Red desert occupies a curious place in antonionis canon. Red desert il deserto rosso once more combines the considerable talents of director michelangelo antonioni and star monica. Upon objective examination of red desert on an operational levelthe story and the film technique that conveys itthe formal cues for addressing the functional level become apparent. Antonioni spiritually enters the 60s with this fascinating experimental movie about the malaise of industrial society. A closer look at michelangelo antonionis red desert nick newman september 29, 2012 on the occasion of michelangelo antonioni s 100th birthday, weve decided to publish a piece on his 1964 classic, red desert, with a specific focus on its neorealist roots and threetier implementation of color. Red desert is a disturbing ambient drama about postnatal anxiety and the malaise of industrial society. Like the latter films, it featured monica vitti as a modern woman confronted by a spiritually bereft world of shallow relationships, beautiful but meaningless landscapes, and existential angst. As red desert 1964, michelangelo antonionis unsettling vision of. This was the last in a series of four films he made with v. For example whenever giuliana is shown in a mentally distressed state, she is isolated from others by being the only person in the frame.
Red desert does not feel like a neorealist film in any definitive, normal sense, yet presenting itself in such a manner would only betray the basic artistic intentions. In fact, metanarrative cues will be found to emerge from inside the narrative as well, as giuliana discusses the effects of color and sound. Il deserto rosso was awarded the golden lion at the 25th venice film festival in 1964. Red desert il deserto rosso once more combines the considerable talents of director michelangelo antonioni and star monica vitti. In an industrial area, giuliana, an unstable woman, attempts to cope with life by starting an affair with a coworker at the plant her husband manages. There have been typically two ways of interpreting red desert. In fact, metanarrative cues will be found to emerge from inside the narrative as well, as. The story follows a troubled woman living in an industrial region of northern italy following a recent automobile accident. Here, hes using color film as a way of externally communicating internal feelings, some very neorealist feelings loss and confusion among.
Written by antonioni and tonino guerra, it was antonionis first color film. The italian maestros stroll through the modern wasteland. Like the latter films, it featured monica vitti as a modern. In this world the current the criterion collection. Color had been available to filmmakers for many years, of course, but up until the early 1960s, serious drama, of the sort that european cinema excels at, was usually shot in black and white. The film is a distillation of antonionis preferred themes and imagery. From an opening which uses inanimate environments as a mode of strangulation to an ambiguous, repletewithsymbolism conclusion, its truly of the most layered and affecting films to be found in the movement. Mark kermode finds himself intoxicated all over again by antonionis haunting, enigmatic and vividly colourful drama. In earlier films of antonionis starring vitti, including lavventura and. Throughout red desert antonioni uses cinematic techniques to align the silent witness the viewer with the way giuliana engages the world. Red desert camera analysis table knights entertainment.
Michelangelo antonioni red desert came out in 1964, almost twenty. Michelangelo antonionis red desert, from 1964, which i discuss in. Cast as giuliana, an unhappy wife, vitti suffers from an unnamed. Il deserto rosso is a 1964 italian film directed by michelangelo antonioni. Red desert, famously, is antonionis first film to use the full chromatic palette, and was felt by his contemporaries to be an aesthetic breakthrough. The first, and one that was seized upon by those with a generally marxist critical disposition, was to view the film as an attack on modern society and as a condemnation of the ravages wreaked up on man by modern technology. Film article reflections on red desert an article by. A closer look at michelangelo antonionis red desert. Red desert remains a film of rare beauty and brooding erotic intensity.
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