LOVE ACTUALLY: A Century Of British Romance

~1960~Two for the Road

This is a slick, entirely professional, very smooth movie.
Roger Ebert

Director

Stanley Donen

Cast

  • Audrey Hepburn
  • Albert Finney
  • Eleanor Bron
  • William Daniels
  • Gabrielle Middleton
  • Claude Dauphin
  • Nadia Gray
  • Georges Descrières
1967, 111 mins, UK
Comedy | Romance
PG

Legendary actress Audrey Hepburn plays Joanna, the wife of architect Mark Wallace (Albert Finney) in this troubling road-trip that defines the 1960s era. This experimental comedy is a deconstruction of technical tropes, utilising nonlinear structure and jump cuts romanticised by the French new wave, and director Stanley Donen’s (Funny Face) signature colours, perfect photography and snappy editing.

The couple travel on the road together to France to meet Mark’s client (Claude Dauphin). On the way, they reflect on their marriage, but discussing memories of when they met and regular road trips through France put them in a melancholic mood. As flirtation and teasing turns to tedium, they realise how difficult it is to stay passionate, and mutual infidelity threatens to tear them apart.

Two for the Road is an unprecedented classic, way ahead of its time.

 
  • NOMINATED
    • Best Writing – Academy Awards 1968
    • Best Screenplay – BAFTA Awards 1968