A delicious review of Antonioni's L'ECLISSE (now back on big screens at the BFI) from the London "Evening Standard" by Charlotte O'Sullivan (no relation), one of the new generation of film reviewers:
"God, this is so much better than the angsty L'AVVENTURA, Antonioni's "masterpiece". There's no denying that his 1962 satire involves Monica Vitti staring into space for much of the time - was there ever such a girl for mooching? Nevertheless, her various encounters - she trails after her potty mother, flirts with a fretful stock market whizz (Alain Delon), irks a racist neighbour - seem plugged into the real world.
Meanwhile, Rome looks monumental, in a wonderfully unstuffy way. Antonioni's black-and-white images suggest there's great beauty in the world but plenty of humdrum uginess too. Perhaps because the director has rooted the story in characters, rather than concepts, every inch of the landscape makes you look twice."
I agree it's a great review of a great film though we do disagree over the superior (in my opinion) L'AVVENTURA. What is your own take on this, Michael and how do you rate LA NOTTE?
ReplyDeleteDahling, you must learn how to use these blogs - everything is labelled and archived. You click on the label (at end of each item) to bring up all on that topic - so click on LA NOTTE label to bring up my 2011 review - there you go!
ReplyDeleteL'AVVENTURA is one of my essential films, what made you think otherwise?
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