Journey to Italy Roberto Rossellini

Rosselini's classic, remastered on BFI DVD

A well-to-do married English couple travel to Naples after inheriting a villa, Alex (George Sanders) a workaholic businessman and Katherine (Ingrid Bergman) a more sensitive character. With a loveless relationship the couple are on the verge of a divorce and decide to spend the remainder of their trip separately. Katherine visits museums and historical sites, while Alexander goes to Capri to relax with drinks. Their separation allows them to grow and revisit the past and ultimately begin to become intrigued again with one another, a delayed anti-honeymoon.

Poorly received on initial release, the film feels eerily modern due to its timeless themes of the unwelcome intrusion of the past and the terrifying uncertainty of the future, both reccurring in Rossellini's work.

Ranked 39 in the Sight and Sound's 'Top 50 Greatest Films of all Time' the film has recently received the recognition it deserves, with Martin Scorsese even making his own film My Voyage to Italy, exploring Italian cinema in general and the film's impact on his work.

Special features

• Newly remastered presentation
• Viaggio in Italia (Roberto Rossellini, 1954, 83 mins): the alternative, Italian cut of Journey to Italy
• Journey to Italy audio commentary with filmmaker and academic Laura Mulvey (2003)
• Alternative Journey to Italy audio commentary with film scholar Adrian Martin (2007)
• My Dad is 100 Years Old (Guy Maddin, 2005, 18 mins): Isabella Rossellini’s playful tribute to her father
• Fully illustrated booklet featuring essays by Tag Gallagher, Laura Mulvey and Paul Fairclough, and full film credits