The first film of Michelangelo Antonioni’s “alienation trilogy”. Antonioni’s masterpiece is a visual wonder through clever cinematography and symbolism. A captivating film for those who want something different, non-traditional and artistic. Definitely recommended!
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TITLE: L’Avventura – THE CRITERION COLLECTION #98
YEAR OF MOVIE: 1960
DURATION: 143 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: Black and White, Italian Monaural, 1:77:1 Aspect Ratio, Subtitles: English
COMPANY: Janus Film/The Criterion Collection
RELEASED: 2001
Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni
Story by Michelangelo Antonioni
Screenplay by Michelangelo Antonioni, Elio Bartolini, Tonino Guerra
Produced by Amato Pennasilico
Music by Giovanni Fusco
Cinematography by Aldo Scavarda
Edited by Eraldo Da Roma
Production Design by Piero Poletto
Costume Design by Adriana Berselli
Starring:
Gabrielle Ferzetti as Sandro
Monica Vitti as Claudia
Lea Massari as Anna
Dominique Blanchar as Giulia
Renzo Ricci as Anna’s Father
James Addams as Corrado
Dorothy De Poliolo as Gloria Perkins
Lelio Luttazzi as Raimondo
Giovanni Petrucci as Prince Goffredo
Esemeralda Ruspoli as Patrizia
A girl mysteriously disappears on a yachting trip. While her lover and her best friend search for her across Italy, they begin an affair. Antonioni’s penetrating study of the idle upper class offers stinging observations on spiritual isolation and the many meanings of love. Criterion is proud to present this milestone of film grammar in a double-disc special edition.
In 1962, Michelangelo Antonioni (who has earned the nickname “the Master of Alienationâ€) released the first film of his alienation trilogy titled L’Avventura.
The Italian modernist director was known for his radical new style, not following any convention of filmmaking and most of all, characters and events are disconnected. The cinematography of his films were not only stunning but also artistic and also symbolic. One can watch his films and literally come up with their own interpretation of a scene and how they relate to the state of mind of a character.
“L’avventura” (1960) was an international success and would introduce the world to the actress Monica Vitti, Antonioni’s muse who would appear as the main character in several of his films.
And when it comes to Antonioni films, especially the films starring Monica Vitti, many try to watch these films and try to see how architecture, objects and symbolism have their part in the actual film. While those who understand Antonioni’s films feel a connection and a deep meaning within his films, others may find his films infuriating because his films do not follow the traditional sense of storytelling.
The film revolves around two friends, Anna (played by Lea Massari) and her best friend Claudia (played by Monica Vitti). We have a sense at the beginning of the film that Anna has a disconnection with her father and even her best friend.
She goes with Claudia to meet her boyfriend/fiance Sandro (played by Gabrielle Ferzetti) and tells her friend to wait outside for her, but immediately Anna wants sex with her boyfriend and if anything, a confirmation of Sandro’s feelings for her. A wanting to feel close to each other despite having a long distant relationship.
Three three end up joining their socialite friends and travel in the ocean. Immediately, we see a few unusual situations that catches Claudia by surprise. One scene features Anna trying to give Claudia one of her shirts and another scene features Anna pretending that a shark was in the ocean while they were swimming.
The group end up visiting a deserted island in which they walk around the rocky areas of the island and Anna tries to talk with Sandro about their relationship but it appears Sandro is more interested in enjoying their trip. As the group prepare to get back on their yacht and go back home, Anna is missing.
Everyone looks around for her to no avail. Anna is nowhere to be found and while some of the group go on to get some help, Claudia, Sandro and another friend stay in the island in hopes they can find Anna. Unfortunately, a storm is coming to the island and both Claudia and Sandro begin to worry.
But instead of worrying about Anna, Sandro seems to be worried about Claudia’s well-being which puts her off a bit.
When their friends return the following day with help, a search is underway throughout the island to see if Anna fell to her death and is in the ocean or if she is roaming around the island. Everyone tries to look for them. As Claudia comes out of her room to change her outfit, immediately, Sandro tries to kiss her and once again, Claudia is shocked and put off by it.
