Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni dies at 94

[Robert J]

Wow - just yesterday I posted on Bergman.

Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni dies at 94

The Associated Press

Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni, whose depiction of alienation made him a symbol of art-house cinema with movies such as Blow-Up and L'Avventura, has died, officials and news reports said Tuesday. He was 94.

The ANSA news agency said that Antonioni died at his home on Monday evening.

Italian movie director Michelangelo Antonioni in Venice, Italy, 2002. Antonioni died Monday at the age of 94.

(Luca Bruno/Associated Press) "With Antonioni dies not only one of the greatest directors but also a master of modernity," Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni said in a statement.

Antonioni depicted alienation in the modern world through sparse dialogue and long takes. Along with Federico Fellini, he helped turn post-war Italian film away from the Neorealism movement and toward a personal cinema of imagination.

In 1995, Hollywood honoured his career work — about 25 films and several screenplays — with a special Oscar for lifetime achievement. By then Antonioni was a physically frail but mentally sharp 82, unable to speak but a few words because of a stroke but still translating his vision into film. The Oscar was stolen from Antonioni's home in 1996, together with several other film prizes.

His exploration of such intellectual themes as alienation and existential malaise led Halliwell's Film Guide to say that L'Avventura, Antonioni's first critical success, made him "a hero of the highbrows."

The critics loved that film, but the audience hissed when L'Avventura was presented at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival. The barest of plots, which wanders through a love affair of a couple, frustrated many viewers for its lack of action and dialogue, characteristically Antonioni.

At one point in the black-and-white film, the camera lingers and lingers on Monica Vitti, one of Antonioni's favourite actresses, as she plays a blond, restless jet-setter.

Explored characters' internal turmoil

"In the empty, silent spaces of the world, he has found metaphors that illuminate the silent places our hearts, and found in them, too, a strange and terrible beauty: austere, elegant, enigmatic, haunting," Jack Nicholson said in presenting Antonioni with the career Oscar. Nicholson starred in the director's 1975 film The Passenger.

Antonioni was born on Sept. 29, 1912, in the affluent northern city of Ferrara. He received a university degree in economics and soon began writing critiques for cinema magazines.

Antonioni's first feature film, Story of a Love Affair (1950) was a tale of two lovers unable to cope with the ties binding them to their private lives.

But Antonioni grew more interested in depicting his characters' internal turmoil rather than their daily, down-to-earth troubles. The shift induced critics to call his cinema "internal Neorealism."

After the international critical acclaim of L'Avventura, which became part of a trilogy with The Night (1961) and Eclipse (1962), Antonioni's style was established. He steadily co-wrote his films and directed them with the recognizable touch of a painter. His signature was a unique look into people's frustrating inability to communicate and assert themselves in society.

Blow-Up first box-office success

On Oscar award night, his wife, Enrica Fico, 41 years his junior, and "translator" for him since his 1985 stroke, said, "Michelangelo always went beyond words, to meet silence, the mystery and power of silence."

The first success at the box office came in 1966 with Blow-Up, about London in the swinging '60s and a photographer who accidentally captures a murder on film.

But Antonioni with his hard-to-fathom films generally found it hard to convince Italian producers to back him. By the end of the 1960s, he was looking abroad for funds. American backing helped produce Zabriskie Point (1970), shot in the bleakly carved landscape of Death Valley, California.

Asked by an Italian magazine in 1980, "For whom do you make films" Antonioni replied: "I do it for it an ideal spectator who is this very director. I could never do something against my tastes to meet the public. Frankly, I can't do it, even if so many directors do so. And then, what public? Italian? American? Japanese? French? British? Australian? They're all different from each other."

Funeral in hometown of Ferrarra, Italy

Using sometimes a notepad, sometimes the good communication he had with his wife and sometimes just his very expressive blue eyes, Antonioni astonished the film world by making Beyond the Clouds in 1994, while ailing and hampered by the effects of the stroke.

With an international cast — John Malkovich, Jeremy Irons, Irene Jacob, and Fanny Ardant — the movie wove together three episodes based on Antonioni's book of short stories Quel Bowling sul Tevere (Bowling on the Tiber) to explore the usual Antonioni themes.

Worried that Antonioni would be too frail to finish the movie, investors had German director Wim Wenders follow the work, ready to step in if the Italian "maestro" couldn't go on. But Wenders wound up watching in awe and letting Antonioni put his vision on film.

