L'avventura

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L'avventura
Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni
Produced by Raymond Hakim
Robert Hakim
Cino Del Duca
Amato Pennasilico
Luciano Perugia
Written by Michelangelo Antonioni
Elio Bartolini
Tonino Guerra
Starring Monica Vitti
Gabriele Ferzetti
Music by Giovanni Fusco
Cinematography Aldo Scavarda
Editing by Eraldo Da Roma
Distributed by Janus Films (USA)
Release date(s) Flag of France 1960 (premiere at Cannes)
Flag of Italy 29 June 1960
Flag of the United States 4 March 1961
Running time 145 min
Country Italy / France
Language Italian
Preceded by Il grido
Followed by La notte
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

L'avventura (The Adventure) is a 1960 Italian film written and directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. Monica Vitti and Gabriele Ferzetti star. The film is notable for its slow pacing and careful composition, and for its unusual narrative structure. It was produced on location in Italy under difficult financial and physical conditions and made Monica Vitti an international star. The film is the first of a trilogy by Antonioni; it is followed by La notte and L'eclisse.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

Monica Vitti in L'avventura (1960).
Monica Vitti in L'avventura (1960).

L'avventura has an unusual narrative structure in which the apparently important central mystery is gradually forgotten and left unsolved. The story begins with a group of rich couples from Rome who take a boat trip and visit a virtually unpopulated volcanic island off the coast of Sicily. One of them, a young woman named Anna, wanders off and vanishes without a trace. The others search for her, but then give up, gradually adjust to her disappearance and drift back into their own lives. The rest of the story is somewhat centered on the relationship that develops between Anna's lover and her best friend. The final scene has nothing directly to do with Anna (except perhaps for the thought that her fate is unknowable) but much with how people cope with themselves and each other.

[edit] Cast

Actor Role
Gabriele Ferzetti Sandro
Monica Vitti Claudia
Lea Massari Anna
Dominique Blanchar Giulia
Renzo Ricci Anna's Father
Dorothy de Poliolo Gloria Perkins
Esmeralda Ruspoli Patrizia
James Addams Corrado
Lelio Luttazzi Raimondo
Giovanni Petrucci Young Prince
Jack O'Connell Old man on the island
Angela Tomasi di Lampedusa The Princess

[edit] Responses

Released in 1960, the film was booed by some members of the audience during its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival; however, it won the Prix le Premier Regard.[1] Although the film influenced the visual language of cinema, forever changing how subsequent movies looked, and has been named by some critics as one of the best ever made, it has been criticized by others for its uneventful plot, allegedly slow pacing and existentialist themes. Along with much of Antonioni's other work, L'avventura is often cited as an early feminist film with strong and richly characterized female protagonists.[citation needed]

[edit] External links

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