The 7:39 (2014)

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

How many ways are there to depict infidelity, on screen or on the page? Or romantic love, for that matter? Sometimes it seems that all possible shades of both have been covered, and repeated ad nauseum. Then there comes something like 'The 7.39', and one realizes the same old story can indeed be told in yet another way, which is both entertaining and insightful. Two commuters - 'everyman' and 'everywoman' - are attracted to each other; the first part focuses on them and the tension is built up really effectively. The second part takes us through the repercussions of their actions, not in a moralistic way, but in a way that one feels sympathy for ALL the characters. The resolution is unexpected -- I couldn't predict till the last minute how it was all going to end. To take a theme/plot that has been told a million times before, and then to tell in a way that the viewer holds her breath, eagerly anticipating the next turn in the course of events: that's the art of storytelling at its best. This has been compared to the great film 'Brief Encounter'; both deal with the very human theme of temptation, but I think 'The 7.39' also tells us something about the dilemma of the modern man/woman: is life any less complicated when the rules are relaxed?

The 7:39 was shown over two nights and is a modern reworking of Brief Encounter which is was itself was re-jigged in 1984 as 'Falling in Love' and starred Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep.David Morrissey and Sheridan Smith meet during an early commute to London where they argue over a seat but in subsequent encounters during the morning rush hour form a friendship and later have a steamy affair.David Morrissey is the middle aged, middle management worker in commercial property with a horrible boss, hating the daily grind of going and coming back from work. He is married to Olivia Coleman, has two teenage children, one about to go to university and finds that for the first time in years he has a buzz and a spring in his step.Sheridan Smith is a personal trainer engaged to get married but unsure as to whether to commit and this affair with an older man seems to provide a pleasant diversion.Of course we have the predictable consequences with Morrissey not performing in his job effectively and getting fired, Coleman finding out about the affair and finally being confronted by Smith's boyfriend.An enjoyable drama, light on its feed, not heavy handed. The work place scenes were so true to life with the actor playing Morrissey's boss nailing the part of the slimy, douche-bag.Just a shame the serial was bit by the numbers.

This is a drama about two people who have a chance meeting on a train. Both are with other people and seemingly happy but the attraction between them is too strong to resist. It follows their relationship from the platonic to the inevitable fallout from the decisions they take. In other hands this could have been a corny and cheesy mess however a brilliant cast and good direction means this is nothing but a success. It moves along at a good pace and never gets boring. I also liked the fact that it didn't paint the adulterers as awful people just normal people in a difficult situation.The main cast are all top rate actors and they don't disappoint. David Morrissey is great as the guilty husband, the fantastic Sheridan Smith is beguiling as the younger woman and Olivia Colman superb as the spurned wife. The 7.39 is a very good drama and well worth watching.

I posted the below on the boards, but it reads more like a review so here it is:I agree with Jenny and Steph, I've actually signed up to these forums just to comment on the 7.39. I'm a 31 year old manchild who rarely watches any kind of Drama and would usually at this time be playing a computer game, but after seeing Part 1 day before yesterday I had to watch part 2 on iPlayer, the interactions were intense! While I also agree with the OP that some of the situations were a bit contrived, I didn't feel any of the story 'vehicles' were egregiously out of place or overly convenient for the story being told in the format presented. With the chemistry, the initial 'lust' and 'before the act' did not seem to come through, although I like to think of it as 2 people nervously 'playing' with the idea of it and then taking the plunge much to their own surprise rather than a premeditated slow-burn; it was better done, as a tantalising game of cat and mouse, that and the fear that either Sally or Carl had 'read' things incorrectly and the whole testing the water sentiment, it would perhaps be that the chemistry was purposefully muted to show a more realistic outward picture of fear, excitement, almost taboo thought-crime, where all the lust and mental imagery was inside the characters heads before the 'release' of their first time together; showing the same kind of emotions and interactions as I am sure some of us would have felt and acted as young school kids approaching their first girlfriend or boyfriend, the whole angle of being young and lost and in new territory, as both Carl and Sally were within the idea that blossomed into the act of adultery. I thought Carl was a bit forward with the 'I think we need to acknowledge what is going on here' line when there didn't seem much more than shared flirting, but can fully accept it when thinking of how it would look to us as the voyeur viewer. The Chemistry 'showed' for the first time after they had done the deed, and only seemed to deepen with each meeting. The familiar tenderness of 'pillow talk' and opening up to each other emotionally AFTER opening up physically, I thought the chemistry was fantastic and the time they spent together, touching, call me soft but there was moisture forming at the corners of my eyes throughout that, from the pillow talk to the standing in the rain, hairs on the back of my neck standing up, and personally, some familiar territory. It seemed to fall away as you would expect as Carl's life began falling apart, it probably makes me a bad person, but I would've preferred that they ran off and lived in the seaside cottage together, giving Sally the change she wanted without the extremity of Australia and Carl the feeling of love he wanted. Throwing off the shackles of having too much to lose and responsibility. I thought the scene where they were both lying in the bed in the cottage played a fantastic parallel to Carl's life at home with Maggie, and the future would lead to the same situation should they have run off together, the certain sad inevitability of taking each other for granted and the way relationships change phases over time, for such a short scene it conveyed that amazingly well. There was a problem with Olivia Coleman's character... she was not given enough dialogue or air time, I'm no particular fan of her's but I thought she was brilliantly cast, I suppose the sparseness of 'family dialogue' showed the rut or familiarity those that have been in any kind of long, staid relationship will find familiar, and did depict well a perfectly good family life otherwise. I thought Ryan was quite a one-dimensional character, made out to be the monster and some kind of idiot neurotic tool that reminded me too much of the character 'Christian' from Eastenders. I thought he could have used a bit more softening to make him seem like someone that an intelligent, sharp, beautiful woman (who was exemplified by Sheridan Smith who has gone a LOOONG way from 'A pint of a lager and 2 packets of crisps' fame and also the last film I saw at the cinema in a long time... The Harry Hill Movie... which was actually bad despite being a Harry Hill fan), would actually even consider husband material. Sorry about the wall of text, but I felt compelled, the reason why I think the 7.39 is so great, despite being a well-worn story, is that it actually reminded me of what it was like to be in love, to be out of control, to have my brain swirl around in the intoxicating dizziness of losing control and not caring, it reminded me of past break-ups and the feeling of guilt of the time we spent together being wasted for her. I felt bliss, sadness, empathy, sympathy, guilt, fear, and being lost, all from watching a BBC 2 part drama. It's absolutely brilliant, and I want to see more.