The 7.39

2014
7| 0h30m| NR| en
Synopsis

Carl Matthews commutes by train to London where he works in a property management office under a boss who is pressuring him to dismiss an employee. He has a kind and supportive wife Maggie and two teenage children who he feels do not appreciate him. One morning he complains to a woman called Sally that she has taken his seat on the train. He later apologises to her and they start chatting, a relationship develops and she reveals that she is divorced but about to marry again, although scenes with her fiancée suggest she is going cold on the idea. She works at a health club and Carl joins it so that he can see more of her. They fall in love and one evening when the train is not running they spend the night together at a hotel. The second part of the drama deals with the repercussions of their affair.

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Reviews

Skunkyrate Gripping story with well-crafted characters
Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!
Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.
Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.
Reno Rangan A British television movie, splits into two parts of each 60 minutes long. From the writer of 'One Day' who once again wrote a beautiful screenplay. Portrayal of the romantic drama from the perspective of the middle-aged people. Indeed, specially made movie for them, it explores the midlife crises in the marriage and spiritless mechanical life that follows the day after the day. Now, you guys have to switch your mind to google map mode: The story told between the two points of life's map, one is where the home and the family is, dot, and the other one is an office and the job, dot. To describe it mathematically, between these points there comes a line which is practically a boring journey.The majority won't enjoy leaving home for the work, especially on the Monday morning. The bad day begins with shouting for someone who come across your car front, or fight for a seat in the train and bus. The same way this story appear to have a life where two odd people meet. Carl married with two children and Sally engaged to marry soon. So the days follow everything changes and the journey turns more cheerful than ever. Their little friendship ends in flirtation, but well realising they won't accept the truth. Can they remain good friends, or ready to face the consequences and how their families affect by this is the rest of the riddle.It just seems... Futile. After seeing the first quarter of the movie, it reminded me James Siegel's 'Derailed'. I thought I was an inch closer to predict the second part, but the story was smartly moved to the other way. An interesting story development followed further going towards the end of the first half. In the second part, everything slowdowns, but still gripping because it was a crucial stage in the storytelling to solve the puzzle that created in the earlier. Not an over melodramatic or the sexual exploration, but the point is very clear to give us a fair bit amount of everything with the realistic outlook as much possible.With the sense of awareness of our responsibility in life we know that cheating in a marriage is morally wrong, but it depends what type of life we're leading. There's nothing specialty in this film compared to other movies of the same theme, but the portrayal makes the poetic rendering. Maybe the actors were too good with the excellent chemistry. Yep, you can't just keep silent, these guys filled the souls to their characters, certainly appreciation follows after a watch. While a watch, all my thinking was on the end part, how it's going to happen. A simple and usual, but definitely a very good solution, highly satisfying, makes the overall movie is the best piece of carving. Simply wondered how this movie can't fit to be a silver- screen product.8/10
Prismark10 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.
aurora121 The 7.39 is the latest screenplay to hit the (TV) screens from the pen of David (One day) Nicholls comes across as an update or homage to Brief Encounter. The 1945 original is rightly considered a classic, written by Noel Coward and directed by David Lean it's very much a film of it's time. This was shown recently over two nights on BBC1 and follows a similar pattern with the two leads being tempted into cheating on their partners. David Morrissey is well cast as the middle management office worker married to Olivia Coleman with two teenage children. Sheridan Smith is equally effective as a personal trainer recently engaged to Sean Maguire who clearly works out.Knowing David Nicholls this won't be a "and they all lived happily ever after" ending and it isn't. But the journey is what this film is all about and it's quite a ride, with highs and lows along the way as the miss-matched pair get to know each other better.There is not much humour or nudity in the film but it's definitely an adult film with consequences for actions taken, it also works as a story much better than the film adaptation of One day did.Overall 8/10 highly recommended.
Phil Booth 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.