L'Avventura
by Michelangelo Antonioni
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Product details
Actor: Dominique Blanchar, Gabriele Ferzetti, Lea Massari, Monica Vitti, Renzo RicciDirector: Michelangelo Antonioni
Cinematographer: Aldo Scavarda
Writer: Michelangelo Antonioni
Editor: Eraldo Da Roma
Producer: Amato Pennasilico
Writer: Elio Bartolini
Writer: Tonino Guerra
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language); Italian (Original Language), Analog
Format: Black & White, NTSC, Subtitled
Running Time: 141 minutes
Release Date: 2000-06-16
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: Homevision
Studio: Homevision
VHS Movie Reviews of L'Avventura
Movie Review: Overrated
Summary: 3 Stars
Some films that are labeled classics, or great films, are not even good films. Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless immediately comes to mind. Others, like Michelangelo Antonioni's L'Avventura, whose title literally means The Adventure, as well as Italian slang for a one night stand, are not necessarily bad, but still only interesting failures, and not worthy of their reputation. L'Avventura was the first in a trilogy of black and white widescreen films Antonioni would make about alienation and personal anomy. The making of such trilogies was the rage at the time in European cinema, and, to an extent, still is. The trilogy was rounded out by La Notte and L'Eclisse in the two following years. When L'Avventura was released in 1960, it was greeted with catcalls at its world premiere, but won a Special Jury Prize at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival, and film critics championed it around the world. A few years later, one poll of critics listed it as the third greatest film of all time, after Citizen Kane and Battleship Potemkin. It now comes nowhere near Top Twenty lists. Both L'Avventura and Breathless were part of a claimed European revolution in film, where symbolism came to its apogee, and also included Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries, Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita and 8?, and the rest of the French New Wave. The reality of the film lies somewhere between the extremes. L'Avventura is a film that attempts much, but, after its interesting first third, it totally unravels with bad characterization, and narrative anomy, which is the fault of its three screenwriters, Antonioni, Elio Bartolini, and Tonino Guerra.
It follows a group of rich hedonists who are frolicking in the Mediterranean, off of Sicily, in the Aeolian Sea. The three main characters are Sandro (Gabriele Ferzetti), a playboy architect, his frigid and scheming fianc?e Anna (Lea Massari), and Anna's best friend Claudia (Monica Vitti), the archetypal gorgeous brunet and gorgeous blond. They sail to a deserted island, Lisca Bianca, and during the course of their adventure, Anna simply disappears. Before she does, we have seen that she does not love Sandro, is passive-aggressive towards Claudia, and generally disdainful of her life and all others in it. She solicits sex to fill her inner emptiness, and gets her jollies by playing her friends with false claims of a shark in the waters. Before the other characters realize Anna has disappeared, we see a small boast speed away from the island.... L'Avventura, despite its reputation for being innovative, fails for the exact same reasons that most less supposedly innovative films do- it has cardboard characters, does not follow through on an intriguing premise, throws in an unneeded romance that never convinces a viewer of its participants' sparks, goes on far too long, and is far too pretentious. On a more mundane level, I wish some of the money spent on the restoration could have been used to hire competent actors to dub the film into English. No DVD of quality should lack this feature. Film is a visual medium, and for a film which is supposedly so visual, this should be a must. If only this film's fans and apologists would actually take only what is seen onscreen, and not imbue the film with what they think is there, or feel was intended, then a more just and objective evaluation of this film as an interesting, but ultimately failed, attempt at something different, could be agreed upon.
In short, in art, intent is meaningless, because if not, we'd have to believe that very recognition of Antonioni's intent to bore the viewer somehow obviates the natural reaction of boredom, and thus all dull films could claim that boredom was their actual intent, thus leaving them not open to criticism on those grounds. Fortunately, intent is meaningless, and in that way one can say that L'Avventura misses the mark as a work of art, and is nowhere near as good as its vast reputation. Whether or not it's an actually bad film may depend only upon how much you value style over content, or gorgeous Italian babes in bathing suits. There are worse things to have to ponder, eh?
Movie Review: L'Avventura
Summary: 5 Stars
"L'Avventura" is one of those films in which nothing much happens, but it is fascinating all the same. A sense of absence pervades the movie, the characters themselves drenched in ennui. Anna and her reprobate boyfriend, Sandro, join their other jet set friends on a boat trip. Anna and Sandro have problems; they don't see each other all that much and, as a result, he has become a stranger to her. They have quarrels. She disappears on the trip. Her best friend, Claudia, is devastated. Has she been murdered? Has she committed suicide? Did she just run off?
