Review of Two for the Road (1967) by Edith N — 13 Dec 2006

It's not just that I have a hard time telling where in the storyline certain bits take place, though that is certainly part of it. It's not just that I don't understand the couple's relationship, though that's true as well. It just feels sordid. It feels forced, too.

Oh, Audrey Hepburn is lovely; when is she not? But even at the beginning, when she's supposed to be young and innocent, she feels hard. And I never do like Albert Finney's character in the slightest.

I don't understand why any of these characters are doing what they do. Who in Gods' names think, "Hmm. I'll go for a three-week trip across Europe with my ex-lover and their spouse?" Oh, not to mention that ex-girlfriend's hideous little child. My mother would've left me by the side of the road if I'd tried that level of crap.

I don't understand why Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney get married. I [i]do[/i] understand, vividly, why they plan to get divorced; I don't understand why they decide against it. I don't understand where they tuck their kid for a quarter of the picture. I realize she hasn't been born yet for most of it, but where is she while they're at the villa during what I assume to be the recent stuff?

Oh, it was funny, and not without its own perverse charm, but I'm yet confused by it. And, oh, I hated most of Audrey Hepburn's costumes.