Hester Collyer is the wife of an upper-class judge and a free spirit trapped in a passionless marriage. Her encounter with Freddie Page, a young, troubled former royal Air Force pilot, throws her life in turmoil, as their erotic relationship leaves her emotionally stranded and physically isolated.

Echoing Brief Encounter, Terence Davies’s gorgeous post-war romance puts British values of propriety on the line. Forget any effort to sift love from infatuation, the heights of tragedy from swooning, sordid melodrama—in Rachel Weisz’s achingly beautiful performance, they’re inextricably entwined.