Two for the Road | | Cast : | Audrey Hepburn, Albert Finney | | Director : | Stanley Donen | | Studio : | | | Format : | | | Released Date : | April 27, 1967 | | DVD Released Date : | November 01, 2005 | | Language : | | | Audience Rating : | | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 31, 2005 | | Summary | More than anything else, this romance cassic belongs to its writer. | Content
 | In his lengthy preface to his published screenplay for "Two for the Road", Frederic Raphael discusses his desire to create a film in which the characters would simply "live their lives." He wanted to avoid, as much as possible, having characters that would represent anything other than a shared experience between the two. Mark and Joanna lead lives familiar to us all; they are neither tragic nor comic characters in the classic sense. Therefore, it becomes a kind of cinematic inkblot. You can take away from the film whatever you wish, depending on what you recognize about Mark, Joanna, and/or their relationship: the emotions the film evokes are linked directly in the viewer's experiences.
I found "Two for the Road" to be the best American movie of 1967, which, to me, is quite an achievement, since I consider 1967 the best year for American movies of the entire decade. Both Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney give brilliant performances, possibly Audrey's best. She is amazing in her ability to play a very young girl, a just-pregnant wife of two years, and a beginning-to-be-bored wife of five years. Helped partially by her variations in her wardrobe and hairdos, but mostly by her facial expressions, she's completely believable, lovable and totally delightful. Finney successfully manages to bring off the frequent sharp transitions from youthful student to young married to disconnected successful architect and back again. Happily, whenever the marital strife skitters closer to tragedy than comedy, Director Stanley Donen who proves himself an adroit craftsman and a supreme entertainer, takes the viewer's eye off the brawl by ushering in William Daniels and Eleanor Bron parodying a WASPish American and his shrewish wife along with their spoiled small daughter, Ruthie. In execution, it is the complex interweaving of flashbacks, a varied and subtle and lighthearted exploration of how love leads to marriage, and how love and marriage change over the years.
Mark Wallace: "What kind of people just sit in a restaurant and don't say one word to each other?"
Joanna Wallace: "Married people?"
A tremendous asset for the film is one of the most romantic scores Henry Mancini ever composed. Every mood is enhanced, whether Mancini is using a lush orchestral sound to heighten the good times in Mark and Joanna's relationship or a piano and french horn duet to deepen the despair. Mancini has called "Two for the Road" his favorite picture. "Two for the Road" won no Academy Awards in 1967. Its only Oscar nomination was for Frederic Raphael's original screenplay--and that award went (incredibly) to William Rose for "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner." Audrey was nominated, but for "Wait Until Dark" released later that same year. Belatedly saluting her portrayal of Joanna Wallace, producer Richard Zanuck and both Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton named it the best by an actress during the sixties. [filmfactsman] |
| Rating | | | Date | July 21, 2005 | | Summary | Possibly the best romance ever filmed | Content
| I first saw this film when I was a single 20-something, fell in love with it then, and find some 30 years later, as a married father, it's still one of the best treatments of love and marriage ever filmed. I've not seen anything else that's captured all the joy and anguish, betrayal and reconciliation, idealism and compromise that goes into actually making a marriage work. While the film's fractured time frame can be confusing at first, it brilliantly juxtaposes the highs and lows of the relationship and wonderfully makes the point that love is a difficult, courageous undertaking. And who would have known that "Bitch!" and "Bastard!" could be such wonderful terms of endearment. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 20, 2005 | | Summary | "How Come Mommy Called Joanna a Suburban English Nobody?" | Content
| It surprises a lot of people that I like this movie as much as I do, but not as much as me. I have owned it for 11 years now, and still find it as intriguing and heartbreaking as I do funny and thought-provoking. In this 1967 film, we see Audrey Hepburn forego the Givenchy route of glamour in favor of playing Joanna, the long-suffering mate of a selfish and conceited architect named Mark Wallace (Albert Finney). This movie is not shot in chronological order, but it shows the couple through various stages of their relationship in ways that contrast to certain scenes at different times in their unity. While this may confuse some people, all you need to know is that Audrey was young, single Joanna traveling with Mark when her hair is long. When her hair is to her shoulders and she's wearing bangs, they are newlyweds traveling with an American couple all over Europe with their horrible brat Ruthie Bell ("I thought you didn't like Joanna, daddy."). She has stylish short hair when she's expecting their daughter Caroline and they're out on their own in the MG, and she has the unflattering bob with the hairband when their marriage is at its worst and she has an affair with David in France. You know you're up-to-date when she's wearing "groovy" mod 60's styles that don't really suit her. If you look to Albert Finney's character Mark, he never really changes at all in either appearance or attitude.
You really wonder throughout the course of this film what can make a woman like Joanna stay for 12 years with a man as selfish and egotistical as Mark, and then you realize that he was that way from the very beginning. Joanna saw him in a way that he indulged for a while, regardless of the fact that she didn't like him very much at first. Also, you watch him make funny faces and utilize his charm in a way that makes you understand why she forgave his philandering. You also understand what made her decide to humiliate him with an affair of her own.
