Il deserto rosso (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:

Factory | Ship | Bright Color | Cult Director | Extramarital Affair

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
Arturo Parmiani
Carla Ravasi
Ivo Scherpiani
Bruno Scipioni

Directed by
Michelangelo Antonioni

Writing credits
Michelangelo Antonioni		(writer) &
Tonino Guerra		(writer)

Produced by
Tonino Cervi	....	producer (as Antonio Cervi)
Angelo Rizzoli	....	co-producer

Original Music by
Giovanni Fusco

Cinematography by
Carlo Di Palma

Film Editing by
Eraldo Da Roma

Art Direction by
Piero Poletto

Costume Design by
Gitt Magrini

Makeup Department
Giancarlo De Leonardis	....	hair stylist
Giancarlo De Leonardis	....	key hair stylist (uncredited)

Production Management
Ugo Tucci	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Gianni Arduini	....	first assistant director
Flavio Niccolini	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Sergio Donà	....	property master

Sound Department
Mario Bramonti	....	boom operator
Renato Cadueri	....	sound assistant
Claudio Maielli	....	sound

Special Effects by
Franco Freda	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Gianni Antinori	....	second assistant camera
Claudio Cortini	....	still photographer
Dario Di Palma	....	camera operator
Romolo Romagnoli	....	key grip
Elmiro Rubeo	....	gaffer
Alberto Spagnoli	....	first assistant camera
Sergio Strizzi	....	still photographer

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Paola Carloni	....	wardrober

Editorial Department
Stephen Bearman	....	colorist
Marisa Mengoli	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Vittorio Gelmetti	....	composer: electronic music
Carlo Savina	....	musical director

Other crew
Serena Canevari	....	script supervisor
Dino Di Salvo	....	production auditor
Eros Lanfranconi	....	production secretary
Rodolfo Martello	....	production auditor
Giuseppe Rinaldi	....	voice dubbing: Richard Harris (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Film Duemila
• Federiz
• Francoriz Production (co-production)

Distributors

• Rizzoli (1965) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Indipendenti Regionali (2000) (Italy) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Art Free (2003) (Greece) (DVD)
• Atlantic Film (2009) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Connoisseur Video
• Emerald (2008) (Argentina) (DVD) (re-release)
• Europa Filmes (2007) (Brazil) (DVD) (Portuguese subtitles)
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (2006) (Germany) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2008) (Australia) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2008) (New Zealand) (DVD)
• Medusa Home Entertainment (2004) (Italy) (DVD)
• Sagres Filmes (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Colorificio Italiano Max Meyer  'Tintal' paintings
• International Recordings  sound re-recording

Also Known As:

Red Desert (UK) (USA)
Deserto rosso (Italy) (alternative spelling)
Le désert rouge (France)
El desierto rojo (Argentina) (Spain) [es]
Czerwona pustynia (Poland) [pl]
Den røde ørken (Denmark) [da]
Die rote Wüste (West Germany) [de]
I kokkini erimos (Greece) (reissue title) [el]
Il deserto rosso (Greece) [el]
Kizil çöl (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Le désert rouge (Canada: French title) [fr]
O Deserto Vermelho (Portugal) [pt]
Punainen erämaa (Finland) [fi]
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:

Australia:PG | Italy:VM14 | Argentina:16 | Singapore:PG | 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:

Richard Harris agreed to star in Sam Peckinpah's Major Dundee (1965) in December 1963 whilst still in the middle of making this film. Harris walked off Michelangelo Antonioni's film as it went further behind schedule to ensure that he did not miss Major Dundee's start date of 5 February 1964. Harris said that Il deserto rosso (1964) had to be completed without him and a double was used for his character in some of the long shots.

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:

Referenced in Nostalghia (1983)

spleen ..or tedium?

After a neorealist period (Il grido),Antonioni begins his movies dealing with incommunicability with "l'avventura" in 1960,continues with "la notte" (1961) and "l'eclisse"(1962).This trilogy is in black and white and features Monica Vitti,his favorite actress -although in "la notte" she's only supporting,the main part being played by Jeanne Moreau-.

'IL deserto rosso' is more of the same ;it's even more difficult and austere than the three former movies.It is the first time Antonioni has experimented color and the results are impressive:he creates a depressing landscape where the colors are cold,drab and dirty.The depiction of an industrial dehumanized world is convincing as Vitti,suffering from neurosis,roams aimlessly along this desert(wonderful lines:her son :"the yellow smoke contains poison,the birds will die";mother: "no,they know it does ,and they don't come here anymore").During almost two hours,absolutely nothing happens,frames of mind,people holding conversations that are always incomplete,pointless actions,roads leading nowhere....

The problem is:are we moved by all that?Can we relate to this woman's despair?As far I'm concerned,only partially, not to say bluntly no.Incommunicability had already been treated by Roberto Rosselini: in "Europa 51" he put Ingrid Bergman in the same world as Vitti ;when the world pressure began too hard to bear ,she rebelled in her own way,she did not accept the society in which she lived in,nothing to do with Vitti's listless character.In " Viaggio in Italia",the invisible wall between a man and his wife (George Sanders and Bergman) was already here.This couple vibrated through their suffering and their despair,Vitti and her husband do not.Rosselini created flesh and blood characters,Antonioni's ones have ectoplasm strength:such are the two characters of "l'avventura" searching for a disappeared girl,the wealthy couple of "la notte" -who only exists because played by peerless Mastroianni and Moreau-,forgetting their ennui in their friend's palace."My characters move in a rich milieu,because their feeling are not brought about by money "Antonioni used to say.That does not prevent them from being selfish,egocentric and " I-me-mine".

With his follow-up "blow-up" ,Antonioni gained world-wide success and he continued the color experiment,as an acid green London testifies.The plot becoming completely abstract,the characters will become less important,therefore a more satisfying movie.

Until the very end,as he was disabled,Antonioni was obsessed by color:his last movie was a remake of Jean Cocteau's "l'aigle à deux têtes",with a stunning color treatment.