2005-02-09 02:51:54尚未設定
Red Desert
(reviewed on 4/2/05)
Red Desert (Il Deserto rosso)
year: 1964
country: Italy, France
directed by: Michelangelo Antonioni
Giuliana: I feel my eyes tearing up. What should I do with my eyes? What should I watch?
Corrado: You ask what you should watch. I ask how I should live. It's the same thing.
Are they the same thing? In Michelangelo Antonioni's visually stunning 'Red Desert', they are. With one of the very best cinematography I've seen on film, the 1964 colour film is obviously better understood with what is shown on screen instead of what is said by the characters. Indeed, I'd say the wonderfully poetic visuals alone are enough a reason for anyone to see this movie.
Set in an industrial wasteland, the film centres on a beautiful woman, Giuliana (played by Antonioni's frequent actress, Monica Vitti), who's suffering from depression following a traffic accident. Gradually, she succumbs to the advances of her husband's colleague, Corrado (Richard Harris), as if thinking that the affair could help her back into reality. The simple story is complemented with some visits to the deadly polluted environment, a sex party in a house at the middle of the sea, a fake polio case of her son, a secret meeting at a hotel, and highlighted by a dream sequence in which a lonely girl wander around a pink-sanded beach, seeing a ghost ship and hearing the singing of rocks.
Although the film doesn't mention the exact time of the narrative, the completely deserted town where the protagonists live in and the huge industrial landscape always covered by fog suggest a near future. The dreamlike, apocalyptic vision in the movie brings out the strong sense of human disconnection between the characters and also the enviroment. While at times the front shots of characters are mysteriously made out-of-focus, that theme is most vividly expressed in the dock sequence, where the other characters seen by Giuliana slowly vanish into the dense fog. Besides, the film also occasionally includes background sound effects of the screaming of women and the humming of industrial plants. The two types of sound are so similar to each other that it vaguely feels like the inner part of the heroine is screaming with her dreadful surroundings.
In 'Red Desert', plots are largely disjointed. One moment, Giuliana might be having an affair with Corrado; the next moment, she's already venturing into the darkness of the industrial plants, meeting an unknown factory worker who happens to be there. Sure it helps to comprehend the narrative when we take into considerations that the heroine is suffering from mental illness; the film has done a great job in creating the sense of alienation towards its viewers. As to whether 'The Red Desert' is the director's statement on modern humanity as most scholars have claimed, let's be frank: I'm not as sure.
Or you may assume, I'm quite conservative towards the filmic decision to shape the worldview as a dystopia through the irrational eyes of mentally disturbed characters, as in the case of Shinji Iwai's 'Picnic' (which coincidentally, also has an abrupt ending). The 'meanings' that we get in these films are all implied, and, in my opinion, usually for the sake of looking academic.
rating: 7/10
Red Desert (Il Deserto rosso)
year: 1964
country: Italy, France
directed by: Michelangelo Antonioni
Giuliana: I feel my eyes tearing up. What should I do with my eyes? What should I watch?
Corrado: You ask what you should watch. I ask how I should live. It's the same thing.
Are they the same thing? In Michelangelo Antonioni's visually stunning 'Red Desert', they are. With one of the very best cinematography I've seen on film, the 1964 colour film is obviously better understood with what is shown on screen instead of what is said by the characters. Indeed, I'd say the wonderfully poetic visuals alone are enough a reason for anyone to see this movie.
Set in an industrial wasteland, the film centres on a beautiful woman, Giuliana (played by Antonioni's frequent actress, Monica Vitti), who's suffering from depression following a traffic accident. Gradually, she succumbs to the advances of her husband's colleague, Corrado (Richard Harris), as if thinking that the affair could help her back into reality. The simple story is complemented with some visits to the deadly polluted environment, a sex party in a house at the middle of the sea, a fake polio case of her son, a secret meeting at a hotel, and highlighted by a dream sequence in which a lonely girl wander around a pink-sanded beach, seeing a ghost ship and hearing the singing of rocks.
Although the film doesn't mention the exact time of the narrative, the completely deserted town where the protagonists live in and the huge industrial landscape always covered by fog suggest a near future. The dreamlike, apocalyptic vision in the movie brings out the strong sense of human disconnection between the characters and also the enviroment. While at times the front shots of characters are mysteriously made out-of-focus, that theme is most vividly expressed in the dock sequence, where the other characters seen by Giuliana slowly vanish into the dense fog. Besides, the film also occasionally includes background sound effects of the screaming of women and the humming of industrial plants. The two types of sound are so similar to each other that it vaguely feels like the inner part of the heroine is screaming with her dreadful surroundings.
In 'Red Desert', plots are largely disjointed. One moment, Giuliana might be having an affair with Corrado; the next moment, she's already venturing into the darkness of the industrial plants, meeting an unknown factory worker who happens to be there. Sure it helps to comprehend the narrative when we take into considerations that the heroine is suffering from mental illness; the film has done a great job in creating the sense of alienation towards its viewers. As to whether 'The Red Desert' is the director's statement on modern humanity as most scholars have claimed, let's be frank: I'm not as sure.
Or you may assume, I'm quite conservative towards the filmic decision to shape the worldview as a dystopia through the irrational eyes of mentally disturbed characters, as in the case of Shinji Iwai's 'Picnic' (which coincidentally, also has an abrupt ending). The 'meanings' that we get in these films are all implied, and, in my opinion, usually for the sake of looking academic.
rating: 7/10