Two for the Road is a 1967 romantic comedy-drama directed and produced by Stanley Donen, starring Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney. The film tells the story of a married couple who reflect on their twelve-year relationship while on a road trip from England to the French Riviera. As they survey their foundering marriage in the present, the evolution of their relationship reveals itself through vignettes from four previous trips they took along the same route. The film was made from an original screenplay by Frederic Raphael. Supporting cast members include Eleanor Bron, William Daniels, Claude Dauphin, and Nadia Gray. Two for the Road was Hepburn's penultimate performance before her semi-retirement in 1968.

Raphael conceived the idea for the film while driving with his wife to the south of France. He suggested the project initially to producer Joseph Janni, who declined it, and then wrote the script for Donen. Originally the film was to be distributed by Universal, but after the studio backed out, Donen took the project to Twentieth Century-Fox. Two for the Road is notable for combining the styles of a traditional Hollywood romance with elements of the French New Wave. Cars figure prominently in the film and, when the narrative jumps in time, help to establish the current year. Two for the Road was a rare Hepburn picture in that she did not wear a wardrobe designed by Hubert de Givenchy, because Donen wanted her to have a more conventional appearance. The film's soundtrack was composed by Henry Mancini, who called the theme song his favourite piece of music he wrote.John Caps, Henry Mancini: Reinventing Film Music, (Urbana: University of Illinois Press: 2012), 105. Principal photography began on 3 May 1966 and concluded on 1 September. The film was released on 27 April 1967 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

Upon its release the film received mostly positive reviews but failed to make a profit. Its mixed response was in large part due to its experimental, non-linear structure, and coalescence of commercial and artistic filmmaking. Additionally, Hepburn's role as a wife and mother in a collapsing marriage was a radical departure from the ingénues she typically had played hitherto. In subsequent years, the film's reputation has grown substantially, with numerous authors citing it as Donen's greatest film, and Hepburn's performance as the best of her career.

Plot In 1966, English architect Mark Wallace and his wife Joanna fly to France (when he thinks he forgot his passport, his wife hands it to him casually) then drive to Saint-Tropez to meet Mark's longtime client, Maurice Dalbret. Joanna complains that Mark is constantly at Maurice's beck and call, and Mark points out she enjoys the luxuries his hard work provides. They reflect on previous trips.

In 1954 Mark and Joanna cross paths on a ferry leaving England. Mark is studying European architecture, while Joanna is travelling with her choir to a festival in Menton. When the ferry arrives in Dieppe, Mark panics thinking he lost his passport; helpful bystander Joanna finds it in his backpack. When the choir's van runs off the road, Mark stops to help. He travels with the girls to Abbeville, intending to pair off with the beautiful Jackie, but after everyone else catches chickenpox, Joanna attaches herself to Mark. Mark tries to ditch Joanna, suggesting they travel separately. After hitching a ride with a slick driver in an Alfa Romeo, Joanna returns to join Mark, telling him that she loves him. He warns her that he does not intend commitment. At the Mediterranean, they stay in cheap hotels, spending their days at the beach, and Joanna proves to be an adaptable and ideal companion. At the end of their week, Mark asks Joanna to marry him.

In 1957 the Wallaces have been married for two years. They travel by car with Mark's former girlfriend from the University of Chicago, Cathy Seligman, her husband, Howard Maxwell-Manchester, and their demanding young daughter, Ruthie. In a tantrum Ruthie tosses away the car keys, causing a long delay as the adults search the nearby brush, until Joanna orders Ruthie to disclose where she threw the keys. A pedantic Howard suggests that Joanna resents Ruthie, who represents the child she wishes she had. After Ruthie says that Cathy called Joanna a "suburban English nobody," Mark insists they leave the Maxwell-Manchesters and continue travelling by themselves. Mark asks Joanna sardonically whether she really wants a Ruthie of their own.

In 1959 the Wallaces travel as a married couple on a limited budget, driving a rundown MG. When Joanna announces she is pregnant, Mark attempts enthusiasm. After the car catches fire, the Wallaces pull into a luxury hotel they can ill afford, the Domaine Saint-Just. To save money, they sneak in sparse food, only to find at checkout the seasonal price includes charges for breakfast and dinner. While they push the burnt-out car for disposal, a Bentley S1, belonging to wealthy couple Maurice and Françoise Dalbret, causes them to crash the MG into a barn. Maurice pays off the barn's owner, and the Wallaces travel with the Dalbrets. At the end of the trip Maurice hires Mark's architectural services.

The birth of Caroline results in Joanna's staying home and Mark's traveling alone to France. He has a one-night stand with a driver named Simone while he writes to Joanna lying about his activities and claiming to "miss" her.

