Married for eight years with no children, Brits Katherine and Alex Joyce are driving to Italy, their ultimate destination just outside of Naples to sell the villa they have just inherited from his uncle, the villa where they will be staying during their time there. On the drive, they come to the realization that this trip marks the first time that they have truly been alone together, and as such don’t really know one another in the true sense.
Credits: TheMovieDb.
Film Cast:
- Katherine Joyce: Ingrid Bergman
- Alex Joyce: George Sanders
- Marie: Maria Mauban
- Prostitute: Anna Proclemer
- Paul Dupont: Paul Müller
- Tony Burton: Leslie Daniels
- Natalie Burton: Natalia Ray
- Betty: Jackie Frost
- Judy’s Friend (uncredited): Bianca Maria Cerasoli
- Judy’s Friend (uncredited): Adriana Danieli
- Judy (uncredited): María Martín
- Mrs. Sinibaldi (uncredited): Lyla Rocco
Film Crew:
- Camera Operator: Aldo Scavarda
- Production Manager: Marcello D’Amico
- Story: Roberto Rossellini
- Editor: Jolanda Benvenuti
- Producer: Adolfo Fossataro
- Costume Design: Fernanda Gattinoni
- Producer: Alfredo Guarini
- Production Manager: Mario Del Papa
- Story: Vitaliano Brancati
- Director of Photography: Enzo Serafin
- Script Supervisor: Mary Alcaide
- Sound: Eraldo Giordani
- Unit Manager: Emimmo Salvi
- Conductor: Renzo Rossellini
- Production Design: Piero Filippone
- Novel: Colette
- Assistant Director: Marcello Caracciolo Di Laurino
- Assistant Director: Vladimiro Cecchi
- Additional Writing: Antonio Pietrangeli
Movie Reviews:
- CinemaSerf: 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….