Two for the Road

18.00 Cinema Arlecchino, Bologna, 26 June 2010
TWO FOR THE ROAD / Peukalokyydillä vihille / Två på vift (Due per la strada, GB 1967) PC: Stanley Donen Films. P+D: Stanley Donen. SC: Frederick Raphael. DP: Christopher Challis. M: Henry Mancini. With Audrey Hepburn (Joanna Wallace), Albert Finney (Mark Wallace). 111 min. From: Twentieth Century Fox.
Presenta Stanley Donen
E-subtitles in Italian by Sub-Ti

Two for the Road is a cult movie in the true sense of the word. I had never seen it before, but I can understand very well that there is a cult. This is a one-of-a-kind film full of invention. It is a comedy of modern relationships, a road movie like Rossellini's Voyage to Italy but in comedy mode. Audrey Hepburn is delightful but I don't care about Albert Finney's character.

In a good comedy there is in my opinion always also a perspective of profound sorrow (qf. It's Always Fair Weather) but I found none in this film. To my taste Stanley Donen also tries here too hard to be clever. Less would be more.

But this was the first impression, and I look forward to see Two for the Road again soon.

The print was ok, the quality of the image variable.