Antonioni is survived by his wife. He had no children. ANSA said that a funeral would be held Thursday in Antonioni's hometown of Ferrara in northern Italy.

[Van Basten II]

Very, very sad week for movie lovers. Can't say that his movies were easy to like, still a monument of modern movie making that goes away.

[Chalupa]

I forgot that he did Zabriskie Point. I saw Red Desert which had to be one of the most boring films I've ever sat through. If it hadn't been for super babe Monica Vitti's presence in the film I probably would have walked out.

[Rooster_Ties]

How is Zabriskie Point? I know the soundtrack (due primarily to the Pink Floyd material it included), but have never seen the film. Worth renting?

I did see Blow Up in a film class back in college (and several years later discovered that Herbie had done some of the soundtrack).

[7/4]

I did see Blow Up in a film class back in college (and several years later discovered that Herbie had done some of the soundtrack).

...and El Becko smashes a guitar!

[brownie]

How is Zabriskie Point?

I have not seen Zabriskie in several years but I remember being impressed by it when it came out. It was somehow a US-based counterpoint to 'Blow Up' which was how Antonioni saw the late '60s England.

I caught 'Blow Up' not long ago and thought it showed its age. A fresh viewing of 'Zabriskie Point' may bring a similar impression.

[HWright]

This is sad news, for sure. I am a great fan of his early '60's trilogy, as well as his later color films.

There are now excellent Criterion DVD editions of two thirds of the trilogy (plus a standard edition of the missing title) and "The Passenger" from the '70's has also come out on DVD recently (not in Criterion though, alas). Hopefully in the next few years we will see the rerelease on DVD of "Red Desert" (which may be boring to some but which I am very fond of and is currently out of print in the USA, as far as I know) as well as other lesser well known works like "The Mystery of Oberwald" from the '80's.

As far as his two English language movies go, "Blow Up" is great too and readily available on DVD. "Zabriskie Point," as far as I know, is a bit harder to find. I think the only time I ever saw it was on an old VHS tape with a terrible transfer. I liked it. My feeling is that while it is not by any means his best film, it has great music, some interesting scenes and is hardly the unmitigated disaster many people say it is. I think it would very much benefit from a better transfer and a more attractive presentation.

I also note for those interested that one can also find, if one looks, DVDs of Antonioni's early work ("Story of a Love Affair," "The Girlfriends" and "The Struggle") which are all quite interesting, especially to fans of his later work.

Edited July 31, 2007 by HWright

[Dave Garrett]

There are now excellent Criterion DVD editions of two thirds of the trilogy (plus a standard edition of the missing title) and "The Passenger" from the '70's has also come out on DVD recently (not in Criterion though, alas). Hopefully in the next few years we will see the rerelease on DVD of "Red Desert" (which may be boring to some but which I am very fond of and is currently out of print in the USA, as far as I know) as well as other lesser well known works like "The Mystery of Oswaldo" from the '80's.

I really wish Criterion would do an edition of RED DESERT, but I assume that a rights issue has prevented that from happening. The old Image DVD is long out of print, and it looked pretty crappy to boot - the colors were washed-out and way off, never a good thing but especially damning for a film in which color played such a central role.

I also note for those interested that one can also find, if one looks, DVDs of Antonioni's early work ("Story of a Love Affair," "The Girlfriends" and "The Struggle") which are all quite interesting, especially to fans of his later work.

I believe IL GRIDO is (or was) also available on DVD.

[BruceH]

Sheesh, they're dropping like flies! Who's next?

[brownie]

One Antonioni film which does not seem to be readily available these days is the 3-part film from 1965 (shot by different directors) 'I Tre Volti'.

The Antonioni segment had Princess Soraya (who had recently been repudiated by the Shah of Iran) during a film test.

I happened to be in Rome when it was released on Italian screen. Soraya might have been frontpage news at the time but she was no actress.

The film was pretty bad and the it was some kind of a disaster at the boxoffice, then was quickly withdrawn.

Still it would be interesting to see it how it fares today.

[porcy62]

I meet him once in his house in Rome, just after he got the Oscar.

My tutor at university was one the biggest Antonioni's expert, so he reccomended me to Antonioni's assistant and the assistant reccomended me to Antonioni. I was supposed to help him to catalogue all the stuff related to his works: scripts, books, paintings, photos, ecc, for a museum that his hometown, Ferrara, wanted to build.

