Line #62 Creator/MichelangeloAntonioni


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/michelangelo_antonioni_1.jpg]]
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3	-> '''Creator/JeanLucGodard''': The drama is no longer psychological, but plastic . . .
4	-> '''Michelangelo Antonioni''': It’s the same thing.
5	-->-- Interview 1964, ''Cahiers du Cinema''
6
7	Michelangelo Antonioni (29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007), was an Italian film director, screenwriter, editor, and short story writer. He's considered one of the greatest film-makers of [[LeFilmArtistique the arthouse era]] of TheFifties and TheSixties, part of Italy's Golden Age that included Creator/VittorioDeSica, Creator/RobertoRossellini, Creator/LuchinoVisconti and Creator/FedericoFellini, and alongside Godard and Creator/IngmarBergman (who died on the same day as him), one of the most important and innovative directors in film history.
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9	Born to a middle class family in Ferrara, he studied economics at university where his interest turned towards the arts. Before World War II, he would stage productions of Luigi Pirandello, work as a film critic for the Roman Cinema magazine and later work as a screenwriter on early neorealist films. Indeed, he and Creator/FedericoFellini worked on the screenplay for the latter's first solo feature ''The White Shiek''. Antonioni also worked as an assistant director on French productions, notably Marcel Carné’s ''Film/LesVisiteursDuSoir''. After making a few documentary shorts, Antonioni made his feature debut with ''Story of A Love Affair'' (1950), which was inspired by American FilmNoir and James M. Cain's ''Literature/ThePostmanAlwaysRingsTwice'' but filtered with a distinctly colder and less emotional focus.
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11	Antonioni's movies departed from the established style of neorealism which focused on social problems and was driven by a largely idealist and sentimentalist vision. Antonioni's films were bleaker, more psychological (at first), and had a strong visual style that emphasized surroundings, environments, spaces, architecture as much as plot and storyline. His movies were infamous for its slow rhythm, its innovative cinematography, both black-and-white and colour, the strong female roles in his movies (many of them having women as protagonists) and for its incredible camerawork. He's famous for his collaboration with the actress Creator/MonicaVitti, he also worked with Lucia Bosè, Gabriele Ferzetti, Creator/AlainDelon, Creator/VanessaRedgrave, Creator/JeanneMoreau, Creator/MarcelloMastroianni and Creator/JackNicholson (who presented Antonioni his Lifetime Achievement Oscar in 1995). His collaboration with Creator/RichardHarris resulted in a conflict when the actor quit the production. Later he warned Creator/DavidHemming againist starring in an Antonioni film but Hemming agreed and never regretted it.
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13	He came to worldwide attention for his loose trilogy of alienation : ''L’Avventura'', ''La Notte'' and ''L’Eclisse''. Towards the end of TheSixties, he left Italy and made a series of films in UK, USA, Spain and China. His most famous, influential and successful film is ''Film/{{Blowup}}'': a worldwide success, the definitive swinging 60s film which documented the SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll lifestyle, and which finally put UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode to pasture. He made some acclaimed films in his final years but they were little seen and not as influential as his major work in TheSixties. Still, he went to influence film-makers across the world, especially the directors of the UsefulNotes/NewHollywood but also Japanese and Asian film-makers of TheEighties.
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15	!! Tropes
16	* BannedInChina: A literal example: His documentary about China, ''Chung Kuo, Cina'' was banned in that state for thirty years.
17	* BourgeoisBohemian: Many characters in his films. Arguably director himself can be considered as such.
18	* CelebritySong: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK-ffn6Q0k0 Michelangelo Antonioni]] by Caetano Veloso.
19	* DepthOfField: Antonioni was shooting his films keeping both foreground and background in focus.
20	* GainaxEnding: He had a talent for this. ''L’Eclisse'', ''Blowup'', ''The Passenger'' and ''Zabriskie Point''.
21	* ItalianNeorealism: In the earlier stages of his career he was linked to the movement. He made a documentary ''Gente di Po'' adhering to its rules. Cronaca di un Amore, his debut, is frequently considered a neorealist film despite its bourgeois characters and professional actors. Il Grido is still arguably this depicting the life of the working classes even though it is dedicated to the exisistential despair, here experienced by a blue-collar worker, not a middle-class character.
22	* LeaveTheCameraRunning: Or the classic Antonioni pause.
23	* LoveCannotOvercome: A lot of his movies are about romances and relationships and the general theme is that they don't really work especially in a modern society where women work for a living, and aren't out to be housewives. Marriages (as seen in ''Story of a Love Affair'' and ''La notte'') are failures and weak, adultery is seen as a pathetic escape fantasy, and in Antonioni's view [[spoiler:the end of ''L'eclisse'' where the couple make a date to meet and then simply don't turn up]] is an optimistic ending, since the couple realize that the shallow fleeting attraction and affection they have for each other is as good as their relationship will get.