Two For the Road is a wonderful portrayal of twelve years in a British couple's marriage, but it could be anybody on this planet. There is all the humor, the romance, failure, betrayal, anger, and undying devotion so many couples encounter in even less time than that. Underneath it all is Henry Mancini's beautiful musical score to create extra magic to the screenplay that Stanley Donen has brought to effective fruition. This movie is obviously not for everyone, but I would like to point out its ostentatious merits: Nobody is perfect, and this movie makes that quite clear in spades. It all comes down to forgiving and forgetting, then onto renewal. Will this couple make it as they move to America for a few years after all they've been through already? I like to think so. Get it for yourself to draw your own conclusions. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 02, 2005 | | Summary | Adult, Non Sentimental Analysis Of Marital Breakdown | Content
| Stanley Donen's classic "Two for the Road", which chronicles the painful but also surprisingly at times quite comic breakdown of a 12 year old marriage comes as bit of a surprise after his main fame was for lavish musicals such as "Singin' in the Rain". He however handles the territory like a seasoned veteran in this vivid and perceptive examination of a love that has grown stale between a couple who have perhaps grown a little too used to each other. Framed in the unique format of a number of cross country road trips set at different times in the couples courtship, poor early years together when they have to share a vacation, and in one where the couple have a young child and affluence, these side by side vignettes ilustrate beautifully the idea of a tender love gradually growing cold with the passing of time. The two main characters in question are brought to life by a luminous Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney as the warring couple in two of their very finest performances that in the case of Audrey Hepburn in particular definately added new dimensions to her already well established screen persona.
The story opens with husband and wife Mark and Joanna Wallace (Albert Finney and Audrey Hepburn), are undertaking the latest in their series of long distance car trips from London down to the French Riviera. However unlike the previous excursions which were done for enjoyment and sightseeing this trip is solely a business arrangment to meet up with some of Mark's business collegues. This in itself shows a clear picture of the direction the Wallace's mariage has taken over the years. All is certainly not well between the by now financially prosperous couple and during the course of the trip the pair via flashbacks reflect on their twelve year old marriage focusing on the state of their marriage during the previous road trips they have taken. The earliest flashback is to when they were an in love young couple; she touring as part of a girl's choir and he a struggling architect. At this early time in their courtship with no money and having to weather extremely unsatisfactory forms of transport such as a car with a burning engine and sleeping in a drain tube the love for each other only increases between the pair who are carefree, without serious commitments and ready to take on the world. The later flashbacks of the story see Joanna and Mark as a young married couple sharing a ride down south with a boring couple Howard and Cathy Manchester (William Daniels and Eleanor Bron), and their obnoxious daughter Ruthie (Gabrielle Middleton), with all the pitfalls occuring when one has to share a vacation with others. It also gives a vivid illustration of the direction that their own marriage could gradually be taking. Over this time the initial great love between the pair begins to become jaded and even the birth of their daughter really doen't seem to bring back that old magic into the relationship. The flashbacks illustrate the growing discord growing between the pair which results in both parties indulging in infidelties in an attempt to put some spark back in their marriage. When Joanna eventually asks for a divorce Mark hesitates as this will really bring all of their problems that are best kept hidden in his belief due to his high profile business connections, out into the open. The story then ends with the couple resolving to stay together and try and make the marriage work because aside from the bitterness and infidelities hey have both experienced after 12 years together they do actually need each other and really can't imagine their lives without the other.
"Two for the Road", could never be called your typical Hollywood marital comedy and its rather adult and at times unorthodox way of telling its story without the usual Hollywood flourishes makes the story almost as timely today as it was back on it's release in 1967. The two very different screen personas of Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney combine very well here and the elements of comedy brought into the story along with the largely non sentimental ending gives the story a hefty injection of reality not often seen in these types of films. Audrey Hepburn concluded her highly successful collaboration with veteran director Stanley Donen here after teaming superbly in such efforts as "Funny Face", and especially the classic "Charade". "Two for the Road", was without a doubt their most adult piece together and it's a pity that their work as director and lead actress didn't continue into the late 60's when often more serious themes were being explored on screen. Audrey Hepburn manages to be totally convincing over the 12 year time span covered by the movie and her changing hairstyles, clothes, (she is a very different kind of fashion plate in this film compared to earlier efforts), and general attitude to life in general is a joy to witness proving what a fine mature actress she had become by this stage in her career. Despite their obnoxious screen characters William Daniels and Eleanor Bron are wonderful as the horrid tourists with the hateful little daughter who Joanna and Mark become trapped with on their middle cross country tour. The comic visit to Chantilly Chateau done in fast motion and William Daniels character's minute by minute planning of travel plans and expenses, does much to relieve the often heavy emotional business going on between Joanna and Mark. The film also benefits greatly from the exquisite on location photography done throughout France and the Riviera on the numerous road trips and it's interesting to see the gradual change in motor vehicle transportation the couple have as their material prosperity increases in direct relation to their decreasing unhappiness with their marriage and their lives in general. The continued flashbacks and then return to the present is also capably done and is very well complimented in the wonderfully candid screenplay by Frederic Raphael and by Henry Mancini's most interesting musical score which is one of his best, it being very reflective of this very "mod", late 1960's period.
Anyone expecting your typical Audrey Hepburn comedy are probably in for a bit of a surprise here with "Two for the Road", but although I do tend to prefer Audrey in her more "typical", earlier types of roles I find this timely late 1960's effort not only stimulating adult storytelling but also a real indication of the direction Audrey Hepburn's career possibly might have taken had she not left films in that year for a long break to raise her family. With no older and suitably suave leading man like Cary Grant or Gary Cooper in sight, and minus the glamourous Givency outfits that were her screen trademark, Audrey however still glows on screen and gives a well thought out performance that compliments the very different acting style of Albert Finney very well. Sensitively written marital comedies laced with human drama and emotion are a rare commodity nowadays which is why a viewing of Stanley Donen's 1967 effort "Two for the Road", is such a treat. Try and have a viewing of it soon. Highly recommended. |
| Rating | | | Date | January 21, 2005 | | Summary | fond memories | Content
| I saw this movie downtown San Antonio, Texas as a teenager and fell madly in love...again (first time as Holly Golightly) with Audrey Hepburn. She was and will remain one of our most beloved movie stars of our time. This is a wonderful classic film about 2 people most happy when they have nothing but one another. Proving once again that money cannot buy happiness in life. 5 stars for sure! |
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