Red Desert (DVD + Blu-ray) [1964]

I discovered this extraordinary movie a week ago. The BFI blu-ray edition of "il deserto rosso" looked quite good to me. My only criticism pertains to the subtitles which are available only in english. I would have liked the original italian. The film is an absolute masterpiece, commented over and over again. The intimate emotional drama of the heroine plays against the background of the aesthetics of the industrial world of the 60's. Antonioni manages to create perfect images of a universe that offers no help to the disheartened. No doubt, this opposition remains ours and our daily task to try to make sense of.

This would have been a stunning set as it includes both blu-ray and standard definition discs, as well as a handy booklet with quotes from Antonioni himself. However, on opening the new pack, one disc was damaged and not serviceable in any way.The seller (Moviestore) refunded the cost quickly and kept in touch over the problem.

Following the success of 'L'avventura', 'La notte', and 'L'eclisse', Antonioni follows up with another study of modern isolation starring his muse Monica Vitti. And, this time, it's in colour.

Admittedly seen in its full glory at the cinema, where it was breathtaking. The lead actress is incredibly beautiful and mysterious in her role. The colour, the sets, the fashion, the scenes, the acting, true art. With gratitude and full credit to the directors and writers, a film full of feeling and understanding and beauty, simply heaven.

I generally love Italian films, and the 1960s. The scenes are beautiful with 1960s clothing, hairstyle and cars. What I missed was a strong gripping story. You can't win them all.

The reason this film is hard to watch is that the dialogues and the script were chopped up in the edit by Antonioni. As a result there are big jumps in the story and the action will puzzle a modern viewer. Back then people were prepared to swallow anything by a revered art house director. This is a shame, because Antonioni, had he had the wisdom and the humility of better filmmakers, could have made something that would have worked both as a story and as a work of art on different levels. The best way to watch this is with the commentary by Italian film scholar David Forgacs which is on the Blu ray version. An interesting factoid is that Antonioni was so rude to Richard Harris toward the end of the film that he walked off the set and the rest of the film had to be shot without him after altering the script. This says everything you need to know about Antonioni at this stage of his career, not how many Golden Lions or Golden Bears this 'work of art' has won.

Antonioni, love him or hate him, I mean Blow Up (read the short story - the devil's dribble) was special but becuse it had swinging London in it - the feeling that an episode of the Avengers is round the corner - then the Passenger and then I thought the red dessert. I mean desert but one felt like sending it back. It has soom wierd scenes in it. Monica Vitti looks on the verge of something throughout, but one is not sure what. Harris looks puzzled by everything, maybe by the fact that when he talks Italian comes out, and let's face it, he is a brute of a man, uterly out of place as a company director type. There is a strip tease artist in it, famous and at one point things become oddly fruity and yet it all tails off. A comment on Italian Industry. Not really Blow Up territory.

The best representation of alienation and depression I've seen on film.