The Astonished Heart

This movie begins with a scene in which Barbara (Celia Johnson) rings Leonora (Margaret Leighton) to tell her that something has happened to Chris (Noël Coward). At this point, we don’t know who Chris is or what has happened, only that he has lost conciousness. The movie then flashes back a year, to when old friends Barbara and Leonora meet again after having lost contact for many years. Time has not strained their relationship it seems, and Barbara invites Leonora to her house a few days later to meet her husband. Her husband Chris, a pompous, austere psychologist, gets off to a bad start with Leonora. The two despise each other until one night when Barbara has to leave town to look after her mother. Because of this, she is unable to go to the play she had arranged to go with Leonora to. Chris reluctantly decides to go in place of Barbara, and the two hit it off and begin a relationship.