Journey to Italy

Viaggio in Italia

In cinemas 10 May

Arguably the very greatest of Rossellini’s films, this piercing study of a marriage on the rocks is also one of the cinema’s most miraculous love stories.

Its magic lies partly in the pitch-perfect casting of George Sanders as cynical, supercilious English businessman Alex Joyce and Ingrid Bergman as his restless wife Katherine. Already bored by the time they reach a property they’re selling, the troubled couple allow differences in taste and temperament to drive them towards divorce, even as Naples, Capri and Pompeii also take their toll…

While Rossellini’s customary interest in documentary realism enhances the depiction of the region’s influence on the disenchanted pair, he here moves far beyond social realities to focus on the kind of deeper emotional and psychological truths one finds in the work of Bergman and Antonioni. This digital restoration by Cineteca di Bologna does full justice both to the immediacy of Enzo Serafin’s images and to a vividly colourful soundtrack; the film remains wondrously alive.

Geoff Andrew

Venues

From 10 May
BFI Southbank, London
Edinburgh Filmhouse, Edinburgh
Curzon Mayfair, London

10-16 May
Barbican, London

17, 18, 20, 22 and 23 May
Cine Lumiere, London

20-21 May
Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, London

23 and 25 May
National Media Museum, Bradford

9 and 13 June
Harbour Lights Picturehouse, Southampton

19-20 June
QUAD, Derby

7 and 9 July
Chapter, Cardiff