Deserto rosso, Il (1964)

Director:

Michelangelo Antonioni

Writers:

Michelangelo Antonioni (writer) &
Tonino Guerra (writer)

Release Date:

8 February 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Cold, rain, and fog surround a plant in Ravenna. Factory waste pollutes local lakes; hulking anonymous ships pass or dock and raise quarantine flags...

Plot Keywords:

Socialist | Neurotic | Mother Son Relationship | Very Little Dialogue | Sea

Awards:

4 wins

Cast

Monica Vitti	...	Giuliana
Richard Harris	...	Corrado Zeller
Carlo Chionetti	...	Ugo
Xenia Valderi	...	Linda
Rita Renoir	...	Emilia
Lili Rheims	...	Telescope operator's wife
Aldo Grotti	...	Max
Valerio Bartoleschi	...	Giuliana's son
Emanuela Paola Carboni	...	Girl in fable
Bruno Borghi
Beppe Conti
Julio Cotignoli
Giovanni Lolli
Hiram Mino Madonia
Giuliano Missirini	...	Radio telescope operator

Also Known As:

Désert rouge, Le (France)
The Red Desert (UK)
Desierto rojo, El (Argentina) (Spain) [es]
Czerwona pustynia (Poland) [pl]
Désert rouge, Le (Canada: French title) [fr]
Deserto Vermelho, O (Portugal) [pt]
Deserto rosso, Il (Greece) [el]
Kizil çöl (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Kokkini erimos, I (Greece) (reissue title) [el]
Punainen erämaa (Finland) [fi]
Røde ørken, Den (Denmark) [da]
Rote Wüste, Die (West Germany) [de]
Vörös sivatag (Hungary) [hu]

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Italy:VM14 | Australia:PG | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | UK:15 (video rating) (1995) | UK:X (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Incir De Paolis Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Film Duemila

Trivia:

David Hemmings claims in his autobiography that Richard Harris was kicked off the film after he punched Antonioni and that the scenes that were still to be completed were done with another actor who was photographed from behind. Hemmings was apparently told this when Harris warned him about Antonioni when Hemmings was working on Blowup (1966).

Quotes:

Giuliana: I feel my eyes tearing up. What should I do with my eyes? What should I watch?
Corrado Zeller: You ask what you should watch. I ask how I should live. It's the same thing.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Occhio è per così dire l'evoluzione biologica di una lacrima e autoritratto Auschwitz, L' (2007)

Does everybody have a film that is their template for how they view 'reality'?

I first saw this remarkable movie when I was about eighteen/nineteen, when it first showed in London. At the time I was blown away and must have bored people at parties for ages telling them it was the greatest film ever made and that they should all see it. As now I was less able to give a particularly coherent reason why they would enjoy it but could only pass on my enthusiasm. Watching it again today, it is not only amazing how much I remembered (not at all common for me) or that I still found it captivating and all involving but something else. Many have spoken of the use of colour and sound and referred to the polluting factories and the grey wasteland but what struck me was that the profound and lasting affect it had clearly had upon me. As I watched the film unfold with the juxtaposition of trees, wasteland and alienated characters, I saw before me the template for the way I still tend to view life and most certainly take photographs. For what it is worth then, this film appears to have been the very basis for the way I see the world. An astonishing claim and it has made me wonder at the power of cinema itself. Does everybody have a film that is their template for how they view 'reality'?