Journey to Italy (1954)

On the face of it, this ought to have been a much better film. Ingrid Bergman, George Sanders and Naples - all under the expert supervision of Roberto Rossellini. Unfortunately, what we end up with is a beautifully crafted, but overly melodramatic story of a couple who find their marriage is over. When they drive to Naples to sell a villa Sanders has inherited, they discover during their journey - and once they arrive, that they just don't know each other any more. Whatever they did have in common at the start of their eight year marriage has long since departed leaving them with only a shell of a relationship and a veneer of affection with both really yearning for freedom, not just from each other, but from their tried and tested existence. I found Bergman to be quite sterile, her performance aloof and distant - but not in a characterful way; more high-maintenance ice maiden-ish. Sanders is what he always is: he has panache and style but again, his heart just didn't seem to be in it - on any level. Some magnificent cinematography of the Neopolitan countryside, and some interesting scenes filmed in/around Pompeii give the film a little bit more, but ultimately I found it all just a little empty....