October 3, 2010
A dour, bleak, grey, melancholic, anxiety-inducing romp of a film. Red Desert (Il Deserto Rosso) the 1964 feature from Michelangelo Antonioni is a film that is really quite hard to describe. It is entrancing and enjoyable, yet it leaves you feeling hollow and unsatisfied. It is an uncomfortable triumph and a great choice for the second in the series of Italian classic films showing at the Phoenix as part of the Italian Film Festival.
The film is set in the industrial North of Italy, near Faenza, though the prolonged silent landscape shots of flat, soggy countryside interspersed with mechanical monoliths could in theory be anywhere in the world where technology has had an impact on the traditional landscape. The scenery is far removed from any romantic notion of Sabine hills bathed in Mediterranean sunlight, and the paucity of human vivacity in the film moves away from Fellini-style grotesque characterization that we might associate with a notoriously passionate Italian people.
Yet Antonioni, in his first colour film, manages to pump beauty even into these lifeless industrial structures. How he frames the machinery, setting it against the white sky, the bright hues of the metal barrels, the yellow poisonous smoke billowing from the sleek chimneys; it could be described as having a certain charm. However this strange allure of modernity, put across through the intriguing photography, is set against the serious aversion felt against this way of life by Giuliana, the wife of a factory manager and our protagonist. A near-death accident has induced Giuliana to suffer from an all-too-human sensitivity to her surroundings.
With her soft features, fragile build and high heels, Giuliana stumbles around the polluted landscape buffeted by the wind, by constant noise, and relentless movement. She is distant and disconnected from her husband, her son and her surroundings. Her husband’s friend and business partner Zeller (Richard Harris) arrives and offers a glimmer of hope by really observing and listening to her and empathizing with her situation, but he too is restless, driven and looking to work in industry and eventually he gives Giuliana no comfort.
She is forced to escape in stories to a red-sand cove, with crystal waters and an earth that sings to her and comforts her, that is naturally beautiful and non-threatening. Ultimately Giuliana has to adapt and find some form of balance between these two worlds. The film is incredibly profound, moving and pertinent. It might seem slow in parts but on reflection the subtle timing is needed to evoke our reactions, be they anything from sheer frustration to empathy with the outstandingly played characters.
The film is set in the industrial North of Italy, near Faenza, though the prolonged silent landscape shots of flat, soggy countryside interspersed with mechanical monoliths could in theory be anywhere in the world where technology has had an impact on the traditional landscape. The scenery is far removed from any romantic notion of Sabine hills bathed in Mediterranean sunlight, and the paucity of human vivacity in the film moves away from Fellini-style grotesque characterization that we might associate with a notoriously passionate Italian people.
Yet Antonioni, in his first colour film, manages to pump beauty even into these lifeless industrial structures. How he frames the machinery, setting it against the white sky, the bright hues of the metal barrels, the yellow poisonous smoke billowing from the sleek chimneys; it could be described as having a certain charm. However this strange allure of modernity, put across through the intriguing photography, is set against the serious aversion felt against this way of life by Giuliana, the wife of a factory manager and our protagonist. A near-death accident has induced Giuliana to suffer from an all-too-human sensitivity to her surroundings.
With her soft features, fragile build and high heels, Giuliana stumbles around the polluted landscape buffeted by the wind, by constant noise, and relentless movement. She is distant and disconnected from her husband, her son and her surroundings. Her husband’s friend and business partner Zeller (Richard Harris) arrives and offers a glimmer of hope by really observing and listening to her and empathizing with her situation, but he too is restless, driven and looking to work in industry and eventually he gives Giuliana no comfort.
She is forced to escape in stories to a red-sand cove, with crystal waters and an earth that sings to her and comforts her, that is naturally beautiful and non-threatening. Ultimately Giuliana has to adapt and find some form of balance between these two worlds. The film is incredibly profound, moving and pertinent. It might seem slow in parts but on reflection the subtle timing is needed to evoke our reactions, be they anything from sheer frustration to empathy with the outstandingly played characters.