I was sitting at the table in the kitchen with the Oscar between us. He couldn't talk anymore, but his eyes were bright and magnetic. It was a strange meeting, most of the talking were coming from a new young assistant and Antonioni's wife, but I couldn't loosen my eyes from Antonioni's gaze. I presume I was so excited and touched that I looked clumsy like a boy. However I never got the job and someone stolen the Oscar and other stuff one year later.

Edited July 31, 2007 by porcy62

[clifford_thornton]

Don't forget 'The Passenger,' an excellent film that I prefer to Blow-Up and Zabriskie.

[king ubu]

I thought it was a tetralogy - "L'avventura", "La notte", "L'eclisse" and "Il deserto rosso".

No use seing these on DVD, in my opinion (I haven't been able to see the last one yet, but it's always sad when nothing remains so I won't force it...). In my opinion, the first two of the mentioned ones are among the most beautiful films ever made. They may be boring to some, but they're among the most moving films to me, for sure. Lots better than "Blow Up" (cool, definitely, but not great) and "Zabriskie Point" (less cool, and less great, too, I find). Other than these five (fifth being "L'eclisse"), I haven't yet seen anything, but I can wait for the early ones and the rarer laters ones to appear in a theatre - wouldn't be nearly the same experience on TV, for sure.

By the way, the soundtrack to "La notte" was done by pianist/composer Giorgio Gaslini. He and his quartet also appear in the film, shortly. He's not exclusively a jazz musician, but he did a bunch of good sessions/albums, mostly released on Soulnote.

The soundtrack to "L'avventura" is one of the most fascinating ones I know - "L'eclisse" is similar, the opening sequence especially good - when the stoopid sixties twist song ends, there's sort of a hum you can't identify as part of the soundtrack really, but after a while, you see there's a fan in the room...

In "L'avventura" the best part is on the small island - there's that double 180° camera turn - a defining moment (for me, at least), and there's a most fascinating abstract/concrèt soundtrack. Of course the images are plain beauty - you could put each frame on your wall (blown up, of course...) and it would look great!

In "L'eclisse", Vitti is as great as she's in "L'avventura", but Delon is just too weak a baby-face... somehow he fits the part, since he is indeed incorporating a weak character... anyway, the main thing in "L'eclisse" may be how Antonioni uses architecture as almost a personified actor - the scene in the stock market is terrific!

[HWright]

Dave Garrett wrote: I believe IL GRIDO is (or was) also available on DVD

Sorry, Dave. My mistake. I was misremembering the English title of "Il Grido" as "The Struggle." The English title is in fact "The Outrcy." (I may also have been confusing "Il Grido" in my mind with Fellini's "Il Bidone" which is "The Swindle" or "The Swindlers" in English.)

Brownie wrote about Antonioni's sequence in 'I Tre Volti':

Some sequences with Princess Soraya appear in a documentary on Antonioni that is included in the Criterion edition of "L'avventurra." For some time after I saw that I wondered what the footage was from (it isn't explained in the documentary as far as I can tell, it just says it is from his latest film) and then I read about "I Tre Volti."

King Ubua wrote about how it's better to see them in a theater:

I agree with you, but alas it's not always possible. In the '90's when I was moving around a lot, I lived at various times in places like Ithaca, Boston, Paris, London and Montreal (cities with good film archives, cinematheques, revival houses, etc) and yet I think the only Antonioni movies I ever got to see on a big screen were "L'avventura" and "Blow Up." If I hadn't rented the VHS tapes initially and bought the DVDs later I just never would have seen them at all. And while I agree that a lot is lost in the transfer, it's better than not having seen them at all in my book. Moreover, in the years since then, the only one that I've had a chance to see in a theater is "The Passenger" which was in general rerelease prior to the DVD coming out.

Edited July 31, 2007 by HWright

[mikeweil]

R.I.P.

Antinioni was my personal favourite ever since I was enchanted by Blow Up.

It's his early films that are really fascinating - e.g. L'Aventura - he was way ahead of them all. The way Italian directors mused on male/female relations back then .....

[skeith]

Another great loss

[ejp626]

They've been having an Antonioni retrospective in Chicago. I thought about going to a few, esp. Red Desert, but I just couldn't find the time between work, writing research papers and trying to spend at least some time with my kids.