Oh Monica Vitti...

L'Ecclise(dir. Michelangelo Antonioni)
Since he died recently and I've had an interest in seeing his work, I decided to check this out. I was hestitant about seeing his work because usually I hear the word "boring" to describe it. This film surprised me because it wasn't boring at first and was actually really compelling, but this director obviously doesn't know when to stop with some scenes and go on to the next. The stock market scene when Vittoria is not present and the end come to mind. I feel the theme that this film is supposedly dealing with doesn't get examined as thoroughly compared to how it gets examined in a film by Tsai Ming-liang, who obviously was influenced by him. I can see the detachment especially when it becomes almost painfully obvious in a scene where Piero is more concerned about the shape of his car than the dead body in it. It's kind of superficial in it's examination. Sure, this must have been ground-breaking at the time, but it seems kind of ridiculous to show the rich as stereotypically out of touch with humanity and more concerned with material goods. I think the greatest aspect of this film is the sense of impeding doom that is felt throughout most of the picture. During the end, you almost expect a nuke to go off since it feels like a horror film with it's score and images of vast open streets. The newspaper shown at the end must have had some importance since the subtitles translated it for the audience. It could be Antonioni saying that detachment can cause nuclear war to break out in the days of the Cold War, which is a sound judgement, but it feels too far-reaching especially since the film has a relatively intimate and contained story. The film doesn't really adhere to a typical narrative structure, but you still get a sense of moving to some point. The end was a little much in terms of length, but I can see how individuals could think it was bold because it is. I just can't say it was entirely successful. Monica Vitti, while not really that sexy especially compared to someone like Claudia Cardinale, makes detachment almost seem fashionable with her performance. I hated the sound of her laugh, though. It was good and I will check out some of his other work.
*** out of ****