L'avventura
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| L'avventura | |
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| Directed by | Michelangelo Antonioni |
| Produced by | Raymond Hakim Robert Hakim Cino Del Duca Amato Pennasilico Luciano Perugia |
| Written by | Michelangelo Antonioni Elio Bartolini Tonino Guerra |
| Starring | Monica Vitti Gabriele Ferzetti |
| Music by | Giovanni Fusco |
| Cinematography | Aldo Scavarda |
| Editing by | Eraldo Da Roma |
| Distributed by | Janus Films (USA) |
| Release date(s) |  1960 (premiere at Cannes) 29 June 1960 4 March 1961 |
| Running time | 145 min |
| Country | Italy / France |
| Language | Italian |
| Preceded by | Il grido |
| Followed by | La notte |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
L'avventura (The Adventure) is a 1960 Italian film written and directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. Monica Vitti and Gabriele Ferzetti star. The film is notable for its slow pacing and careful composition, and for its unusual narrative structure. It was produced on location in Italy under difficult financial and physical conditions and made Monica Vitti an international star. The film is the first of a trilogy by Antonioni; it is followed by La notte and L'eclisse.
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[edit] Synopsis
L'avventura has an unusual narrative structure in which the apparently important central mystery is gradually forgotten and left unsolved. The story begins with a group of rich couples from Rome who take a boat trip and visit a virtually unpopulated volcanic island off the coast of Sicily. One of them, a young woman named Anna, wanders off and vanishes without a trace. The others search for her, but then give up, gradually adjust to her disappearance and drift back into their own lives. The rest of the story loosely centers on the relationship that develops between Anna's lover and her best friend. The final scene has nothing directly to do with Anna (except perhaps for the thought that her fate is unknowable); instead, it focuses on how people cope with themselves and each other.
[edit] Responses
Released in 1960, the film was booed by some members of the audience during its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival; however, it won the Special Jury Prize. Although the film influenced the visual language of cinema, forever changing how subsequent movies looked, and has been named by some critics as one of the best ever made, it has been criticized by others for its uneventful plot, allegedly slow pacing and existentialist themes.[citation needed] Along with much of Antonioni's other work, L'avventura is often cited as an early feminist film with strong and richly characterized female protagonists.[citation needed]
[edit] Meaning and Symbolism
Much is made of the significance of Anna's disappearance and its lack of ultimate resolution. Roger Ebert describes Anna's vanishing as indicative of the dubious presences of all the film's characters. The film is populated with wealthy and vacuous characters devoid of close, fulfilling relationships. They are all, says Ebert, "on the brink of disappearance."[1]
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Gabriele Ferzetti | Sandro |
| Monica Vitti | Claudia |
| Lea Massari | Anna |
| Dominique Blanchar | Giulia |
| Renzo Ricci | Anna's Father |
| Dorothy de Poliolo | Gloria Perkins |
| Esmeralda Ruspoli | Patrizia |
| James Addams | Corrado |
| Lelio Luttazzi | Raimondo |
| Giovanni Petrucci | Young Prince |
| Jack O'Connell | Old man on the island |
| Angela Tomasi di Lampedusa | The Princess |
[edit] Notes
[edit] External links
- M.Antonioni : Tribute site
- New York Times review
- L'Avventura at the Internet Movie Database
- L'Avventura at Allmovie
- Essay on the film
- Roger Ebert on L'Avventura
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