RED DESERT

SYNOPSIS

Michelangelo Antonioni’s first film in color, from 1964, is his most mysterious and awe-inspiring work. The accoutrements of modernity – heavy industry, atomic energy, petroleum waste, and a little boy’s scientific precocity – converge to shatter the psyche of an engineer’s wife in the Italian port of Ravenna. Giuliana (Monica Vitti) hasn’t regained her composure after a monthlong hospital stay following a suicide attempt, but the essence of her problem is metaphysical, and only her husband’s boss (Richard Harris) seems to understand. The film portrays Giuliana’s breakdown as a crisis of conscience and identity. The metallic river, the yellow poison gas and orange flames that spout from smokestacks, and the fields of debris are the film’s true main characters, pulling the strings of the human puppets who depend on them

DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY

Michelangelo Antonioni (1912–2007) is credited with defining the modern art film. Among the most-cited contributions of his cinema are their striking descriptions of that unique strain of post-boom ennui everywhere apparent in the transformed life and habits of the Italian middle and upper classes. Detecting profound technological, political and psychological shifts at work in post-WWII Italy, he set out to explore the ambiguities of a suddenly alienated and dislocated country. He is best known for L’Avventura (1960), Blow-Up (1966), The Passenger (1975) and Le Amiche (1955).

FESTIVALS AND AWARDS

Golden Lion; FIPRESCI Prize; New Cinema Award, Venice Film Festival 1964
Best Actress; Golden Cup, Golden Goblets, Italy 1965
Best Foreign Film, Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards 1967
Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists 1965
Cahiers du Cinéma 1964
New York Film Critics Circle Awards 1965

DESCRIPTION

RED DESERT (fic.) 
Director:
Michelangelo Antonioni
Country: Italy, France
Year: 1964.
Runtime: 117’
Language: Italian, Turkish
Cast: Monica Vitti, Richard Harris, Carlo Chionetti
Production: Film Duemila, Federiz, Francoriz Production
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PROGRAMME: MONICA VITTI TRIBUTE

Jugoslovenska kinoteka, 8. nov, 20.00