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Rating:  -
I saw this movie when it first came out as I was a huge fan of both Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney. I remember loving it and was happy to find the DVD on the shelf of my local library this week. It's interesting to me to see how I react to films that I loved long ago. Some hold up in my mind, some surpass my memories and some disappoint. I'm sorry that this film falls into the latter category.
It's still wonderful in its way---one of the last of the genre of romance films starring big named actors, set in glamourous locals....often in the south of France. I enjoyed them all. This rather combines the best of those films with the realistic seriousness that became popular soon after. This isn't just a "boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, fall out of love and fall back in love" story. We see the details which are painfully familiar to almost anyone who has ever been in love.
Still we get the lush scenery of bucolic France while it was still the perfect setting for any love affair. The music by Henry Mancini brings back the whole feeling of the time. So there is plenty of pleasure for eye and ear. Hepburn is sensationally beautiful and wears all of the costumes of the 12 year period the film spans with great style. It's fun just to see what she's going to wear next. We see the variety of modes of transportation, starting with Hepburn and her choir in an old VW bus, and Finney on the back of a tractor, and progressing through a series of cars as their prosperity increases. There are scenes on the Mediterranean and in sumptuous villas, charming little hotels and luxurious bigger hotels. It's a terrific travelog cum story.
The story has its ups and downs like any marriage and it's a good thing that it is played out against such a gorgeous background and stars such attractive people, because it is a little wearing, frankly. He is selfish, she is selfish. He pays more attention to his work than his family. She nags him. He has an affair. She has an affair -- the common stuff you can read about in any Ann Landers column. But these are movie stars and we are supposed to care about them. I was impressed by all the surface beauty back in '67; today I forgot about these characters five minutes after the show was over. There's a lot of talent involved but I think the movie's value is of a charming, colorful period piece.
Rating:  -
An unconventional portrayal of the life of a married couple Joanna and Mark Wallace, this movie gives us a glimpse of what "being married" is all about. One of Audrey's greatest performance, TFTR is one of the most underrated movies in Hollywood. The music of Henry Mancini adds to the charm of the film together with the meticulous direction of Stanley Donen.
Highly recommended!
Rating: -
this is a very interesting movie. it tells the story of Hepburn's and Finney's relationship and marriage simultaneously; the past and the future. so, one minute they're showing their relationship when it was fresh, and happy, and then after 5-10 mins it cuts to their married life where things have changed. but it's not confusing or anything, the past and future scenes all relate to each other. like if they're in a restaurant when they were just dating, it will cut to a restaurant scene when they're married. the whole point of the movie is to show how time and married life changes a relationship. what i found intriguing was the way the camera cuts back and forth to tell the story. they really did a good job with that! i also enjoyed this because of the beautiful sights; they are in France and the scenery is so beautiful (the beaches, restaurants). And Albert Finney is about the most handsome man i've ever seen! so handsome!! i'm happy i watched this movie to have discovered him. audrey is still pretty but you can see she's aged and older. she's lost that youthful look. and she's very thin in this. i think she's too skinny. the stunning jacqueline bisset has a little role in it. you have to see her close-ups; that woman is just beautiful! i higly reccomend anyone to watch this movie. it's not groundbreaking or Oscar worthy (in my opinion; though it went on to win an Oscar), but it's a great movie to curl up and watch; entertaining, enjoyable and educates at the same time.
Rating: -
This smart, knowing romance projects director Donen's signature style, with Hepburn the essence of sixties chic, and Finney (in his prime) the epitome of a salty, rugged leading man. European locales and a memorable Henry Mancini score add the requisite zing to this mature, nuanced love story. William Daniels and Eleanor Bron are also memorable as another married couple who cause Joanna and Mark to examine the state of their own union.
Rating: -
1967 marked the end of Audrey Hepburn's continuous reign as a major film star. After this her cinema appearances would be sporadic and in vehicles of uneven quality. She certainly went out with a bang, giving two topnotch performances in films that year, of which "Two for the Road" is one ("Wait Until Dark" is the other).
The lush photography of the French countryside and equally lush score by Henry Mancini link this film with other glossy Hepburn vehicles such as "Charade," but Stanley Donen's film of a Frederic Raphael screenplay is a surprisingly acerbic and unsparing take on marriage. Mark Wallace (Albert Finney), an architect, and his wife Joanna (Hepburn) arrive in France, called to a project by his demanding boss. Their twelve-year union is obviously not in the best of shape, and as they travel toward their destination scenes from previous journeys they have taken together as a couple are intercut in alternately amusing, ironic and poignant flashbacks. The fluid time structure of the film remains remarkably fresh, and Hepburn rises to the demands of playing a woman at multiple ages and stages of life with ease, giving one of her finest and subtly shaded film performances, though a viewer with a heart of stone would have to admit she looks too mature for the earliest scenes in which she is supposed to be a college co-ed. Finney by comparison is one-note and overbearing early on, though he settles down as the film progresses, or perhaps the grating persona is deliberately imposed by the actor. At any rate the chemistry between him and Hepburn is obvious and adds to the credibility of the story; reports of an on-set romance seem entirely plausible.
Not all of "Two for the Road" has aged equally well--the attempts at outright comedy, such as a running gag involving a lost passport, are now strained and a sequence with a smug American couple and their monster of a daughter descends into caricature. But as a gritty portrait of a long-term relationship and the compromises one must make, it holds up well against many successors. It must be said in closing, too, that Hepburn wears her frequently outlandish fashions with enviable ease. Highly recommended.
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