I recommend "No longer bodies, but pure ascetic images", chaos-rampant from Greece, 6 August 2011).
I missed the first twenty minutes of "Journey to Italy." Usually when this happens I come back to the theater another time. However, with this particular slice-of-life study of marriage, I feel comfortable discussing it.
Robert Rosselini deserves a lot of credit for making it work. Without much happening, we have to like what we are seeing and Rosselini is up to the task. We notice details; e.g., the faces of the two principals, children viewed through the window of a moving car, etc. The framing is well done. Rosselini has the right size of image on display at all times.
Ingrid Bergman's Catherine is of course, impeccable. Bergman's combination of strength and vulnerability really makes her characters come to life. Her Catherine is just another argument she is the greatest screen actress so far.
George Sanders' Alexander is written to be emotionally distant and often confusing. Sanders is convincing. However, since he always comes off as sinister (e.g., as the blackmailer in 'Rebecca'), it seems a stretch that he would be so sexless, particularly with the despairing prostitute he picks up.
'Journey To Italy' is well done, and offers very interesting cultural and historical knowledge about the Naples + Pompeii region. However, I am not anxious to catch it again. It is curious how Francois Truffaut offered up so much praise for it. I'd sooner watch most of Truffaut's catalog than this again. Also, there are dozens of films made at the same time that are simply more appealing for repeated viewing.
'Journey to Italy' describes love and marriage as filled with trials. Curiously, Rosselini gives love a chance to succeed while repeatedly informing us that the residents of Pompeii had no chance when their volcano unexpectedly erupted.
I missed the first twenty minutes of "Journey to Italy." Usually when this happens I come back to the theater another time. However, with this particular slice-of-life study of marriage, I feel comfortable discussing it.
Robert Rosselini deserves a lot of credit for making it work. Without much happening, we have to like what we are seeing and Rosselini is up to the task. We notice details; e.g., the faces of the two principals, children viewed through the window of a moving car, etc. The framing is well done. Rosselini has the right size of image on display at all times.
Ingrid Bergman's Catherine is of course, impeccable. Bergman's combination of strength and vulnerability really makes her characters come to life. Her Catherine is just another argument she is the greatest screen actress so far.
George Sanders' Alexander is written to be emotionally distant and often confusing. Sanders is convincing. However, since he always comes off as sinister (e.g., as the blackmailer in 'Rebecca'), it seems a stretch that he would be so sexless, particularly with the despairing prostitute he picks up.
'Journey To Italy' is well done, and offers very interesting cultural and historical knowledge about the Naples + Pompeii region. However, I am not anxious to catch it again. It is curious how Francois Truffaut offered up so much praise for it. I'd sooner watch most of Truffaut's catalog than this again. Also, there are dozens of films made at the same time that are simply more appealing for repeated viewing.
'Journey to Italy' describes love and marriage as filled with trials. Curiously, Rosselini gives love a chance to succeed while repeatedly informing us that the residents of Pompeii had no chance when their volcano unexpectedly erupted.