Veni Vidi Vitti: Il Deserto Rosso (1964)
Special Classic Monica Vitti

Veni Vidi Vitti: Il Deserto Rosso (1964)

Hoezo in KINO

Michelangelo Antonioni’s stunning mid-career masterpiece, and his first film in color, gives another provocative look at the spiritual desolation of the technological age and is therefore regarded as a companion piece to his trilogy of 1960s classics on contemporary alienation. Il deserto rosso tells the story of a disaffected woman (Monica Vitti), wandering through a bleak industrial landscape beset by power plants and environmental toxins, and tentatively flirting with her husband’s coworker, played by Richard Harris. With one startling, painterly composition after another – of abandoned fishing cottages, electrical towers, looming docked ships – Il deserto rosso creates a nearly apocalyptic image of its time. Italian Language with English subtitles.

Credits

Regie
Michelangelo Antonioni
Cast
Monica Vitti, Richard Harris, Carlo Chionetti, Xenia Valderi
Genre
drama
Speelduur
117 minuten
Land
Italië
Taal
Italiaans
Ondertiteling
English

Storyline

Amid the modern wastelands and toxic factories of Italy, wife and mother Giuliana desperately tries to conceal her tenuous grip on reality from those around her, especially her successful yet neglectful husband, Ugo. Ugo’s old pal, Corrado, shows up in town on a business trip and is more sensitive to Giuliana’s anxieties. They begin an affair, but it does little to quell Giuliana’s existential fears, and her mental state rapidly deteriorates.