"A few minutes ago I came to the door of your apartment. Beyond that door you waited for me - you and a happiness I have never known. But I am running away - for I could not take those last steps toward you." Indiscretion of an American Wife, punctuated to Terminal Station is a tense and tightly coiled romance drama filmed almost entirely in Rome's metro station; as a result, the emotions are high but the capabilities are limited. Firstly, the chemistry between Montgomery Clift and Jennifer Jones was definitely not fully realized until the middle of the movie, which affected my connection with the film. The problem with this movie is that it relied too heavily on one scene of Mary writing a goodbye letter to develop that sense of chemistry. Then, once the pair met in the train station and Giovanni was begging her not to leave, it was hard to either sympathize or disregard his pleas due to movie's inability to develop that sense of connection. Luckily, due to the movie's many lucky coincidences that kept the pair together, there was a greater connection built that I appreciated. There just wasn't enough backstory on the pair together to cement it; there was backstory on Mary, but not on both of them. Despite most of the film being set in one place, I pretty much enjoyed it; I thought the love chase was engaging and the emotions were convincing enough. However, at times the melodrama could be toned down a few notches; usually, in movies like these I am a bit relaxed in criticizing melodramatic acting because it is the 1940s so what are you expecting, but some scenes and some lines were so far overdramatized, probably even for those standards; luckily that was not for the entirety of the movie. The whole scene with the guy and his pregnant wife was evidently to show her desire for a family and why she was being drawn back to America, but overall, I don't think it felt that well in the whole scheme of the movie and it could largely be written off as null. The ending was dramatic and fitting enough, though they should have focused less on the crime because that also was not very necessary. Overall, Indiscretion of an American Wife is a tightly coiled and engaging romance drama that sometimes focuses on the wrong things.
"A few minutes ago I came to the door of your apartment. Beyond that door you waited for me - you and a happiness I have never known. But I am running away - for I could not take those last steps toward you." Indiscretion of an American Wife, punctuated to Terminal Station is a tense and tightly coiled romance drama filmed almost entirely in Rome's metro station; as a result, the emotions are high but the capabilities are limited. Firstly, the chemistry between Montgomery Clift and Jennifer Jones was definitely not fully realized until the middle of the movie, which affected my connection with the film. The problem with this movie is that it relied too heavily on one scene of Mary writing a goodbye letter to develop that sense of chemistry. Then, once the pair met in the train station and Giovanni was begging her not to leave, it was hard to either sympathize or disregard his pleas due to movie's inability to develop that sense of connection. Luckily, due to the movie's many lucky coincidences that kept the pair together, there was a greater connection built that I appreciated. There just wasn't enough backstory on the pair together to cement it; there was backstory on Mary, but not on both of them. Despite most of the film being set in one place, I pretty much enjoyed it; I thought the love chase was engaging and the emotions were convincing enough. However, at times the melodrama could be toned down a few notches; usually, in movies like these I am a bit relaxed in criticizing melodramatic acting because it is the 1940s so what are you expecting, but some scenes and some lines were so far overdramatized, probably even for those standards; luckily that was not for the entirety of the movie. The whole scene with the guy and his pregnant wife was evidently to show her desire for a family and why she was being drawn back to America, but overall, I don't think it felt that well in the whole scheme of the movie and it could largely be written off as null. The ending was dramatic and fitting enough, though they should have focused less on the crime because that also was not very necessary. Overall, Indiscretion of an American Wife is a tightly coiled and engaging romance drama that sometimes focuses on the wrong things.
