly harbour the hope of finding it one day .....................

This is a really sentimental film about how a first brief meeting, and then another few can start a bigger relationship. Starring Robert De Niro as Frank Raftis, he bumps into Meryl Streep as Molly Gilmore in a book store, and they get their wrapped books mixed up. A few months they meet each other again at the train station, and they become friends. They see each other a few more times after that, and then eventually they realise it is love, but they are both married! It is amazing how only a few meetings turns into obsession, it is obviously when bad things happen to them both, and their marriages, that you wonder if they should be together. Also starring Harvey Keitel as Ed Lasky and Edward Scissorhands' Dianne Wiest as Isabelle. Good!

"Brief Encounter" redux has Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep, both involved in satisfying marriages, crossing paths several times before meeting each other and developing their attraction. This platonic affair isn't shown to be therapeutic for the two--in fact, it's just the opposite (Streep never looks like she's having fun). The movie examines the guilt-factor in the idea of an extra-marital fling, and director Ulu Grosbard is very adept at scaling back the temperaments of his stars (their rapport is fairly smooth). Still, a sexless affair doesn't lend itself to involving, enveloping drama, and that precise lack of passion makes itself felt. "Falling in Love" is as generic as the title. Any two competent actors could have played Frank and Molly, and the coy miscues, as well as the wholly unnecessary epilogue, handicap it in the end. ** from ****