Voyage in Italy

Been writing like a mad woman... nothing much to report as a writer's life consists of staring at the computer, pacing back and forth in the room, and cursing to high heavens why that scene just doesn't work... BUT, I did take a break and watch another amazing Rossellini film, so I thought to share.

Just watched Voyage in Italy (1953).  Different from his earlier neo-realistic films, this one is more about the psychological and spiritual exploration, about the dissolution of marriage between a conservative couple.  

What I loved about this masterpiece is how crafted it was.  Just the opening shot alone sums up the whole film.  It opens with the couple, Alex (George Sanders) and Katherine Joyce (Ingrid Bergman) driving down an empty, dry and narrow road on the Italian countryside.  You just know this marriage is going downhill.

The trip begins to expose the strain of their relationship and the two eventually decide to make independent plans during their remaining days in Naples.  Katherine is left by Alex to tour the town on her own.  Rossellini uses the environment as another character to visually represent her emotions, my favorite ones are the eruption beneath the surface of "small Vesuvius" and the uncovered casts of human bodies at Pompeii.  They basically represent Katherine's inner turmoil and her eroding marriage.  It gave me shivers when I was watching Ingrid Bergman roaming around the uncovered casts, staring at those bodies…

Yet the film ends well.  They find each other desperately searching for each other in a crowd, hopelessly lost, and thus realize their own incompleteness and their need for each other.

If you haven’t seen it, and if you’re a Bergman fan, definitely rent it!