VOYAGE IN ITALY (1953)

A.K.A.: Viaggio in Italia / Journey To Italy

Country: Italy

Genre(s): Drama

Director: Roberto Rossellini

Cast: Ingrid Bergman / George Sanders / Maria Mauban

Plot

A trip to Italy widens the emotional gap already threatening the marriage of a British couple.

What I Liked

Historically speaking, “Voyage in Italy” is a transitional film in the development of world cinema, most particularly of European cinema.  Director Roberto Rossellini takes the themes of Italian neorealism, which dominated that country’s moviemaking in the post-War years, and has them play out in a whole new manner which takes a sideways look at traditional storytelling.  Neorealism, for all its nonconformity, still told stories along the traditional structure we’re all familiar with: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, conclusion; the operative word in all of this being action.  The characters cause things to happen, the characters must confront these things, and then we’re told that things are either back to normal or things will never be the same; then the movie is over.

What set neorealism apart from other movies of the era was that the people, events, and places involved were of relatively trivial importance when compared with the mainstream.  There was an intentional lack of kings, castles, cutesy kids, aliens, sword fights, gunfights, celebrities, talking animals, star-crossed lovers, wizards, monsters, magic, happy endings, or even attractive people; it was all gritty, down-to-earth studies of everyday people plagued with everyday problems, an approach that was very unique in the 1940s.  With “Voyage in Italy,” Rossellini takes that focus on the importance of the banal and puts it not in the action on screen but in the relationship between his main characters, to whom not much really happens in the way of external events.  Thus the story does not play out in a series of experiences happening to our characters, but in feelings happening between them.  The pendulum-like emotional sway of a husband and wife away from one another (emotionally), then closer, then further away, and then back again is the entire story.  If you think about it, this approach to exploring conflict is much more life-like than the traditional one, isn’t it?  How many of life’s real problems fit into the traditional story structure we’ve all learned since childhood?  Few if any.  Our problems are a better fit for the nonlinear and subtler approach Rossellini brings to “Voyage in Italy.”

Sounds boring, doesn’t it?  Well, yes, on the surface it can be; but that’s a little bit of what Rossellini was intentionally going for, actually.  That’s because his characters are bored, too.  They are so tired of one another, of their life together, and of their inability to enjoy any intimate connection at all, that they pretty much self-destruct when what is supposed to be a romantic vacation turns into a dull exercise in mutual irritation and contempt.  That boredom, irritation, and contempt, and the impending collapse of a relationship are portrayed with a level of accuracy likely unprecedented in film history up to that point, and that’s what makes the movie fascinating: how real it all seems.

What I Didn’t Like

I felt that Rossellini somewhat betrayed his revolutionary approach to storytelling by finally having something happen – even if it is completely believable – to the couple at the very end.  This happening then brings about an abrupt end to the film, wrapping things up a bit too nicely for a film that had spent so much time exploring the complexity of a relationship.

Both of the main characters are portrayed by very well-known English-speaking actors, Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders, which makes sense, since they are playing two English people familiar to one another travelling through a strange land, Italy.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find the version of the film in English.  This left me with the Italian-released version, which is both subtitled and overdubbed.  Normally I don’t mind subtitles at all.  But the fact that the actors were originally speaking their lines in English, then were overdubbed in Italian for release in that country, and then subtitled in English proved distracting for this English-speaking viewer.  I’ve seen both Bergman and Sanders in multiple other movies and admire them both as actors.  That I couldn’t hear them speak their lines as they were spoken was frustrating and irritating.  Then again, that the emotional turmoil of the characters still moved me, even with the problem of the subtitled overdubs, speaks to how well the actors could communicate, even without their voices.

Most Memorable Scene

Outside of the unconventional story of a relationship, the film has another appeal found in it’s setting.  As a tourist, Bergman’s Mrs. Joyce visits several memorable locales in and around Naples.  Vesuvius, the catacombs, various ruins, the sybil’s site, Pompeii, and a museum.  Each of these scenes is shot on location and make for fascinating viewing for the audience, who get to be tourists by proxy.  Even in sixty-year-old black and white pictures these ancient sights and places are extraordinary.

My Rating: 4 out of 5