Unfortunately, there is no luck finding Anna and both decide to put their effort into finding her back home in Italy. Perhaps she rode a boat back home? Hope that Anna is still alive. And as Claudia and Sandro continue to look for Anna in various cities, Sandro has fallen for Claudia and wants to be with her and soon enough, despite their continuing search for Anna, the two find themselves falling in love with each other.
VIDEO:
“L’Avventura – THE CRITERION COLLECTION #98” is presented in 1:77:1 black and white and the print for this film is absolutely gorgeous. Granted, this is an older 2001 DVD release, so this is one title that I hope to see the Criterion Collection giving an HD treatment.
Just the visual imagery captured by Aldo Scarvada is beautiful and for those who are familiar with Antonioni’s films, visual imagery is very important as various backgrounds and objects have a symbolic meaning. Blacks are nice and deep and there is a good amount of detail that can be seen. With that being said, as this is an older DVD release, combing can be seen at times, as well as some blurriness. But for the most part, “L’Avventura” is a beautiful film that is deserving an HD release and hopefully Criterion considers it for Blu-ray treatment.
According to the Criterion Collection, “L’Avventura” was given a new digital transfer which was created from a 35mm composite fine-grain master positive on a high-definition Spirit Datacine. The MTI Digital Restoration System was utilized to remove thousands of instances of dirt and scratches.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“L’Avventura – THE CRITERION COLLECTION #98” is presented in Italian Dolby Digital monaural with English subtitles. According to the Criterion Collection, the sound was mastered from a 35mm optical soundtrack. Audio is very clear and noticed no hissing or any problematic audio issues.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“L’Avventura – THE CRITERION COLLECTION #98” comes with the following special features:
DISC 1:
- AUDIO COMMENTARY – Featuring an in-depth audio commentary by film critic Gene Youngblood. Youngblood is very familiar with Antonioni’s work and understands the symbolism. Definitely one of the best Criterion Collection audio commentaries out there!
DISC 2:
- Antonioni: Documents and Testimonials – The first documentary about Michelangelo Antonioni to receive his approval. Produced in collaboration with the Film Board of Canada in 1966, director Gianfranco Mingozzi gives viewers the opportunity to observe the director on the set, listen to his close friends, colleagues and interpreters.
- Jack Nicholson reads essays by Antonioni – Jack Nicholson worked with Michelangelo Antonioni on “The Passenger”. Nicholson talks about his work with Antonioni and reads various essays circulated to press and foreign distributors of “L’Avventura”.  Featuring “L’Avventura: A Moral Adventure” (21:09), “Reflections on the Film Actor” (11:23) and “Working with Antonioni” (5:15).
- Theatrical Trailer – (2:12) The original English theatrical trailer.
- Restoration Demonstration – (3:31) A demonstration of the before and after look of “L’Avventura” through restoration and remastering.
“L’Avventura” is a film that many Antonioni fans believe is one of his best. And I have to agree, “L’Avventura” is indeed a true masterpiece but at the same time, it’s a film that is not meant for those who are used to traditional film writing and those who are not used to watching scenery, trees, architecture and not looking at the symbolic meaning of those things that are in the background of the characters.
People want simplicity but Michelangelo Antonioni is not about simplicity. It’s about human communication, the lack of thereof. It’s about alienation, it’s about the art of cinema. Like a painting in which one can watch it and come up with a variety of interpretations, the same with an an Antonioni film, especially for his film “L’Avventura”.
Yes, the story has a mystery of a woman missing under odd circumstance and although traditional cinema would try to focus on that mystery and add a layer of suspense, Antonioni is not Hitchcock and therefore one should not expect the obvious. The missing and mysterious Anna may have seemed as if she was a priority at the beginning, but she was more or less a person that would feed the fire between the two characters Claudia and Sandro.
