Two for the RoadOn their third identical voyage from London to the Riviera, Joanna Wallace (Audrey Hepburn) and husband Mark (Albert Finney) explore their 12-year marriage in a series of wry and illuminating flashbacks. They reminisce about the glorious beginning of their love affair, the early years of marriage and the events that led to their subsequent infidelities. As they try to understand their relationship, they must accept how they have changed if they are to rekindle their original love.Best known for light, entertaining musicals such as Singin’ in the Rain, director Stanley Donen grew more adventurous (and less successful) in the latter stages of his career, but this edgy romantic comedy from 1967 has proven to be one of Donen’s best, most enduring films. Jumping back in forth in time, the film chronicles the marital ups and downs of a stylish British couple (Albert Finney and Audrey Hepburn) as they travel on various vacations over the course of their 12-year marriage. The separate vignettes combine to form a collage of joys and pains as the young couple struggles to maintain their fading marital bliss. In this regard, the film is refreshingly sophisticated in its treatment of the difficulties of long-term commitment, and with Hepburn and Finney in the leads, great performances are drawn from the acerbic wit of Frederick Raphael’s screenplay. Fashion mavens will also marvel at Hepburn’s astonishing wardrobe of late-’60s fashion–she’s a showcase for summer couture, looking fantastic in everything from candy-striped bellbottoms to hip sunglasses and outrageously stylish hats. Some of the melodrama clashes with forced comedy (such as tiresome running gags or a cartoonish portrayal of crass American tourists), but that doesn’t stop Two for the Road from being timelessly appealing and truthful to the challenge of lasting love. –Jeff Shannon
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(out of 112 reviews)
Review by Susan Fong for Two for the Road
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“Two For the Road” is a lovely, seriocomic movie about the ups and downs of a long relationship between Joanna (played by Audrey Hepburn) and Mark (played by Albert Finney). Joanna and Mark first cross paths as students traveling across Europe. They wind up hitchhiking together and eventually falling in love.The story is told through flashbacks. We follow the couple from their early carefree infatuation through marriage, parenthood, boredom, infidelity, and finally renewal of their relationship.Along the way, there are some memorable vignettes involving Joanna and Mark vacationing with another couple Howard and Cathy Manchester (amusingly played by William Daniels and Eleanor Bron) and their daughter Ruthie Manchester. Howard and Cathy must be the most wittily neurotic twosome in movies and their daughter Ruthie is probably the most obnoxious child in movie history.The performances are uniformly excellent. The direction by Stanley Donen is stylish and sophisticated. Frederic Raphael’s screenplay is alternately romantic and cynical. And Henry Mancini’s exquisitely beautiful score is one of this fine composer’s very best. “Two For the Road” is an enormous pleasure.
Review by rctnyc for Two for the Road
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I fell in love with this movie at age 14, when it played for several months at the Plaza Theatre in NYC, where I saw it no less than three times. Although, at that age, I was a little confused by the film’s structure, in which scenes from four different stages of the marriage of Mark and Joanna, the main characters, are juxtaposed, I did understand and appreciate the film’s basic theme, that passionate love is enduring and, seemingly irrationally, can survive even the boredom that is inevitable in a long relationship. The energy and intelligence of Finney and Hepburn give this quirky little film an added vitality and render the relationship of Mark and Joanna believable and even endearing. This may be a serio-comedic film, but like serio-comedic life, it is infused with joy. I loved it in 1964,and I love it now. Everyone who is a little quirky should buy it, because it captures the essence of something special and a little off-center — whatever it is that keeps Mark and Joanna together — that will never be outdated.
Review by Daniel G. Madigan for Two for the Road
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Not one scene of Two For The Road should be missed. Way ahead of its time on marriage and the humor, drama, the sense of loss at the close make it watcahble many times over.Hepburn and Finney are so fabulous, and the rest of the cast is up to the standard set by the two magnificent leads. Can Audrey Hepburn do any wrong? Stanley Donen directed with the same genius as Singin’ In The Rain(forget Kelly), and Funny Face. This is sheer magic, but it has twists and things to say that do not fit middle class sensibilites, thank God.Buy this on DVD. You will adore it. One cannnot say enough about Two For The Road.
Review by Landon Christley for Two for the Road
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A unique film that I’ve seen many times for several different reasons. I’m aware of its flaws, but it remains special because of the story it tells and the abilities of the those involved in making it. Audrey Hepburn made a number of good films but this one and “Roman Holiday” (her first) are my favorites. Albert Finney’s work here is equalled only by his work in “Tom Jones” (early is his career.) Stanley Donen’s “Singing in the Rain” is one of the best musicals ever made, but “Two for the Road” is a unique dramatic comedy. To those who suggest this film is mainly a Vogue fashion show, I reply, “You must be remembering other films Audrey made–like the overrated ‘Funny Face’.” To those who suggest the film is hard to follow, I say, “If you pay attention to the vehicles the main characters are traveling in, the clothes they both are wearing, and what they are saying, you won’t be confused by the shifts backward and forward in time.” I’ve worked with a lot of high school students who had no problems following the story because they quickly recognized these clues. In fact, one of the reasons the film is enjoyable is because those time shifts make it easier to explore the main characters’ relationship.”I’m sorry “Two for the Road” rarely appears on TV while some of Audrey’s lesser works often do and that “Two for the Road” hasn’t made it to DVD. Those who enjoy good films should be given more opportunities to see it.
Review by for Two for the Road
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Undoubtedly Hepburn’s most accomplished performance but ironically, one of her least known films. This has been my favourite film for many years not least because of the memories it brings back of family driving holidays in France. Finney is miscast and a bit clumsy but the evocative music and sharp script lift it above such minor problems. This is Hepburn’s film, however, and she should have been Oscar nominated for this rather than her other 1967 movie, Wait Unitl Dark. For someone criticised for being a limited actress, she somehow manages to express the gamut of emotions ranging from a naive young girl to an embittered wife. She is exquisite. This movie should be watched by all hopeless romantics on a rainy Sunday afternoon. Preferably with someone you love.