In 1963, Joanna and young Caroline accompany Mark to a project for Maurice. Parenthood causes travel complications and strain in the marriage, with Mark admonishing Joanna that he never wanted a child. The two consider separating, and Joanna bitterly reflects that he never really wanted anything else. At the Dalbret property, Joanna meets Françoise's brother, David, who seduces her. When Mark confronts them, Joanna confesses she is in love with David. David gives her the choice to leave Mark for him; however, she returns to Mark, missing his sense of humor.

In the present, the Wallaces discuss divorce. Mark remains engrossed in work, paying little attention to Joanna. At a party at the Dalbret's new house, designed by Mark, David again approaches Joanna; Mark is jealous until David announces his engagement. When Maurice again demands a consultation with Mark, Mark and Joanna sneak out of the party. While driving away, they admit to one another that despite their frequent unhappiness and past unfaithfulness, they love one another and could never be apart.

At the France–Italy border, Mark believes he has lost his passport, but Joanna once again playfully provides it for him.

Cast

Production

Writing and casting Raphael conceived the idea for Two for the Road in 1963 while driving with his wife from London to Rome. This was a trip the couple had taken many times through their relationship, having first done it hitchhiking and now driving in an expensive car. He described himself thinking during the drive, "imagine if we overtook ourselves on the road ten years ago. Ten years seemed a long time in those days. Then I said, 'wait a minute. That's a movie.' "Stephen M. Silverman, Dancing on the Ceiling: Stanley Donen and His Movies, (New York: Knopf, 1996), 301. Raphael floated the idea to producer Joseph Janni, with whom he was working at the time on the picture Darling, directed by John Schlesinger. Janni thought it was a good idea, but did not pursue it.

After Darling, Raphael was asked by Norman Panama to write the script for Not with My Wife, You Don't! Raphael told his agent it was a "vulgar, banal story" and that he could not do it, but his agent persuaded him to take the project, which would pay £9,000. Not long after he began writing, Raphael decided he had to quit the film, even though reneging on the contract might cost him his reputation in the film industry. Raphael met in London with Panama, who agreed to let him go. During the meeting, Panama mentioned that at a recent dinner party Stanley Donen had expressed his praise for the writing in Nothing but the Best. At the party, Donen had said to Panama about Raphael, "you lucky SOB. Why haven't I got him?"Silverman, 301. Panama offered to ask Donen to phone Raphael.

After talking on the telephone, Donen and Raphael met in London in 1964. Raphael has given differing accounts of when he suggested the Two for the Road idea to Donen. In one instance he claimed to have mentioned it at their first meeting,Raphael, Personal Terms, 105. and in another he said that he and Donen went back and forth for a time before he brought it up. In either case, Donen was intrigued by the concept and gave Raphael $40,000 to write the script. After the project was underway, Donen telephoned Audrey Hepburn to see if she was interested in it. Having just finished the unsuccessful Paris When It Sizzles, which used some of the same non-linear storytelling Raphael intended for Two for the Road, she did not want to participate.Silverman, 302. Nonetheless, Raphael and Donen decided to proceed with the script.

The story was not autobiographical, but was inspired by Raphael's own marriage. He said that the events in the story were "based mainly on the experiences of my wife and me, but with a certain degree of expansiveness. These are not necessarily things that happened, but what might have happened." Raphael wrote the first draft of the script in the fall of 1964 while staying with his family in an apartment on the Via Francesco Ferrara in Rome.Frederic Raphael, Eyes Wide Open: A Memoir of Stanley Kubrick and Eyes Wide Shut, (London: Phoenix, 2000), 10. To compose the work, he wrote individual scenes on cards then rearranged them on the floor, creating a mosaic effect. Raphael sent the typed script to Donen in England on Wednesday, 11 November. After reading the script, Donen telephoned on Friday, 13 November to say he thought it was the best script he had ever read.Frederic Raphael, Personal Terms: The 1950 and 1960s, (Manchester: Carcanet, 2001), 120. Despite her previous rejection, Donen then sent the script to Hepburn, who agreed to meet in Switzerland to discuss it. In January 1965, Donen and Raphael flew to Switzerland to meet Hepburn at her home in Bürgenstock and try a second time to convince her to work on the film. When they met, Hepburn told the men, "I don't want to say too much about how much I like the script of Two for the Road, in case it embarrasses Frederico."Raphael, Personal Terms, 123. However, Hepburn was concerned over the effect it would have on her pudique image to play a part that included nudity, premarital sex, and adultery.Jerry Vermilye, The Complete Films of Audrey Hepburn, (Secaucus, Carol Publishing, 1995), 51. Donen and Raphael allayed her fears and convinced her to accept the role. Hepburn signed for $750,000, her standard rate at the time.Alexander Walker, Audrey: Her Real Story, (New York: St Martin's Press, 1995), 210.