I finally watched the movie Two for the Road in its entirety. You know, Albert Finney, Audrey Hepburn in several vintage cars trekking around the south of France? The movie follows, though not in any particular sequential timeline, Mark and Joanna's 10 year marriage. It's a rather interesting and I think very accurate portrayal of falling in love, marriage and trying to stay in love and married while at the same time, personally and individually changing. I don't think there is a married, or divorced, person alive today that couldn't identify with some aspect of either character. Whether it's that initial lovestruck moment, the comfortable patterned banter or the tired rut of a child, a career and a marriage - this movie has something all of us can identify with and learn from.
What I truly love about this movie besides the obvious debonaire Albert Finney and the ever classic Audrey Hepburn is the couple's ability to move past themselves. Their marriage has problems and their method of dealing with them is hurtful and destructive. Yet, neither one loses sight of what is really important - love. They love each other beyond compare. Once they recognize it and accept it, it's what survives and allows their marriage to survive. In the end, after all of the miles they have gone together, after all of the crazy people that have come into their lives and into their marriage, they still want, need and love each other. There's a scene that says it all:
Joanna: "Mark, I'm back."
Mark: "You humiliated me. You humiliate me... and then you come back."
Joanna: "That's right."
Mark: "Thank God!"
That, is absolute, unconditional, true love. We should all be so lucky.
photo & quote courtesy of The Internet Movie Database, Two for the Road - www.imdb.com/title/tt0062407
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