Sandro, a man who seems to find himself needing women not for the long term relationship but more for a sense of comfort and sexual needs. While Claudia, knows that if she pursues Sandro, she knows she is doing wrong and when she does, there is a guilt that she doesn’t want Anna to be found or for her to turn up because she wants to be with Sandro.
And for most films you would watch for this and see how the characters progress and wonder if Anna will be found, but that is not the intent of the filmmaker.
The cinematography plays a big part in uncovering the human emotion. In “L’Avventura” and “L’Eclisse”, these are two films in which the viewer must take into account of what is shown on screen and what it has to do with the character.   The characters of Antonioni’s trilogy are shallow individuals, people who do not know how to communicate with each other.
Anna doesn’t communicate with her fiance, fiance doesn’t communicate with his girlfriend, Anna doesn’t communicate with Claudia and Claudia doesn’t question the things that Anna does. The only time we see communication is through sex. These are things that we see common in Antonioni’s trilogy. Passiveness, lack of communication and emotional connection, only through sexual communication are these people striving for. Eroticism, which Antonioni has said in an interview is the decline of society and something he felt he wanted to address through “L’Avventura”. He doesn’t fix them, he shows them as is and you, as a viewer are left to interpret it, like a painting.
When you see a shot of Sandro and a big building in the background is shown. That building that looks like a phallic building definitely has its importance in symbolism. When you see trees rustling in the wind, if Claudia is not communicating, then you know that tree is representative of what is burning inside her.   Claudia is one who is capable of loving, yet she is caught up with a man who is incapable of it.
Film Critic Andrew Sarris wrote in his review of the film (from Village Voice, 1960), “For Antonioni, there is no solution to the moral problem created by the failure of contemporary behavior to meet the hypocritical standards of ancient codes.”
There is no solution, there is no closure.  It is what it is.
Sarris pointed out that “Antonioni is demonstrating the inadequacy of sexual encounters as a means of moral communication. The erotic disease subordinates the person to the process, and one’s specific identity is lost”.
Film critic Pauline Kael’s interpretation of the film was also quite interesting. Kael wrote (in her 1961 review), “‘L’Avventura’ is a study of the human condition at the higher social and economic levels, a study of adjusted, compromising man – afflicted by short memory, thin remorse, easy betrayal. The characters are passive as if post-analytic, active only in trying to discharge their anxiety – sex is their sole means of contact and communication”.
Kael goes on to write, “Antonioni’s space is a kind of vacuum in which people are aimlessly moving – searchers and lost are all the same, disparate, without goals or joy.”
And I agree with both critics. There are no goals, there is no joy. It is what it is and how you interpret it.
As for The Criterion Collection release of “L’Avventura”, this is a solid DVD release. And is one of those releases that should be in their queue for Blu-ray consideration. Granted, I would still love to see Antonioni’s “Blow Up” or the second film the trilogy “La Notte” released as well, there is no denying that this is a beautifully shot film and a film that is so Antonioni that you can’t help but watch it again and again and see what else you were able to pick up through the various images shown onscreen. The film is an indeed a visual delight but with that being said, it’s not a film mean for everyone.
The commentary by Gene Youngblood is one of the best commentaries on a Criterion Collection release and he goes into detail of his interpretation of various symbolic meanings of a variety of scenes and found his commentary to be in-depth, fascinating and well-presented.
And of course, you get a few special features especially Jack Nicholson talking about working with Antonioni and then a documentary of Antonioni up-front and personal and also interviews with childhood friends, talents and more. Just a wonderful inclusion on this DVD.
Overall, I have enjoyed “L’Avventura” for a long time now. It’s one of those films that continues to challenge me because I always come up with a different interpretation of the symbolic nature of the film and yet, I find myself just amazed of what the filmmaker and his crew were able to get on film and yet challenging and catching the attention of the viewer through cinematography. And it was done successfully.
Although a film more for the cineaste, if anyone is willing to discover the oeuvre of Michelangelo Antonioni, “L’Avventura” is simply a must-watch film and also a must-own film.
Highly recommended!
