John Chard

How long are you going to resent the past? Two for the Road is directed by Stanley Donen and written by Frederic Raphael. It stars Albert Finney and Audrey Hepburn. Music is by Henry Mancini and Christopher Challis is the cinematographer. Film basically deconstructs in non-linear fashion the relationship between Joanna (Hepburn) and Mark Wallace (Finney). Set out on the road as the couple meet, go on vacation, fall out and make up, narrative is threaded over a 12 year period. Donen and Raphael have crafted a picture that takes the many emotional strands of a man and woman relationship, and lays them out bare for us all to see. It's this honest like approach, coupled with the two watchable lead actors, that really engages me personally. There's moments of fun, slapstick even, but these are always coupled to an onset of sadness or regret, making this neither comedy or drama, but a near perfect fusion of the two - or bittersweet to coin an actual word for it. Mancini's music is sweet and breezy, the title track apparently one of his personal favourites, while Challis' Panavision photography is often beautiful. There's some credibility stretching with Hepburn playing her younger self, and one on going gag is overcooked in the extreme, but Two for the Road still feels fresh and interesting to those willing to invest fully in the thematics of the human marital condition. Film also signs off with a killer bit of dialogue from the protagonists that you wont be able to forget. 8/10