Extraleague: Michelangelo Antonioni bloc 2

dokumentART 2012: 15.11.2012, Thursday, 18:00
Lulu Club, Partyzantów 2 (where is that?)
Blok tematyczny: Top League

This year's Extraleague presents the life work of a prominent Italian director – Michelangelo Antonioni. He started his film career working with such directors as Roberto Rossellini, Federico Fellini, Giuseppe De Santis, and Marcel Carne. He debuted in 1947 with his documentary film “People of the Po Valley”. Creating this film took him four years, and even in its first image one notices the author's incredible visual sensitivity. The film, which became a turning point in Antonioni's career was “The adventure” (1960), as it stirred great controversy at the Cannes Film Festival – booed by the audience, it gained recognition among the critics.

As Antonioni was sceptical towards the changing reality of his days, he showed man in isolation from the outside world, in emotional instability and alienation. The director, known for his long shots, focused instead on the inside world of his protagonists, whereas the narration and action were of secondary importance. His protagonists were most often loners, unable to create a lasting, close relationship with another person, and fruitlessly seeking the truth. Reality escapes the laws of logic, and the world created by Antonioni in his narratives is full of appearances and illusions.

Films

  • Sicilia / Sycylia, 10'

    ITA 1997, 10'

    Sicily seen by Antonioni is a series of beautiful landscapes. The documentary portrays everyday life of this land and its inhabitants. An ordinary picture manages to hypnotise and seduce the viewer. A short impression introduces us into a mysterious world that was very close to Antonioni. The director captures the moment, watches the surrounding reality closely and analyses it, unhurriedly creating a picture of this Mediterranean island.

     

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  • Identification of a Woman / Identyfikacja kobiety, 128'

    ITA, FRA 1982, 128’

    Cast: Tomas Milian, Daniela Silverio, Christine Boisson

    Nicolo (Tomas Milian), whose wife left him, decides to make a film about relationships between men and women. He begins the search for a woman to play the starring role, and that is how he meets Mavi (Daniela Silverio) – his sister's patient. Soon, Niccolo starts getting mysterious letters, and one day the woman disappears... The stereotypical love story is only a background for an insightful psychological analysis of female nature, which Antonioni took up in his films. After its premiere, the film was regarded to be very erotic, which aroused a lot of controversy among the audience.

     

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  • Superstition / Przesąd, 9'

    ITA 1949, 9'

    Antonioni shows how superstitions and old wives' tales accompany Italian countrymen from their birth until their death. Blind faith in magical properties of objects, incantations, and irrational rituals organise their lives. The director pictures the absurdity of those beliefs in an instructional way: a woman is kneeling on a patch and eating parsley without using her hands, as it is supposed to help her in getting milk for her baby. The narrator talks about how to put a hex on somebody and how to protect yourself from one. Superstitions and rituals enrich the people's monotonous life and give hope for a better fate, e.g. bathing a newborn child in water with: a coin, a feather, a piece of wood, a piece of iron and a pair of scissors is supposed to bring the baby happiness in its adult life.

     

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  • Red desert / Czerwona pustynia, 120'

    ITA, FRA 1964, 120'

    Cast: Monica Vitti, Richard Harris, Carlo Chionetti, Xenia Valderi, Rita Renoir, Lili Rheims, Aldo Grotti, Valerio Bartoleschi, Emanuela Paola Carboni

    The first picture of Michelangelo Antonioni in colour is regarded a revolutionary masterpiece in the history of cinema. The starring role in this film is played by the director's muse – Monica Vitti. The mysterious inside world of Giuliana (Monica Vitti), her emotions and moods are reflected in desert landscapes. The picture is an insightful psychological analysis of the protagonist, who is anxiously searching for her own self and for her place in the world.

     

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how to get there

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15.11.2012

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