Two for the Road
Directed by Stanley Donen
Written by Fredric Raphael
1967/USA
Stanley Donen Films
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Mark Wallace: Just because you use a silencer doesn’t mean you’re not a sniper.[/box]
Two gorgeous people falling in and out of love in the South of France. How could you lose?
The story explores the ups and downs of Mark (Albert Finney) and Joanna’s (Audrey Hepburn) 10-year romance and marriage in a non-linear fashion. The Wallaces vacation every year, usually by car, in the South of France.
They fall in love, marry, bicker, and look about to break up but not necessarily in that order. The more money they have, the rockier their marriage gets.
I’ve been waiting a long time to finally see this and came out of it a bit disappointed. I had expected something far edgier and ahead-of-its-time. Maybe it seemed more that way in 1967. Certainly Hepburn had never appeared in something with this much sex and cussing.
However, Albert Finney attempts an American accent that got on my last nerve. It resembles no known dialect. Then he goes for some Humphrey Bogart impressions and gets even worse. I found this a terrible distraction. Of course you do get Finney and Hepburn in their prime, the scenery, and Henry Mancini’s own personal favorite score.
Oscar-nominated for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen.
