"We're not going on like this for the rest of our lives."
There's quite a bit packed into this film, which goes mainly for a serious drama about marriage/relationships, but also tries to get in some comedy, and it's fair to say it's a bit sprawling as a result. There are three main road trips in France that this couple take (Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney) which are spliced together, one when they first met, another after they've been married for a bit and are with another couple and their bratty child, and yet another when they've been married for 12 years and are no longer happy. In that sense it's a little like Linklater's Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight all rolled together, though I'm hesitant to make that analogy, since this film is not nearly as intelligent, and Albert Finney is kind of a jerk from the beginning, making it hard to enjoy at times. Despite that, it grew on me, and I was engaged throughout.
The problems with the film are myriad: the silly car hijinks that fill time instead of intelligent dialogue, the dopey recurring gag about not knowing where his passport is, and the artificial way in which the main conflict resolves itself. I'm not sure I felt real chemistry between Finney and Hepburn either. On the other hand, in putting the film together in the way he did, Stanley Donen allows us to take the long view of this couple's relationship (and in turn, perhaps our own relationships), from those early days of romance to bitter arguments. I felt honesty in what it was trying to say about the difficulty of long-term relationships, and I also appreciated the sexual honesty (the two have sex before marriage, both have affairs, and it's very clear when the two of them want to go sneak off for some fun in bed). Hepburn is charming in all of her loud 60's outfits, and you'll also get to see her imitating a chicken, a traffic sign with two arms flopping up and down, a sheep (twice!), and a spluttering water faucet that's struggling to produce hot water. These little touches not only lighten the mood, but also perhaps more truthful to the swings in life.
There's quite a bit packed into this film, which goes mainly for a serious drama about marriage/relationships, but also tries to get in some comedy, and it's fair to say it's a bit sprawling as a result. There are three main road trips in France that this couple take (Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney) which are spliced together, one when they first met, another after they've been married for a bit and are with another couple and their bratty child, and yet another when they've been married for 12 years and are no longer happy. In that sense it's a little like Linklater's Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight all rolled together, though I'm hesitant to make that analogy, since this film is not nearly as intelligent, and Albert Finney is kind of a jerk from the beginning, making it hard to enjoy at times. Despite that, it grew on me, and I was engaged throughout.
The problems with the film are myriad: the silly car hijinks that fill time instead of intelligent dialogue, the dopey recurring gag about not knowing where his passport is, and the artificial way in which the main conflict resolves itself. I'm not sure I felt real chemistry between Finney and Hepburn either. On the other hand, in putting the film together in the way he did, Stanley Donen allows us to take the long view of this couple's relationship (and in turn, perhaps our own relationships), from those early days of romance to bitter arguments. I felt honesty in what it was trying to say about the difficulty of long-term relationships, and I also appreciated the sexual honesty (the two have sex before marriage, both have affairs, and it's very clear when the two of them want to go sneak off for some fun in bed). Hepburn is charming in all of her loud 60's outfits, and you'll also get to see her imitating a chicken, a traffic sign with two arms flopping up and down, a sheep (twice!), and a spluttering water faucet that's struggling to produce hot water. These little touches not only lighten the mood, but also perhaps more truthful to the swings in life.