Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 5:49 am
A little-known late sixties drama that's not only currently unavailable, but has never seen the light of day on home video.
From Dennis Schwartz's review:
From an IMDB user:Two young American men of college age, Bert (Robie Porter) and Taylor (Sam Waterston), buy an old Peugeot and go on a summer holiday touring Italy and France. This is a marvelously refreshing on the road film, honestly characterizing the two best friends and what happens to change their relationship when they meet a vivacious young English woman named Marty (Charlotte Rampling). It is superbly acted and photographed and even if the Irwin Shaw short story the film is adapted from seems aimless, there is a poignancy that rings true underlining the inscrutability of the characters.
The personable young men do what tourists do when they want to see the beautiful sights of a country, taking time out to taste the Italian wine and meet a couple of native girls to show them around town. Since a one-night stand didn't materialize, the boys forget about the nice girls.
Bert is the more playful of the two and more sure of himself with women while Taylor, who is studying to be a lawyer, has a problem saying what he really feels. Taylor's father is a doctor and has provided money for the vacation; Bert is just getting by as he carefully watches his expenses, concerned about running out of money.
In Florence, Taylor gets into a conversation with the attractive Marty while out for a walk and she happily talks to the shy young man, making him feel good that she's not angry because he approached her. He introduces her to Bert and suggests the three travel together if they follow a set of rules, such as they keep their relationship platonic and pay their own expenses, this way they can avoid any entanglements.
Before leaving Florence they take a tour of the art museum, and the tour guide tells them of a poem about youth from the Lorenzo de Medici period. A line of it goes like this: "Whoever wants to be happy, enjoy it today because there is no certainty of tomorrow."
Sounds great, and Rampling and Waterston are magnificent actors. Has anybody seen it?I happened to see this film when off sick from school (possibly) some thirty years ago... Although I now recall very few details of the plot, the beauty of the then (almost) ingénue Charlotte Rampling drifting around Mediterranean locations, the strange, at least to a young boy, dynamics of the love triangle depicted and probably the overall impression I retain of an aura of autumnal melancholy have haunted me ever since. I'd love to see it again now as an adult (perhaps at the risk of experiencing my warm nostalgic feelings dissolve into disappointment?). Only the recent, but richly deserved renaissance of Ms Rampling's career as a character actor provides any glimmer of hope that this, admittedly minor, twilight of the 60s film will see a DVD release...