Directed by:
Roberto RosselliniCinematography:
Enzo SerafinCast:
Ingrid Bergman, George Sanders, Maria Mauban, Anna Proclemer, Paul Muller, Anthony La Penna, Natalia Ray, Jackie Frost, Bianca Maria Cerasoli (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
Among the most influential films of the postwar era, Roberto Rossellini’s Journey to Italy (Viaggio in Italia) charts the declining marriage of a couple from England (Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders) on a trip in the countryside near Naples. More than just the anatomy of a relationship, Rossellini’s masterpiece is a heartrending work of emotion and spirituality. Considered a predecessor to the existentialist works of Michelangelo Antonioni and hailed as a groundbreaking modernist work by the legendary film journal Cahiers du cinéma, Journey to Italy is a breathtaking cinematic benchmark. (Criterion)
(more)Reviews (2)
Sensitive and yet actually quite cruel. Two people who once loved each other and got married are now seeking a way to each other - or perhaps away from each other - during a trip through Italy. The excellent cast worked well, and Sanders and Bergman formed a captivating duo whose seemingly ordinary journey you believe in at first glance. But even more so, you believe in their emotions, which are truly genuine.
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The ebb and flow in the marital relationship of two characters - supplemented by the overlooked third character, the Italian people - expressed in a rather non-plot concept through precisely sensed interactions between the two English spouses and Italian culture, people, and of course, between each other. The joint arrival in Italy, the early internal and external separation where each then follows a different but essentially similar path (the husband gets rid of his cynicism and "English" seriousness = coldness, while the wife gets rid of her numbing romanticism), until they finally reunite in an embrace amidst the lazy, etc., but lively Italian procession. This ending (which was supposed to be more ambiguous according to Rossellini, although I also perceive it more as a "happy ending") is preceded by a series of scenes in which this ending is naturally prepared for us. Unfortunately, due to the brevity of the film, these "explanatory" scenes quickly follow one after another, and therefore I didn't always have a subtle existential feeling from the film, as I felt that they "only" fit into the scheme. In this regard, Antonioni is a few years ahead.
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