Saturday, April 14, 2012

L'Avventura (1960)


Director: Michelangelo Antonioni

 The central mystery in this movie is the disappearance of a woman. But midway through the movie, that mystery is totally abandoned, but in a way, we get to see the type of life that may have motivated the woman to disappear in the first place. It's a movie about the alienation of the rich and privileged. Instead of criticizing the whole elitist culture like so many other films I've reviewed recently have done, this film takes a look at the rich and privileged on a more individual and sympathetic basis.

It doesn't let them off the hook, but it shows the existential crisis that their privileged, but boring, lifestyle brings. The main character, Claudia, is the one who most undergoes an existential crisis, and the brooding and internal crises that she goes through are realized brilliantly by Antonioni. All of her feelings come across due to the patient pacing of the film and especially the meticulously composed shots. This is a movie that uses visuals exactly how they should be used in film, not just as beauty, but as beauty that tells us who the people in photos are.

Grade: A

No comments:

Post a Comment