Two for the Road (1967)

83% of critics liked it
(12 reviews)
82% of users liked it
(7,496 ratings)

In preparing his romantic comedy Two For the Road, director Stanley Donen decided to utilize many of the cinematic techniques popularized by the French "nouvelle vague" filmmakers. Jump cutting back and forth in time with seeming abandon, Donen and scriptwriter Frederic Raphael chronicle the 12-year… More In preparing his romantic comedy Two For the Road, director Stanley Donen decided to utilize many of the cinematic techniques popularized by the French "nouvelle vague" filmmakers. Jump cutting back and forth in time with seeming abandon, Donen and scriptwriter Frederic Raphael chronicle the 12-year relationship between architect Wallace (Albert Finney) and his wife (Audrey Hepburn). While backpacking through Europe, student Finney falls for lovely music student Jacqueline Bisset, but later settles for Hepburn, another aspiring musician (this vignette served as the launching pad for the film-within-a-film in Francois Truffaut's 1973 classic Day for Night). Once married, Finney and Hepburn go on a desultory honeymoon, travelling in the company of insufferable American tourists William Daniels and Eleanor Bron and their equally odious daughter Gabrielle Middleton. Later on, during yet another road trip, Finney is offered an irresistible job opportunity by Claude Dauphin, which ultimately distances Finney from his now-pregnant wife. Still remaining on the road, the film then details Finney and Hepburn's separate infidelities. The film ends where it begins, with Finney and Hepburn taking still another road vacation, hoping to sew up their unraveling marriage. While critics did nip-ups over Stanley Donen's "revolutionary" nonlinear story-telling techniques, audiences responded to the chemistry between Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney, not to mention the unforgettable musical score by Henry Mancini. Note: many TV prints of Two for the Road are edited for content, robbing the viewer of Finney and Hepburn's delightful "Bitch/Bastard" closing endearments. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 42 min.
Directed By: Stanley Donen
Written By: Frederic Raphael
Genres: Drama, Romance, Classics, Comedy

In Theaters: Apr 27, 1967 Wide
On DVD: Nov 1, 2005

Critic Reviews

Lori Hoffman, Atlantic City Weekly
A benchmark of marital dischord with luminous Hepburn, cheeky Finney
Brent Simon, Now Playing Magazine
Marks a sea change in one's perception of the actress once glimpsed; adult and a bit barbed, it's a grown-up Hepburn, and probably one of her most realistic, relatable and resonant screen roles.
Jeffrey Westhoff, Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)
A quietly incendiary work from artists who know a match can start the same size fire as a Molotov cocktail.
Thomas Delapa, Boulder Weekly
The jagged editing left many audiences stranded, but credit Donen for at least trying to put some gas in the worn-out conventions of 1960s mainstream filmmaking.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
Despite its visual trickery, it's one of the most emotionally honest films ever made in America.
Carlo Cavagna, AboutFilm.com
One of the best movies about relationships ever. Outstanding performances.
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Superb character study.

Read all 7 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Jennifer X

Albert Finney is sososososo hot. This is what Shoot the Moon wants to be but isn't. I'm glad it ends happily - really, really glad.
Veronique K

"two for the road" is a refreshingly unique example of abandoned gentility from both director stanley donen and demure glamour star audrey hepburn who has impressed audience universally with her princessly benevolent attribute. now both donen and hepburn have to deal with… More
"two for the road" is a refreshingly unique example of abandoned gentility from both director stanley donen and demure glamour star audrey hepburn who has impressed audience universally with her princessly benevolent attribute. now both donen and hepburn have to deal with blatant exclamation of sex without descending into vulgarity even at moments audrey hepburn gets scorned as a "BITCH". meanwhile donen has to exert the french new-wave method on a non-linear script without losing his masterful touch. this is a story upon a couple falling head over heels in love on the journey of hitchhiking along europe continent, entwined with their sizzling chemistry of opposite attraction: an amorous ingenue get smitten with cynical chauvinist who mocks marriage. somehow these two eventually gets married despite the collisions of their living philosophies. the camera wheels along their conjuring of past memories, and it's like a story book clipped into pieces then pastiched together as the protagonists' threads of thoughts catapult from one ground to another, resonated with french post-structualist literature as the stream-lined time scale has been omitted while our spectrum of emotionality has been excerpted into microscopic inspections. but "two for the road" is incredibly far from self-indulgent eccentricity or disjointed style over substance that has permeated in "thomas crown affair" which is also another new-wave-tinted flick released in 1967. albert finney is definitely not a debonair like cary grant who has been the frequent lead in stanley donen's romantic drama like "indiscreet" and "the grass is greener" (both movies are very britishly suave), and the rawly sneering mannerism of finney has been a great contrast to hepburn's girlish naivete (even she was 37 then), such as the conversation about "virgin detection", and once again it's also a dialogue-driven movie with timelessly contemporary wisecrackers upon love and sex within marriage. it doesn't appear dated even at 2000s with its bohemian viewpoint upon romance on the road. once again, audrey hepburn's star magnitude whitewashes the possible sordidness within some serious subject matters in the movie, and that includes infidelity with lines like "i humuliated you, but i'm back!" or "sex is better when it means less because it ain't personal anymore"...the potential abrasiveness gets purified due to the childlike interactions of hepburn and finney even when the couple are committing improper sins, just like their remarks toward each other as "bitch" and "bastard" at the brightful ending of their smacking kisses. there's no sense of profanity but taunting of two kids playing houses. as for the fashion aspect of "two for the road", audrey hepburn emancipates from her genteel wardrobe of givenchy (who has created the whole hepburn legend in movies like "breakfast at tiffany's" and "sarbrina") to reel into the leisure-wear with leather-skin jacket and blue jeans, along with a beatnik leading man who prefers sex as "good service without binding contract"...perhaps it reflects the conforming phenomenon of the upcoming 70s, even icons of gentility have to demonstrate their cinematic liberations for chicness as audrey hepburn into slacks and stanley donen into road-movie romance without self-composed gentlemen and ladies.
Leigh R

This was great. Loved it.
Dean M

Good romantic-comedy and past memories of the couple - Audrey Hepburn (my idol) and Albert Finney.
Michael G

A great movie to watch when you get sick of everything that's out now.
Sunil J

A glorious romance that is pretty effortlessly put together. I like the balance of good times and bad.
Leo L

Great!