Brief encounter

Throughout the whole of the film the main women is represented to be very emotional and weak, this is shown through her body language and her facial expressions. Also during the film there is a narration of the women speaking & telling her own story of her secret affair, this allows the audience to connect with her thoughts and feelings, also supporting the representation that women are weak and emotional. 

There are many stereotypes used In the film to show the representation of women. One being caring about their appearance, a number of times the women character is shown to be powdering her nose, looking in the mirror and doing her hair. Another stereotype used is the motherly role, the women is represented to have two children and is a house wife, she does the weekly shopping every Thursday and is a stay at home mum/ house wife, this is a common stereotype as the mother stays at home looking after the children while the father works to provide for the family. The father also says to the mother "I want my dinner" this shows that within the relationship the man is in control, another stenotype of women. 

The women character is very well dressed, smart and tidy. This shows that she is quite wealthy, this is also supported because the women is well spoken and quite posh, she also has a nice house. Meaning she is represented to have a stable/wealthy income. However this women character is shown to be smoking which challenges the stenotype of the women that would be shown smoking as in today's society you wouldn't associate a posh, wealthy women to be smoking, it would be a lower class women's stereotype. On the other hand during the time period of the film, smoking may have been a stereotype for women.

During the film another women character is shown to be the owner of the coffee shop, she is cleaning which is another stereotype of women, also a man character comes into the shop and slaps the women's bum, this supports the representation that women are sex objects for men. Two other men then come into the shop a little later and ask for alcohol, the women says no and the men are shown to be rude and aggressive, this again shows that the men have control of the relationship. 

The main women character towards the end of the film is shown to be very vulnerable, again another stereotype of women, she cannot cope with the lies and the affair that she is having, this is supported when the women says she feels like a criminal. Ones her secret partner has to leave for a new job, the women becomes very unhappy and is shown to want to kill herself, she nearly jumps I front of a train, showing a gain she is ashamed apof what she has done and cannot cope with the guilt. 

Theorists:
Gerbner- The Cultivation theory links to brief encounter because society have excepted that women are weak and venerable.
Roland Barthes- The belief that representation is a myth. This links to brief encounter because it is a myth that the affair between the two will ever work out, which is shown through the women's feelings as deep down she isn't really happy.