Journey to Italy

Director: Roberto Rossellini, Roberto Rossellini, Roberto Rossellini

1954 / 85min

The premise is striking in its simplicity: married couple George Sanders and Ingrid Bergman arrive in the Amalfi Coast on holiday, admit that they are crushingly bored with one another, flirt with separation, and then abruptly, miraculously, reconcile. Unobtrusively following his couple through a string of digressive, anecdotal scenes rich with mystery and suggestion, Rossellini imbues his simple story with deep emotional reserves, filling it with the abundance of everyday life that most movies race by in pursuit of streamlined storytelling. Most contemporary critics spurned this revelation, but not the young critics at Cahiers du cinema, who recognized what was quietly revolutionary in Rossellini’s accomplishment, and took copious notes.