L'Avventura
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L'avventura (The Adventure) is an Italian film written and directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. Monica Vitti and Gabriele Ferzetti star.
Released in 1960 and booed by audiences at Cannes when it was first shown, L'avventura won the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Although the film influenced the visual language of cinema, forever changing how subsequent movies looked, and has been named by some critics as one of the best ever made, it has been criticized by others for its uneventful plot, allegedly slow pacing and existentialist themes. Along with much of Antonioni's other work, L'avventura is often cited as an early feminist film with strong and richly characterized female protagonists.
It was produced on location in Italy under difficult financial and physical conditions and made Monica Vitti an international star.
Story
The story begins with a group of rich couples from Rome (accompanied by Vitti's character) who take a boat trip and visit a virtually unpopulated volcanic island off the coast of Sicily. One of them, a young woman named Anna, wanders off and vanishes without a trace. The rest of the film follows the others as they react and search for her, then gradually adjust to her disappearance and drift back into their own lives. The story is somewhat centered on the relationship that develops between Anna's lover and her best friend. The final scene has nothing directly to do with Anna (except perhaps for the thought that her fate is unknowable) but much with how people cope with themselves and each other.
External links
- [M.Antonioni] : Tribute site
- [New York Times review]
- [Geoffrey Nowell-Smith essay at criterionco.com]
- [Michelangelo Antonioni essay at criterionco.com]
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