Il deserto rosso
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| Il deserto rosso | |
|---|---|
 DVD Cover of English version |
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| Directed by | Michelangelo Antonioni |
| Produced by | Antonio Cervi |
| Written by | Michelangelo Antonioni Tonino Guerra |
| Starring | Monica Vitti Richard Harris |
| Music by | Giovanni Fusco Vittorio Gelmetti |
| Cinematography | Carlo Di Palma |
| Editing by | Eraldo Da Roma |
| Distributed by | Rizzoli (USA) |
| Release date(s) |  4 September 1964 |
| Running time | 120 min |
| Country | Italy/France |
| Language | Italian |
| IMDb profile | |
Il deserto rosso (English: The red desert) is a Michelangelo Antonioni film made in 1964. It was written by Antonioni and Tonino Guerra and stars Monica Vitti, Richard Harris and others. It is Antonioni's first color film.
[edit] Plot
The story is about the young mentally distressed woman Giuliana (Monica Vitti) who suffered a car accident. Although she is married to Ugo (Carlo Chionetti), plant designer, and has a young son, she feels disconnected from the world that surrounds her. She does not know how to connect to it and feels that something in it is terribly wrong. Ugo's friend Zeller (Richard Harris), who came to Ravenna to make a business deal, pursues her attracted by her beauty and enigma. He begins to understand her troubles better than her preoccupied husband, but it is still not enough.
It is a story about the harshness of humanity and its blindness to see the world it created. Only the neurotic Guiliana is awakened, seeing and feeling the profound alienation and suffering it all.
The story is set in the industrial area of Ravenna that decorates cold and silent factories and machines, and a harbour. The story is told in the language of colors, scenery and sounds involving pastel colors with the cold whiteness, repetitive ghostly sound of ship horns, scenes of smoke and fog covering everything. The film astonishes with its beautiful imagery, elegantly conducted atmosphere, interesting poetic dialogues and the moral of the story gaining high artistic value.
[edit] Awards
This film was awarded the Golden Lion at The Venice Film Festival in 1964.
