Journey to Italy

Nobody is better than the Italians at tricking audiences into watching boring shit.

I consider this one as a "proto-time-image" preceding movies of Antonioni or of Marker's "La Jetée" or even "Vertigo" by using geography and architectural references as interpreters for its characters emotions, who are generally a modern and bourgeois couple in crisis. What makes this movie not a masterpiece but a decent one, is that unlike the movies I mentioned above, Rossellini doesn't think cinematically: he doesn't concentrate on the relationship between his camera and his subject.

How is this not awful? Granted, the photography and soundtrack are lovely, but the dramatic elements, script, casting...awful - I don't understand casting George Sanders in this sort of role. It deserves a lower rating, but I've been far too kind to other films.

A domestic drama, simple but realistic (except for the unconvincing ending) and well-played by Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders. It's a rocky marriage and the ebb and flow of their interactions rings true. It's somewhat Bergman-esque (Ingmar, that is). Thrown into the mix is an Italian travelogue, which is kind of nice but it's peppered with really, really obvious symbolism. I thought it was a fine movie, well-paced and never tedious, but I don't see what the big deal is.

The documentary aspects of the film are the best part, but they were too short and sporadic to really have an impact on my enjoyment of the film. Everything else is merely ok, the acting has its moments but it's also bland a lot of the time and the lip syncing is distracting. The camerawork is surprisingly amateurish, with a lot of needless cuts and some really awkward movement. The story is somewhat unfocused and the ending is mediocre.

Reminds me of how great Antonioni is. He improves on this in every possible way (except for having Ingrid Bergman)

George Sanders in this movie is every British gammon guy on holiday.

The title does not disappoint, it's a meandering trip in Italy with an unhappy marriage. So much of the film is just dedicated to going to museums, explaining the history, and it becomes less of a cinematic film and instead an atmospheric take into Italy (with historical elements being used as metaphors). It works as a travel brochure, but fails so badly at being a drama.

This had been high on my list of must-sees for almost a decade, but now that I've finally seen it, I found it to be a merely decent drama. With an incredibly weak ending. It's worth watching for some of the convincing bickering between Sanders and Bergman, but I must say that I do not understand why it's been bestowed with adulations by many.

A domestic drama, paced well and performed nicely, that convincingly portrays the cruelty and longing of its disparate couple. It also functions as a beautiful travelogue, in which the environment bears influence on a disintegrating relationship. How wonderful is Ingrid Bergman? Her reaction shots are brilliant. If there is one significant flaw, it's that the ending is so rushed as to be unearned.

it can't be a masterpiece. semi-documentary marriage drama. i've seen better ones.

The soundtrack & setting make this watchable but I'm afraid I don't see the appeal of the story or the lead performances.

Book-ended by a heavy handed, inorganic and forced opening sequence and a rushed and unbelievable closing scene this has moments of brilliance - mainly in the beautifully incorporated symbolism (for instance, the scene at the ruins where they walk out together, seemingly broken apart). The dialogue is fairly droll, and the "romanticism" in some of the poetry is uninventive, but the cynical, ill-natured mood more than makes up for it in places. Infrequently good, but worth it.

What a stinker non-film that feels like a poor mens travel guide through Naples with some uninteresting marriage drama thrown around.

A comedy of remarriage, hold the comedy. Instead, there's a cultural thickness, the couple’s troubles set within a local context, small in area but deep in time, giving rise uncannily to a series of echoes and reflections between modern problems and a world long lost yet still fertile. Often the drama seems stilted, but for this viewer the finale was far more affecting than it had any right to be – a strange effect, a bit like Katherine’s response to the unearthing of the couple in Pompeii.

I love history, so I really enjoyed the travelogue parts of this. Bergman is very good, and Sanders was a decent choice, considering he usually gets those aloof and conceited roles anyway. The ending is a real letdown, seemingly from a completely different film. There are a lot of films on the 1001 list about people falling out of love, so it's hard to see why this one was special enough to include.

Sanders is good, Bergman a powerhouse, and the travelogue aspects are good. I had some issues with the direction; Bergman explicitly says what she's thinking out loud several times (alone) when she's more than enough actress to get across these points without speaking (And she does.) Ending is the biggest flaw, as it seems rushed with no foundation The trip shows how apart they are and they are awful to each other without exception, so the ending feels totally out of nowhere and unearned.

A transitional film caught somewhat awkwardly between neo-realism and the more abstract symbolic approach of later directors like Antonioni, mixed with aspects of Hollywood melodrama. The atmospheric scenes (e.g in a museum and at Pompeii) with less dialogue are the most successful and hint at what might have been. The domestic drama, however, is stale, and Sanders gives a rather stilted performance. It has obvious virtues, but this viewer remains unconvinced of its greatness.

95.00

Rossellini filmlerinde olgunlaşma sorunu var. Bu da örneklerinden biri. Ne var ki Antonioni olgunlaşmış hallerini birkaç sene sonrasında çekmiş olacak.

Sort of a poem. The ending is a miracle. Blind man gains sight in the procession and the long dead love blooms. I don't know do I believe in miracles but I do believe in death and in death this film delivers.

Did I miss the part where Alex has any redeeming quality that Catherine would be interested in?

Star Rating: ★★★★1/2

Sad, bitter and beautiful. Could only see this getting better over time. The start of all the modern cinema I love.

That's the stuff

Bits of uninspired melodrama weigh down the more beautiful documentary aspects. It'd also be a lot better if it had ended 5-10 minutes earlier.

TSPDT #75. he's made soppy pseudo-realism and interminable costume dramas, but this is considerably better stuff from rossellini. from the outset, we're thrown into a marriage on the rocks, a phrase that takes on more than one meaning as the director explores this relationship through some of italy's history and geology. the old and the dead are constant metaphors, encapsulated by a particularly morbid scene of pompeii's excavation. unfortunately, the ending seemed like a studio hack job.

Deveras estranho ver o Sanders não sendo um canalha.

The third in a trilogy of Bergman playing a long-suffering wife, acting out her every thought and impulse. There's a try to connect history and landscapes to the emotional make-up of the characters, and good for us, because these people alone really lack any conviction in their decisions.

Rossellini surprises with an English-language film, reminiscent of Wyler's "Dodsworth". The finale in Pompeii is predictable and too easy, but otherwise it's a good movie - better than some of his earlier stuff.

Uncle Homer sounds like a great guy

Pera Müzesi: Çok iyi bir film olabilecekken, finalindeki "geçiştirme"ye bir anlam veremedim. Haydi o tarz bir şey yapacaksın diyelim, biraz daha ayakların yere bassaydı bari.

watched: 2014, 2018

Some nicely observed moments, thanks mostly to Bergman but the ending was shockingly incongruous and that took me out of the film. And don't get me started on the dubbing.

Feels like (Ingmar) Bergman, if Bergman was uninspired and amateurish. Not sure why it has the reputation it does.

It would score higher if it was not for the ending scene.

A meditation on the meaning and beauty of marriage. The film follows a married couple who have become strangers to one another, and yet something mysterious continues to draw them back toward one another. Rossellini's use of history, the natural world, and religion as opportunities for Catherine to engage "the other", while portraying the awakening of Alexander's conscience and feeling through his dealings with various women are so well-observed that the film builds to a heartfelt end.

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#87

Great, sophisticated relationship film. The link between neo-realism and nouvelle vague.

86

86

# 81

# 75