L'avventura [VHS] [1961]

L'Avventura 1960

Superb Criterion Release.

L'Avventura was directed in 1960 by what many would regard now as one of the truly great directors of all time, Michelangelo Antonioni. `L'Avventura' is now regarded as being the first part in a quadrilogy of films followed by `La Notte' (1961), E'clisse (1962) and `Red Desert' (1964) all dealing with the themes of modern alienation and the human condition. The feature that sets `L'Avventura apart from the other three films though is that `L'Avventura still has a strong masculine, if immature and spiritually impotent, character. Later films would concentrate on the female character to a far greater extant.

L'Avventura is essentially a road movie with an objective that is not important to the film, so I won't say anything about that. What is important is that Antonioni is writing a whole new cinematic language in his use of camera angle and position within a scene, actors being filmed from behind and characters entering a scene from what would appear to be the wrong direction. The scenes and composition on the island are perhaps some of the best I've ever watched. Antonioni also uses architecture as a metaphor in many scenes and would be explored to a greater extent in his next two films `La Notte' and `E'clisse'. Saying that though, there are some Hitchcockian clichés in `L'Avventura' such as the train entering the tunnel as a metaphor for intercourse. It can sometimes be difficult for a younger audience to understand why `L'Avventura' is so important because so many of these ideas seem familiar to us now, but nothing was made like this before it. The audio commentary on this disc by film historian Gene Youngblood is an invaluable tool to a greater understanding of this films position and status in cinema history and is highly recommended. The transfer is superb and presented in 1.77:1 and enhanced for 16x 9 televisions.

L'Avventura starred Monica Vitti (E'clisse, 1962; Red Desert,1964), Gabriele Ferzetti (Once Upon A Time In The West, 1969) and Lea Massari (Mummur Of The Heart, 1971). Other similar films I would recommend are `La Dolce Vita' (Federico Felini, 1960); `Picnic At Hanging Rock' (Peter Weir, 1975) and `Paris, Texas' (Wim Wenders, 1984). `L'Avventura won the Special Jury Prize at Canne in 1960 yet still feels like a fresh and modern film and gets better every time I see it. It's in my top 5 greatest films ever made without a doubt.

Highly Recommended.

L'Avventura is a mesmerizing and perplexing film about a short boating holiday that is interrupted when a young woman mysteriously vanishes on an empty island, forcing her lover and her best friend to search for her. A film about the dreadful carelessness that can arise where materialism and vanity are valued above human and spiritual contact. Or whatever...

Antonioni creates some absolutely beautiful shots and there is dramatic interest in the sexual tension between Claudia and Sandro as they search hopelessly for the missing Anna. At times I was reminded of Bergman, but what I like about this director is the way everything seems naturalistic and plausible, even to the extent that plot is rather slender, so if you're looking for a series of explosions and reversals, or a thrilling climax, look elsewhere.

The women and men are all rather chic, the scenes of intimacy more pleasing for being restrained, the feeling of disquiet likely to hold you captive even as you begin to doubt whether anything is going to happen. Still, clever and then original photography, impulsive characters whose behaviour perplexes as much as it fascinates, and the space and time to be thought provoking without being didactic.

Just think, if it had been a British production, it would have been a disaster, or a tasteles thriller, maybe like this one - Donkey Punch [DVD] [2008] - Gawd 'elp us!

1959's L'aventura was the film that moved Antonioni into the international realm of directors- it is far more diverting and perplexing than the later, somewhat over-rated Blow Up (1966). The story, as such, is not unlike Peter Weir's later Picnic at Hanging Rock- though there is just one disappearance here. The plot is fairly simple- people are on a cruise of the Mediterranean, Sandro and lover Anna are on it with her friend Claudia- on an island Anna vanishes, never to be found and Claudia replaces Anna as Sandro's lover.

This is a very strange film, with interesting/oblique compositions courtesy of photographer Aldo Scarvarda; L'aventura along with The Red Desert are Antonioni's finest works (later films like Blow Up & Zabriskie Point have moments and are visually stunning, but as a whole leave me cold)- and it ranks next to another oblique film of this period, Alain Resnais's L'Annee derniere a Marienbad (1961)- which is equally fantastic and a presient for modern films like Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive & Open Your Eyes. Antonioni and L'aventura may not to be your taste, but it still demands to be seen by those with an interest in cinema beyond mere entertainment...