Review of Red Desert (1964) by Daniel K — 29 Jun 2010

4: I absolutely adore Antonioni's black & white "alienation" trilogy (L'avventura, La notte, and L'eclisse) and am also a fan of Blow-Up (his more commercial English-language and second color picture), so I had very high hopes for "Il deserto rosso".

I'd looked forward to seeing it for the last 9-10 years - ever since I was first introduced to Antonioni's work - and was expecting it to be nothing short of an unqualified masterpiece. I'm still willing to admit it is a masterpiece, as shown by the 4 star rating, but I can't say I loved it and I found myself a little disappointed at times.

The aforementioned "trilogy", as well as earlier films like "Le amiche" and "Il grido" are all filled with remarkably beautiful black and white photography. The compositional beauty is still present in "The Red Desert", but the stark black and white qualities are replaced by dingy and dirty color.

This was of course intentional as the world in which we are placed is one of industrial decay - apart from the fantastically beautiful dream world we are given a brief glimpse of - but this doesn't make it any less disheartening.

It is one of the main reasons I didn't fall in love with the film in the same way I did with his other work. The dreamscape certainly reminded me of L'avventura though, apart from the color of course.

The dinginess of the color is perfectly in balance with the tone and message of the picture though. No one could mistake this for a happy world. It is an almost apocalyptic world filled with power plants, industrial processing centers, ugly port facilities, and environmental degradation.

Most of the characters that inhabit this world seem to accept their environment, but Monica Vitti's character rebels against the spiritual vacuity. She is, and will I'm sure always remain, one of my all-time favorite screen actresses.

She is remarkably beautiful and ideal for roles of this nature. Seeing such a young version of Richard Harris was fairly amusing for me as well. This is the kind of film I won't really understand until I've seen it at least another one or two times.

I doubt I'll ever love it, but I think my appreciation for it will increase over time.