Journey to Italy (1954)

Journey to Italy (Viaggio en Italia)
Directed by Roberto Rossellini
Written by Vitelanio Brancati and Roberto Rossellini from a novel by Colette
1954/Italy/France
Italia Films/Les Films Ariane etc.
First viewing/Hulu
#275 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Katherine Joyce: I wanted you to take a rest. It didn’t occur to me that it’d be so boring for you to be alone with me.

Alexander ‘Alex’ Joyce: What’s that got to do with it? I’m just bored because I’ve got nothing to do.[/box]

Rossellini uses vivid imagery to evoke the death of a marriage.  Somehow his script let him down.

Katherine (Ingrid Bergman) and Alex Joyce (George Sanders) have been married for eight years.  They live in England and are visiting Naples in order to sell an estate she inherited from her uncle.  They are socialites and have not been alone together like this since their marriage.  They go to the beautiful estate and instead of being able to relax are very restless.  He wants to spend his time with some of the society types he has found there and she wants to go sightseeing.

They explore their interests separately, bickering on the occasions they meet again.  They discover they are strangers.

For me the best parts of this film were the scenes of Bergman exploring Italy.  Everywhere she goes she finds death in the ancient ruins and statues.  Vesuvius and Pompeii in particular are unforgettable. Unfortunately, the ending undercuts the rest of the film.  The dubbing doesn’t help either.  Although Bergman and Sanders evidently dubbed their own voices, it made their acting seem hollow to me.