The remainder of the film is Sandro and Claudia searching for Anna. They follow leads. They meander half-heartedly through villages. Their search lessens in intensity as their feelings for each other increase. Perhaps finding Anna is no longer a desirable outcome.
The characters' motivations are really not explained. They just act spontaneously. They live; they wander; they make love. The only one who might not have fallen completely over the edge of that lonely bourgeois abyss is Claudia, maybe because, as she says, she "grew up poor."
The film is beautifully shot; those leaves rustling at the very end reminded me of a similar scene in Blow Up. Monica Vitti is spectacular just as she would go on to be in L'Eclisse and especially Red Desert.
Movie Review: Simply beautiful!
Summary: 5 Stars
From the scenes of the sea and island at the beginning of the film to the portrayal of Claudia throughout it, the film is a visual masterpiece. Some of the scenes in this film are so breathtakingly beautiful - it's worth it to see this work of art for this reason alone. However, there are other reasons to fall in love with it.
The story begins with a group of wealthy young Italians out for a day cruise on the Mediterranean. They decide to explore an island. Anna, a girl from the group, goes missing on the island, and her devoted best friend, Claudia (the film's protagonist), begins the search for her (which lasts for the rest of the film). Rife with symbolism, that the plot follows Claudia's search for Anna, or "adventure," first on the island and then elsewhere in Italy, serves to underscore the film's main motif - that of self-discovery. However, I will leave the rest of the film to you, dear reader, to decipher. I highly recommend this film.
Movie Review: Its Greatness Precedes Its Reputation
Summary: 5 Stars
Like many of the best things in life, I came into the ownership of this film by accident. I was collecting the noir titles of the Criterion Collection and this film was categorized in that genre. This is not a noir film in any dimension.
I sat down and was spellbound from beginning to end. First, the cinematography was visually stunning, the lush black and white imagery set the tone of story contrasts. You immediately get the sense that something much more than talking heads spouting dialogue is going on. Frankly much of the dialogue is incidental to the film. Slowly, I began to grasp the grammar of the film, the contrasts between old and new, between substance and illusion and was drawn in. You quickly determine that something much more than a mysterious disappearance is going on. Ringing true, a character is there, and then she is not, with little or no explanation.
The theme is the transitory, opportunistic and shallow nature of "modern relationships." The principle characters set out on a quest that ends in a stunning conclusion. Film critic Joel Youngblood (passionate devote' of this film) provides a perfect narration of the film that should be viewed after you run through it first with just subtitles. You will be amazed with the detail and what is going on in this film as he leads you through it.
The director, Michelangelo Antonioni created a trilogy of sorts of this special type of film. My personal favorite of the three and the one I highly recommend L'Eclisse is also available in a richly narrated Criterion Collection version with a stupendous quality transfer. Monica Vitti is the lead actress in L'Eclisse also.
La Aventura is a compelling film that tends to draw you into repeat viewings. It is rich with visual nuance and camera shots that tell the story, instead of the actor's words. The film is revealed in the imagery more than through the dialogue. The lead actor Gabriele Ferzetti and the beautiful actress Monica Vitti sweep you away into their adventure journey. The ending is at once is impossible but probable. Wow! This is a CD to own, treasure and watch too many times. Careful, it is habit-forming, more like addictive.
Movie Review: L'Avventura
Summary: 5 Stars
A groundbreaking film but the long overview in English, which precedes the actual film is most fatiguing and can be skipped
Summary of L'Avventura
When a young woman disappears on a yachting trip, her lover and her best friend lead a futile search and then begin their own affair. Antonioni's tale of Italy's idle rich, distinguished by his remarkable way of juxtaposing subjects in their environment, redefined our views of time and space in cinema.Considered by many to be his masterpiece, L'Avventura positioned Michelangelo Antonioni as an international talent. What appears to be a search for a missing person is actually an examination of alienation and self-discovery found along a voyage through the morally decadent world of the idle rich. Less concerned with a smooth plotline, Antonioni tells his story through the use of symbolic images and flawless character development. Using 'real time' camera shots and rich, landscape imagery, Michelangelo Antonioni creates an unpredictable world where nothing is ever resolved. Ironically, what makes L'Avventura so unpredictable is the high level of realism portrayed by each character and their environments. This isn't your packaged, formulaic film with a happy ending. A tough one to watch but well worth it...and it gets better and better with repeat viewings. L'Avventura is quintessential Antonioini. Not to be missed. --Rob Bracco
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