L’Avventura (1960)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

L’Avventura (1960) – M. Antonioni

Revisiting Antonioni’s breakthrough masterpiece for the first time in ages, I decided to listen to Gene Youngblood’s audio commentary while watching – it certainly deepened my appreciation of the film.  As you may recall, this is the work that was booed at Cannes, potentially because it sets up audience expectations about a mystery (Anna disappears from an outing by a small group of rich people to a deserted rocky island north of Sicily) that it then never solves (Anna is never found and the plot gradually drifts away from the search). Another reason for the booing may have been Antonioni’s determined break with the traditional film grammar of the time: here we have long shots and empty shots that create ambience (but may have been felt as longueurs by the audience) along with cuts that do not match, awkward close-ups of backs of heads, characters placed meaningfully but unusually in the frame, and so on. These choices serve to focus us on the internal psychology of these characters, which remains unspoken because they themselves can’t express how they feel.  Monica Vitti plays Claudia, a friend of Anna who is from a lower class – she may be the one having the “adventure” as she bears witness to the aimless behaviour of the bourgeoisie. Clearly, she is ambivalent, even as she succumbs to the advances of Anna’s fiancé, Sandro (Gabriele Ferzetti), who is dissatisfied with his life, having stopped pursuing his own architectural career to take on lucrative (but not creative) consulting positions for the idle rich.  According to Youngblood, Sandro pursues women (and sex) as a way to escape from the emptiness this decision has created in his soul. Antonioni places Sandro against many unique and beautiful architectural settings to subtly reinforce his problems. Indeed, the landscape itself (shot beautifully) contributes to the story, from the barren island to the empty places that Vitti and Sandro visit as they wander Italy, presumably searching for Anna but really falling in love (if Sandro is really capable of this) with the love scenes heightened by shots of the environment (as are all emotional moments, which might be punctuated by a look at the raging sea or a windblown tree). All the while, we see Anna’s mixed feelings and her transition (walking through archways) between uncertain and confident selves, going with the flow and actively choosing her fate. In the end, she takes stock of all she sees and feels pity for the plight of those adrift in modern society such as Sandro, those unable to make confident moral decisions. This is not to say that we know what is in her thoughts nor what her future may hold – if anything, Antonioni has left the whole film open to interpretation. For that reason, it rewards multiple careful viewings that expand your mind.