24	* MocksteryTale: He was the king of this trope: a number of his movies (including ''Blowup'' and ''L'Avventura'') can be described by "there's a mystery out there, but nobody really cares". Basically, the mystery plots are just backgrounds for psychological drama.
25	* TheMuse:
26	** Creator/MonicaVitti, who was his collaborator on four films in a row from 1960-64 which are arguably his best.
27	** Enrica Fico, who played in ''Film/IdentificationOfAWoman''. She also was an assistant director during the shooting of ''Film/ThePassenger1975''.
28	* TheOner:
29	** The penultimate shot of ''Film/ThePassenger1975'' has to be seen to be disbelieved, one of the most elaborate single camera scenes and long takes in movie history.
30	** Also the very first panoramic shot of Milan in ''La Notte'' during the credits.
31	* PopStarComposer:
32	** Music/PinkFloyd did the music for ''Zabriskie Point'', Antonioni also used tracks by many other groups.
33	** Played even more straight with Mina, a pop star, who composed the music for the song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x3SZY1l99Q L'eclisse Twist]] played during the opening credits of the eponymous movie. [[spoiler: The lyrics were authored by Antonioni himself.]]
34	* ProductionPosse:
35	** Gianni di Venanzo was his cinematographer on all his films from ''Le amiche'' (1955) until ''L'eclisse'' (1962) with an important exception of ''L'avventura'' where this position was held by Aldo Scavarda. Later Antonioni shot three films with Carlo di Palma and two with Luciano Tovoli.
36	** Tonio Guerro wrote scripts for several of his films.
37	** Giovanni Fusco was his composer from every film up to and including ''Il deserto rosso'' with the exception of La notte.
38	** Eraldo da Roma was his editor for the numerous films.
39	** Piero Poletto worked for Antonioni as a production designer on several occasions.
40	* RealityHasNoSoundtrack: Played straight many times, subverted in the last act of ''L'eclisse''.
41	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: His characters are mostly fairly (or very) cynical and the general spirit of his works is decisively on the cynical end of the scale.
42	* {{Trilogy}}
43	** The so-called trilogy of alienation comprises ''Film/LAvventura'', ''Film/LaNotte'' and ''Film/LEclisse''. They all deal with modern urban malaise of the leisurely classes. All three are shot in B&W. Also Monica Vitti stars in each of them. At times ''Film/IlDesertoRosso'' is added to make it a tetralogy though it is a color movie.
44	** Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer {{Trilogy}} made by contract concluded with MGM. It includes ''Film/{{Blowup}} (1966)'', ''Film/ZabriskiePoint'' (1970) and ''Film/ThePassenger1975''. These films were a departure in that they were all made in English and set outside Italia.
45	* UntranslatedTitle: Played straight with several of his Italian films with one-word titles, like ''Film/LeAmiche'', ''Film/IlGrido'', ''Film/LAvventura'', ''Film/LaNotte'', ''Film/LEclisse''. Averted with ''Film/CronacaDiUnAmore'' which became Story of a Love Affair and ''Film/IlDesertoRosso'' which was translated as ''Red Desert''.
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47	----
48	!! Filmography (Feature Films)
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50	[[index]]
51	* ''Film/CronacaDiUnAmore (Story of a Love Affair, 1950)'', his full-length debut.
52	* ''I Vinti (The Vanquished, 1952)''
53	* ''Film/LaSignoraSenzaCamelie'' (The Lady Without Camelias 1953)
54	* ''Film/LeAmiche (The Girl Friends, 1955)''
55	* ''Film/IlGrido'' (The Cry, 1957), his first film on alienation where a blue-collar worker suffers of this.
56	* ''Film/LAvventura (The Adventure, 1960)'', in this film his attention returned to the upper-class millieu.
57	* ''Film/LaNotte'' (The Night, 1961)
58	* ''Film/LEclisse'' (''The Eclipse'', 1962)
59	* ''Film/IlDesertoRosso'' (The Red Desert, 1964)
60	* ''Film/{{Blowup}} (1966)''
61	* ''Film/ZabriskiePoint'' (1970)
62	* ''Chung Kuo, Cina (documentary, 1972)''
63	* ''Film/ThePassenger1975''
64	* ''Il mistero di Oberwald (The Mystery of Oberwald, 1981)'', his reunion show with Monica Vitti
65	* ''Film/IdentificazioneDiUnaDonna (Identification of a Woman, 1982)''
66	* ''Al di là delle nuvole (Beyond the Clouds, 1995)'' with Creator/WimWenders
67	* ''The Dangerous Thread of Things, a segment of Eros (2004)''
68	[[/index]]
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70	----
71	!! References to Antonioni in popular culture
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Context Creator / MichelangeloAntonioni