Rating: 
Summary: One of My Favorite Films
Review: .
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 those involved in making it. Audrey Hepburn made a number of good films, but this film and "Roman Holiday" (her first) are my favorites. Likewise I especially enjoy Albert Finney's work here and in "Tom Jones" (early is his career). Stanley Donen's work as the director of "Singing in the Rain" made it one of the best musicals ever, and his work here made "Two for the Road" a unique dramatic comedy. Some say this film is mainly a Vogue fashion show. While I feel that is true of the overrated "Funny Face", Audrey's clothing here helps tell the story. Some say the film is hard to follow, but if you pay attention to the vehicles the main characters are traveling in, the clothes they 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.
Rating:
Summary: One of My Favorite Films
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: A must see---A must buy!
Review: The past month I have been watching every Audrey Hepburn movie available on VHS... She has always been one of my favorite actresses, and 5 years ago I realized she was my all-time favorite: she has endeared herself to me in her most well-known films such as My fair Lady, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and Roman Holiday (all of which I love). But I have also been viewing her lesser-known films, such as The Nun's Story (excellent), Children's Hour (excellent), and -- most recently -- "Two for the Road." When I first rented the movie, I had =no= idea what to expect, so at first I was a bit surprised and let down that the relationship that Hepburn's character (Joanna Wallace) has with the leading male is not all sweet and sugary such as that in Roman Holiday. In fact, the relationship she has with Albert Finney's character (Mark Wallace) is "basically volatile" -- as Wallace's friend and ex-lover points out -- and is filled with "sniping" and mutual loathing--at least by the time they have been married for ten years. However, by the time the film was over, I realized it was the most realistic movie about the vicissitudes of long-term relationships that I had ever watched and that I would be recommending this little-known film to all my friends, especially my married and divorced ones (i.e., I think one has to have been married and/or divorced to =really= appreciate the film, although other reviewers have pointed out that they were single when they first viewed it and that it made a lasting impression on them). I myself was married 2 weeks shy of 14 years (in a very volatile relationship), and to me this film is "spot on" when it comes to portraying the different phases that many long-term relationships go through: the first months of almost absolute bliss; the early, pre-child years, when the arguments that occur only presage later, more serious ones; the years when a child only adds stress to a relationship already at a breaking point; the 6th-8th year when the couple can't stand each other; [the whole 7-year itch factor]; to the 10th-12th year when the couple still cannot stand each other, only pretend to be happily married, but stay together because "it is worth it sometimes," and because they discover they need each other. As Finney's character wryly remarks: If there is one thing I really despise is an "indispensible woman." I give "Two for the Road" 4 out of 5 stars. The performance by Hepburn is extraordinary--given that she convincingly plays the same woman, Joanna Wallace, over a 12-year period, varying between a 20-something fresh youth who is "three-dimensional as it happens" -- Viewers of the film will recognize that quote -- to a thirty-something mother-with-child ("pregnant sow").
The film abounds with such wry remarks, excellent editing (making the film a bit tricky to follow, but which in turn adds to the pleasure of mulitple viewing). Other reviewers have mentioned that the scenes cut between four different "road trips" that Mark and Joanna Wallace make, but in my count there are at least five: (a) the one where they first meet and fall in love when hitchiking;
(b) the one where they are newlyweds travelling with friends of Mark (the American couple with a bratty daughter);
(c) the one where they are in the "old MG" (and eventually meet Maurice, Mark's soon-to-be all-consuming employer);
(d) the one where they are travelling together with their own daughter: on the road and in the hotel where the boiled egg doesn't arrive;
(e) the one where they are travelling without their daughter, en route to meet Maurice; the trip that starts and ends the movie; Hepburn's acting was superb, while Finney's was passable at best. His character hardly changes in appearance over the 10-12 years, and his imitation of Humphrey Bogart is weak and therefore unnecessary. Michael Caine would have been a better lead. But he does deliver his lines well if somewhat too laconically. Memorable quotes abound from this film, as in Breakfast at Tiffany's (which remains my fav of Hepburn films)... ----"We agreed before we got married we weren't going to have children," says Finney's character. ----"And before we were married, we didn't," slyly retorts Hepburns' character. The dialogue is as catchy as the editing and the acting. 4 out 5: Even though I am a huge Audrey Hepburn fan, and even though the movie is one of her best... still it is probably not (yet) in my top fifty movies of all time...well, maybe #50. (There are an awful lot of movies out there!) But I would still say that it is the most realistic film about relationships that I have seen, and certainly the most realistic film about relationships that Hepburn stars in. And "star in" she does in "Two for the Road": as in most her movies, her personality and--in this case-- her superb acting *make* the movie. She plays the gamut of absolute giddyness to the depths of grief in a very believeable and touching manner. I plan to purchase the film for multiple viewings. And it is a definite "must see" and "must have" for Hepburn fans.
Rating:
Summary: "DOESN'T THIS CAR HAVE ANY OTHER SPEED THAT 110 AND STOP?"
