Review of L'Avventura (1960) by Al M — 17 Apr 2009

The title of Michelangelo Antonioni's film "L'avventura" (translated to "The Adventure") could not have been written without a grin. The film, alas, is far from an adventure. It focuses on a mystery with no resolution, a disappearance without a discovery, and characters with traits that are anything but heroic. It is, instead, another film about the hollowness of bourgeois elites. The film suggests that humanity is not defined by riches, lifestyles, or even friendships. We are, instead, defined by our minds. Once we lose sight of them in favor of materialistic goods or the struggle to maintain societal expectations, we're hopeless: incapable of love, incapable of grief; hell, incapable of feeling.

A group of wealthy friends are on a yachting trip in the Aeolian Sea. They decide to anchor by a Sicilian volcanic island and explore. One of the couples, Anna (Lea Massari) and Sandro (Gabriele Ferzetti), have been fighting. Anna, intending to be left alone, wonders off on the island apart from the group. Her friend, Claudia (Monica Vitti), and a few others, also enjoy the environment. However, when it is time to go, Anna is nowhere to be found. Did she fall off a cliff? Did she get on a boat? Sandro and Claudia will never know, and neither will we. In fact, the whole first third of the film is largely unacknowledged in the next two.

We then realize that Anna's friends could just as well disappear. Their lives are completely without emotion - simply void of feeling and legitimate human connection. Love, to them, is another bracelet, a societal expectation that the elites are certainly not going to be seen without. And, of course, even the notion of saying "I love you" comes to bore these hollow creatures.

Shortly after Anna's disappearance, Sandro kisses Claudia. At first, Claudia pulls away, appalled that Sandro had so quickly gotten over Anna's disappearance. The initial reluctancies are soon forgotten, however, as Claudia and Sandro become lovers. They check into a hotel room together, where much of the film takes place. While Sandro goes downstairs to party and mingle, Claudia is left in the room upstairs. Neither of them mourn Anna throughout the rest of the picture, nor are the mysteries surrounding her disappearance mentioned again.

"L'avventura" is hard to connect with. The people are so thoroughly dislikable and shallow that they don't make for entirely pleasant company. However, it's the guts of the film that make it so memorable. It's a frustrating film to watch, both for the unresolved mystery and the selfishness of the characters, but it's ultimately fulfilling.