Majorthebys
Charming and brutal
CommentsXp
Best movie ever!
Janis
One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
PimpinAinttEasy
A very intense love story with two yearning characters. JENNIFER JONES is absolutely gorgeous as a straight laced and noble American woman who enters into an affair with an Italian man (played by MONTGOMERY CLIFT). The film takes place entirely at a train station with the two lovers going back and forth in their commitment towards each other even as they stave off red tape.The love story is interspersed with slice of life scenes at the station. - both comedic and heart breaking. I think the film would have been better in the hands of a more conventional American filmmaker. But even then, a really nice watch mainly due to some intense acting and the chemistry between the two leads.
secondtake
Indiscretion of an American Wife (1953)This is such a contained, focused film, and demands so much of its two actors, every little nuance matters in a kind of exciting dramatic way. The closest thing this compares to, as two lovers or would be lovers talk in a train station, is Brief Encounter (1945), and that's a masterpiece of acting and cinema both.Here, with Montgomery Clift and Jennifer Jones, it comes close. I found the slowness of it magical, and the filming, in the ultra modern station, very beautiful. If director Vittoria De Sica clearly has a different style than David Lean (though both pile on the romanticism), the effect is still one of longing and loneliness. The weakness here, most of all, is simply the writing, which is so important when two people are sitting around in conversation most of the time.Oddly, and sadly, it was the producer (Selznick) who got in the way. He was married to Jones at the time, and she was unhappy both during the filming and in her marriage. She also seems to be overacting sometimes--she can be marvelous, and nuance magnified might be exactly what was needed, but it often seems distracting. Clift, for his part, liked De Sica and he did what he could with what he had to work with under the director. It was Selznick who interfered with De Sica, and who altered the script using a series of screenwriters, and even though Truman Capote was one of them, the whole thing was hampered.The fact it is still a marvelous film is something to wonder at. Flawed, yes, but short and intense and it has a special feeling that Hollywood (and British counterparts) were unable to pull off. The whole atmosphere and mood are enough alone to make it worthwhile. I saw the short version, and I think it's probably plenty, but if you find the original, with 20 minutes extra, and you like this one, give it a try.
smarlow-6
This film is full of ironical metaphors. We have a running Joseph and Mary / Adam and Eve biblical subtext. The surface sentimentality can be misleading. Rome Termini Station contains enough iconography of Heaven and Hell to make up an ironic parable. I'm surprised that so many critics have not picked up the clever gags. I suspect that the butchering of the film down to 63 minutes has something to do with it. The serpent and the apple, seeking refuge in the manger, Dante's innocent descending into the purgatory of the police station, two passionate innocents caught up in orthodox role structure, it's all there, if rather clumsily re-edited. The film clearly belongs to an era where film language a la Welles or Hitchcock was more sophisticated than much of today's mainstream cinema.
wes-connors
The film starts out beautifully, thanks to director Vittorio De Sica, and camera-persons Aldo Graziati and James Wong Howe. Jennifer Jones (as Mary Forbes) is an unhappily married woman who has been visiting her sister in Rome; there, she has had an affair with half-Italian Montgomery Clift (as Giovanni). Ms. Jones and Mr. Clift, have, from the looks of things, fallen madly in love during the liaison. Unfortunately, "Indiscretion of an American Wife" (aka "Stazione Termini"), set exclusively in a Rome train station terminal, never progresses from its initial visual stimulation.Jones and Clift are worth watching, especially if you are a fan; however, their relationship does not exactly enchant. Although it would, admittedly, alter De Sica's artistic intention, some scenes of their initial meeting, and attraction, would have helped. The fact that Clift swats Jones rather forcefully suggests some cruelty in their relationship; additionally, Clift sometimes looks at Jones with a touch of madness in his eyes. The two seem to inhabit a slightly demented world of their own; but, not enough of their background is known to make it interesting. Richard "Dick" Beymer (who'll later be "Tony" in "West Side Story") is an unexpected highlight as Jones' overprotective young nephew Paul, who hangs out at the train station. ***** Indiscretion of an American Wife (4/2/53) Vittorio De Sica ~ Jennifer Jones, Montgomery Clift, Richard Beymer, Gino Cervi
