MovieChat Forums > Two for the Road (1967) Discussion > My only Problem With It...

My only Problem With It...

posted 15 years ago by bing148
6 replies | jump to latest

Loved the film... but I don't at all get what Joanna saw in David. He was a snide pompous jerk. Yes, so was Mark to a degree, but why leave one for another just like him? His reaction when Mark is leaving his confrontation with Joanna, the things he says to him are some of the most awful remarks I've ever heard someone speak in a civil tone, its rediculous. No decent man would make them in that situation. If Joanna was going to consider leaving Mark, you'd at least think she'd do it for someone who wasn't worse than him in every way.

[–] andyrr 15 years ago

I cant see the similarities you see in Mark and David.
Mark is a bit of a jerk but he knows it and he doesnt care. He s fun spontanious and sometimes just says what he shouldnt say. He lives in his own reality an thats why you can forgive him for the jerky comments.

Joanna didnt feel loved. The communication in this part of the marriage was horrible. In my mind she knew that she was loved intellectual by Mark but she didn't feel it. Mark concentrated too much time and effort on his work and basically had it coming.

David just seems like a sure bet. She doesnt really want another man she just wants to get away from this situation. David with his seriousness seemed like a safe bet. How he gets her chair when they want to leave ... all polite and stuff.
I agree with you that he is a jerk, he seemed trying to act cool and smoothing about the situation but he really is a jerk. I would have like Mark to punch him in his face.
Joanna slept with David cause she wants to feel loved.

But what awful remarks are you talking about? I mean they arent good or nice but awful? I dont see it

[–] bing148 15 years ago

When a man has just been informed you're taking his wife, saying crap like I wish we'd spent more time together and gotten to know each other better is about as low as it gets. He hates your guts, he doesn't want to know you. Its snide and just going after the person for the sake of it.

[–] nikkilynn1982 15 years ago

I thought Mark and David acted incredibly civil to one another. I don't see how Mark could keep from punching David since he was practically laughing in his face about just spending the night with his wife. I really detested the Mark character, though. He was so nasty to Joanna all the time. The cruel things he would say like he didn't want their little girl, and when he asks her to marry him, she says "I won't disappoint you!" and he goes, "I will!" like he just planned to make her life hell. The worst was when they get back together after she comes back from being with David, and she hugs him, and he says, "Are you sure you remember which one I am?" or something like that. I don't see what she saw in him at all. I like David's accent, though. He's like the typical rich, swingin' '60's jetsetter!

[–] modica 15 years ago

Maybe Joanna saw something in David that she first saw in Mark. I agree though, David was annoying.

[–] cookiela2001 13 years ago

<< David just seems like a sure bet. She doesnt really want another man she just wants to get away from this situation. David with his seriousness seemed like a safe bet. How he gets her chair when they want to leave ... all polite and stuff. >>

It's confusing, because the actor who plays David isn't that charismatic or devastatingly handsome (IMO), and we also see him so briefly before he's suddenly involved with Joanna...but she does tell Mark that she loves David (doesn't she?) when she confronts her in the restaurant. Then at the end she says she'd be married to David is Mark weren't in her life, so it seems to imply she actually does love him. It's kind of vague.

But when you see them alone for the first time in his plane, it doesn't look like she's enraptured...she seems more relieved to be peaceful.

So I agree with your comments, but somehow...not. It's really the film's fault. The situation isn't consistently clear. I'm not quite sure what the intention was with this character. (I think he would have made a lousy husband, though!)

[–] gerald-flynn 15 years ago

It really should not be so surprising that she went to David. I have seen articles that suggest that often people make the same bad choices in a new relationship that they made the first time. David was exciting to her, as was Mark, at first. He payed attention to her and she did not see beyond the sizzle to find there was no steak. Same with Mark. But Mark actually did love her, in his fashion, whereas I think David probably had a turnstyle by his bed to keep track of his conquests.