Review: "TWO FOR THE ROAD" is a very good movie about what happens when the fairy tale ends and the couple "lives happily ever after." The film consists of four vignettes, in- and out-of- sequence, about a stylish, economically-upwardly-mobile British couple on four different road trips on the same road through France at different stages of their relationship. The first, in their real time, is a trip as youths when they meet and fall in love. The second is as struggling newlyweds. The third is after both have had affairs. In the fourth, they have achieved financial success, but the decay in their marriage has led to a downward spiral of emotions. Instead of appearing in chronological sequence, the four vignettes are edited/spliced together, jumping from trip to trip, for contrast and to show coordinated alignment of thoughts, actions and revelations. There's beautiful rural French scenery, a lovely Henry Mancini score, brilliant dialogue, and some of the greatest 60's mod fashions ever seen on film. In one particularly pivotal scene, Audrey Hepburn storms off from the car wearing a black shiny-vinyl mod pantsuit. Walking alongside a lake, she delivers the most clarifying line in the film, "you don't give me 'everything I want'; you give me everything YOU WANT TO GIVE ME! " This line speaks volumes for all couples everywhere who have been tortured by the miscommunications, mistreatments, and misperceptions involved with trying to love another. Odd that a line that hits the nail on the head, so poignantly and seriously, comes from Audrey's character when looking like Joanne Worley on an episode of "Laugh-In" a few years later. Another laughable sequence is the one with the couple's friends' spoiled daughter. Apparently, the parents do not want to warp the child's psyche, so they allow her to run amok, claiming Audrey should "woo" her. Later, when the child throws the car keys away, won't divulge their location, and hours are spent searching a field for them, Audrey's character, Joanna, loses her patience and gets in the girl's face, privately screaming, "tell your mother where the keys are, RIGHT NOW! " Immediately, the child gives them back. When the mother asks Joanna how she got the results, Audrey replies, "I wooed her!" and walks away. Thank goodness the UNICEF people never got a look at that scene (smile). The best part of this movie is its' honest and objective look at love and life. It's not the glossed-over fantasy in which we prefer to see our screen idols, but, that's what makes the few cleverly objective, yet fun, movies, like this one, shine through.
Rating:
Summary: A rocky marriage, and a look back at a happier yesterday
Review: When Mark and Joanna Wallace see a pair of newlyweds in a car, amid a throng of rice-flinging well-wishers, the following exchange is heard. Joanna: They don't look very happy.
Mark: Why should they? They just got married. It's clear that the Wallaces' marriage has seen better days from that cynical observation. Joanna is sick of seeing her successful architect husband at the beck and call of a certain Maurice, her husband's jaded indifference and extramarital affairs. That leads to an introspective look at their past, given by a series of questions is posed. Where did it all go wrong? You haven't been happy since the day we met, have you? Why do we keep on with this farce? Is it worth it? And of course, how long is this going to go on? These also seem to reflect Hepburn's own marriage to Mel Ferrer, which would last for one more year. The series of flashbacks, told non-linearly, takes the viewer seeing how Mark and Joanna first met, their travels with another married couple, and the time when they had their first child, when Mark's preoccupation in his career rather than his family reveals the first cracks appearing in their marriage. And the film's running gag involves Mark unable to find his passport, because Joanna has taken it from him. This comes into play as the one consistent thing in their relationship, and a reminder of the past. By far, the days when Max and Joanna hitchhike across France are the happiest. Sure, they are on a strict budget, being rained on, and a temperamental MG auto, which has a destructive sendoff when it finally poops out. But they were like a couple of kids without a care in the world, having fun. "What kind of people eat without saying a word to each other?" The answer is married people, they say during their romantic period. Years later, when their marriage is on the rocks, they make the same observation, only this time it's about themselves. David, Joanna's extramarital lover, puts perspective on things when he tells her "there comes a time when one must grow, when the old things aren't amusing anymore." So what does one do when the old things include marriage or being together? Does one stick it out and become more miserable and self-denying, or does one call it a day? What's clear is that promises of never disappointing one another, that the marriage will be one of heaven, and the magic disappears once things don't become personal anymore, but driven by something else. The transitions between the different times can be differentiated in the car driven, Joanna's hairstyle, dress, and how happy Mark and Joanna are. Donen's sudden jump cuts from present to the various pasts are effective and creative. Audrey Hepburn is wonderful as usual, and there's growth in the kind of character she plays. Joanna is a variation of Anna (Roman Holiday) or Sabrina, full of fun and laughter, but she also represents a departure from those genteel characters. Scenes where it's apparent she's nude under the covers--unheard of for Audrey Hepburn, right? And her playing an adulterous woman who humiliates her husband? Albert Finney does well as Mark, and his manners of speech range from the comical Bogart-like voice during their premarital trek to a tired weariness. Two For The Road is also the last movie Hepburn did with director Stanley Donen (Funny Face, Charade). And upon a personal request from Hepburn, Henry Mancini does another winning theme song, fittingly sweet yet nostalgic. It sets a precedent for Audrey Hepburn, away from the innocent virgin roles of before. Despite this being an analysis of a marriage going sour, with moments of frustration and pain, there are moments of fun, and showing how despite changes, maybe being able to accept things as happened and moving with the future will save a rocky marriage such as the Wallaces.
