--- title: "Journey to Italy: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/journey-to-italy/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/journey-to-italy" critics_score: 78 critics_reviews: 11 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Journey to Italy (1954): what the critics said Critics' score 78 from 11 reviews: 8 positive, 2 mixed, 1 negative. Most critics respond warmly to Journey to Italy, praising its close attention to a strained marriage and the way the Italian surroundings unsettle the couple. The strongest notices find emotional depth in its understated approach, with location shooting and the encounters with ancient places giving private unhappiness a wider significance. Praise also clusters around its willingness to depart from conventional storytelling, which several critics regard as central to its lasting influence. The spread is nevertheless wide, with pace and dramatic construction dividing opinion more than the subject itself. Empire recognises the film’s influence but warns that its deliberate shortage of pace and drama can test patience. Variety finds brilliant passages alongside ordinary stretches and rough execution. These reservations remain a minority view: most reviews treat the quietness and loose narrative as strengths, finding the couple’s emotional unease absorbing rather than insufficiently eventful. ## Time Out — Trevor Johnston Rating 5/5. 3 May 2013. The critic hails its classic status and profound, heady affirmation of vulnerable togetherness in the face of time and mortality. He singles out the ancient, passionate Italian landscape and customs for gradually making their mark on the estranged couple. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/journey-to-italy) ## Sight and Sound — Geoff Andrew Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 8 May 2013. The critic calls it a very, very great film and a landmark masterpiece that feels timeless. He singles out its nuanced examination of the inner lives and emotional complexities of its upper-middle-class characters as it moves beyond neorealism. [Read the review](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/realer-realism-journey-italy) ## Slant Magazine — Fernando F. Croce Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 29 April 2013. The critic calls the film a 1954 masterpiece that unfolds as both a thorny narrative and a personal documentary, capturing the emotional unease of a disintegrating marriage that mirrors the real-life Rossellini-Bergman relationship. The Pompeii excavation scene and the transcendent finale amid a religious procession are singled out as moments where the cosmic and existential dimensions elevate the understated style into an overwhelming vision of hope and self-awareness. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/voyage-to-italy/) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 9 May 2013. The restored re-release is a mysterious, gripping and moving study of a troubled English couple whose Italian trip exposes the cracks in their marriage. The critic singles out the electrifying Pompeii sequence for particular praise as evidence of the film's real greatness. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/may/09/viaggio-in-italia-journey-to-italy-review) ## The New York Times — A.O. Scott Rating Critic’s Pick. 30 April 2013. The critic hails the film as a masterpiece overlooked upon its initial release, praising its atmospheric depiction of a strained marriage amid postwar Italy and its anticipation of modernist cinema. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/01/movies/rossellinis-voyage-to-italy-with-ingrid-bergman.html) ## The New Yorker — Richard Brody Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 19 April 2013. The critic describes it as a quietly revolutionary work that transforms romantic melodrama into intellectual adventure through location shooting and attention to cultural settings, singling out the Pompeii sequence for its existential resonance. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/voyage-to-italy) ## Evening Standard Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 10 May 2013. The critic calls Rossellini's 1954 masterwork a classic that affirms relationships, noting its parallels to the director's own life with Ingrid Bergman. The review highlights the story of a crumbling marriage tested during a trip to sell property in Naples. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/a-journey-to-italy-film-review-8610783.html) ## Empire — Patrick Peters Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2013. The review describes the film as a minor classic reclaimed after initial dismissal, noting its influence on the French New Wave and its focus on a troubled couple's holiday. It praises the contrast in styles but notes the deliberate lack of pace and drama may challenge viewers. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/journey-italy-review/) ## Variety — Variety Staff Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 31 December 1953. The review notes the story of a couple nearing divorce who warm to Italy but finds the film uneven overall, with brilliant moments alternating with so-so stretches and some rough execution. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1953/film/reviews/viaggio-in-italia-1200417568/) ## The Times — Ed Potton Rating ★★★★☆. 27 January 2023. This classic film of the week shows a stiff English marriage imploding during a Naples trip, with Bergman as a bundle of neuroses and a rising sense of dread. The Pompeii petrified-couple scene is highlighted as making the symbolism unbearable, though the ending remains uncertain. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/article/journey-to-italy-review-film-1954-roberto-rossellini-0sfd3fnjb) ## Eye for Film — Caro Ness Rating 5/5. 10 May 2004. The film is a portrait of a marriage in crisis set against the backdrop of Naples. The critic singles out the exquisite cinematography and the director's daring challenge to traditional narrative conventions for particular praise. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/journey-to-italy-film-review-by-caro-ness) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/journey-to-italy.md