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

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 A Decade Under the Influence (2003)

Even the birds won't come near the place...

"Red Desert" (Italian, 1964): Michelangelo Antonioni made this film prior to "Blow Up", but you can see where he was headed. "Red Desert" is about a deeply troubled, beautiful woman who seems to have it all – including a stable, handsome husband, a precocious son, and fun, sexy friends. Yes, she DOES live in an industrial wasteland managed by her spouse… True, even the birds know better than to fly anywhere near this area of floating and flowing poisons, but she has larger concerns. "Red Desert" is wonderfully symbolic (the title will make sense later in the film), and illustrates confused, tortured states of mind with landscapes & sets, not to mention the utterings & behavior of this woman. But, IS she insane, or, like the birds, simply failing to accept this environment? Watch the fog, architecture, room colors, lack of dialog, physical disconnects, out of focus camera, illogical gestures…listen to her stories, the sound track (which is electronic, and dated), and the random events heard that seem to have no resolution. "Red Desert" is TRULY a great film about alienation in the "modern" age.