Rating:
Summary: A stinging portrait of married life's ups & downs
Review: A funny, subtle, bittersweet and skillfully constructed look at one couple's courtship and sometimes-rocky marriage, as seen in a series of interwoven narratives, all during trips through France in the 1950s and '60s. Albert Finney and Audrey Hepburn portray the Wallaces, he an irascible, prickly young architect, she, his indefatigably cheery, clear-eyed wife. The dizzying, back-and-forth cross-chronological editing can be a bit disorienting, but the script is incredibly skillful, and the tart dialogue takes on an aching, painful resonance. Plus, Hepburn is such a doll. Great clothes, great old cars and outlandishly modern architecture and interior design -- a great glimpse into the Euro-American middle class of the late 'Fifties and early 'Sixties, when the world was their oyster, and love was in the air.
Rating: 
Summary: UNgroovy.
Review: O.K...here goes...I'm going to get lots of 'unhelpful' votes...but who cares? There's something vey unsexy about this movie. By 1966 Audrey was well past her sell by date. She had a very sweet, but very short era. 1966 was the height of the youth kick and old Audrey just couldn't fit in...however hard she tried and try she did, desperately. Finney's performance is wooden & what's going on with his dreadful, droney voice? I think this movie was already dated on release. It just doesn't work. Audrey's performance is so mannered and awkward and there's absolutely no chemistry between the two 'stars'. It's like watching a couple of middle aged folk, from Geneva, on a weekend visit to Swinging London, who decide to go take a look at Carnaby Street. Embarrassing!
Rating:
Summary: My favorite movie of all time ...
Review: I first saw this movie when I was twelve and it was my favorite movie then. Thirty-seven years, and a lot of life experience later, it still is. When I first saw it, I took Mark Wallace's views on marriage very much to heart and found the difference between their early relationship and their subsequent marriage disturbing. Seeing it so many years later, I found all his anti-marriage rhetoric as a young man hitchhiking through Europe very amusing. American women "...want what their grandmothers wanted. Your head stuffed and mounted on the living room wall! And if you don't like it, you can take your lovin' self elsewhere." These lines and others are delivered within the classic framework of the man dedicated to preserving his freedom, and he keeps the anti-marriage line going throughout the film. Yet his devotion to the woman he decides to spend his life with is clear. Clearly, the single most touching scene for me was when Joanna returns from her affair with Maurice's brother-in-law, and Mark says, "You humiliate me. You humiliate me and then you come back." She nods. He reaches out and pulls her to him in a strong embrace and says, "Thank God!" in the most heartfelt way. There are so many scenes that I love ... the scene in which she first tells him that she loves him and he says, "I warn you." and she says, "Don't." Did Hepburn ever look lovelier than in that scene? Or when they are lying in bed the very first time and he says, "This is completely against my principles," and it turns out he's talking about sleeping in hotels, rather than outdoors in a sleeping bag. I also like the part at the end where she says, "There'll never be anyone else in my life like you." When he asks if that's true she says, "I hope!" The most revealing part of the movie for me, as an adult, was when Mark is walking out of the restaurant with his former girlfriend, Cathy Maxwell Manchester, who tells him that Howard is the "husband" type while he, Mark is the "lover" type. I think the people who love this movie relate more to Joanna and Mark. They got together because of the intensity of their relationship. Those who hate the movie are more like Cathy and Howard. The "practical" aspects of a relationship are more important for them than the emotional ones. The message of the movie, I think, is despite the difficulties life throws you, it is ultimately more satisfying to cast your lot with the person you truly connect with.
Rating:
Summary: The most underated Audrey Hepburn movie
Review: Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney rival "Breakfast at Tiffany's" in one of the most beautiful and bittersweet loves stories. A must see for any Finney or Hepburn fan.
Rating: 
Summary: Memory Lane Is A Bumpy Road
Review: Some films from the Sixties have dated more than others. I loved this film when it first came out and for years had many pleasant memories of it. Some years ago, my English wife and I travelled across France by road from Calais to the Med and throughout the journey I had images of this film constantly re-playing in my head. So I looked forward to seeing it again after a long time. I don't know whether the times have changed that much, or I have. What once seemed witty, relevant, truthful, charming and modern now strikes me as a somewhat pretentious mess. I seem to remember more comedy than there actually is in the film. The scenes of the crumbling marriage are much too stark a contrast to the lighter tone of other scenes. Moving the storyline back and forth in time is not a problem, but the frequently uncertain tone is. Is it a comedy? A drama? A comedy/drama? A drama/comedy? Who knows? Certainly not Stanley Donen who was so much more assured directing Audrey Hepburn in Charade. Audrey is Audrey, even in the dramatic scenes. Albert Finney bounces between being a latter day Tom Jones and an upmarket Jimmy Porter. The chemistry between the two is marginal. The sequence with Eleanor Bron and William Daniels - two wonderful performers in other circumstances - now seems strained and tedious. The only saving graces are the French countryside and Henry Mancini's music (one of his best scores). Maybe someone seeing the film for the first time will enjoy it more. I remember once hearing that Meg Ryan wanted to do a re-make of Two For The Road. Lets pray to the gods of cinema that it never happens.
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