Michelangelo Antonioni

Aug 3 2007 by David Charters, Liverpool Daily Post

IT HAS been a bleak week for those who think that good films should have subtitles.

First came the death of Ingmar Bergman, the Swedish master. Then came the death of Michelangelo Antonioni, the Italian, whose contribution to cinema was lauded by the highest critics, one of whom described him as, “a post-religious Marxist and existentialist intellectual”.

However, his biggest British success Blow-Up (1966) was admired by many young men because Jane Birkin and Gillian Hills took off their clothes.

But the film, starring David Hemmings as an arty photographer, Sarah Miles and Vanessa Redgrave, established him as a major figure in the counter-culture at a time when London was swinging to The Kinks, Rolling Stones and Beatles. Underlying the film is the notion that images caught by the camera may not be true.

Antonioni was born in Farrara to a middle-class family, doubtless hoping that his Christian name would give him a leg-up in the world of arts, which they followed with passion.

The boy did not disappoint, reading classics and political economy at Bologna University, but his true interest lay in theatre and cinema. He began writing stories and articles and moved to Rome, where he worked briefly on the Cinema magazine run by Mussolini’s son Vittorio.

Antonioni was himself of the Left and later associated with the Italian resistance to Fascism. He attended the Centro Sperimentale film school in Rome, where his promise was drawn to the attention of those in the business, making several documentaries.

It is probably true that no other film director has attracted so much critical interest, and in their company he would always be referred to only by his surname, in the way of all great artists. His work was hugely admired by them.

Early efforts such as Il Vinti (The Vanquished) and La Signora Senza Camelie (The Lady without Camellias) were acclaimed for their sensitive examination of human frailties.

Blow-Up was the most successful of his English language films. Zabriskie Point (1970), a critique on decadence, was a failure, despite the sound-track from Pink Floyd with contributions from the Stones and The Grateful Dead. The Passenger (1975) with Jack Nicholson was a return to form.

In a later film, Il Mistero di Oberwald, Antonioni, who married twice, experimented with the electronic use of colour.

Michelangelo Antonioni, film director; born September 29, 1912, died July 30, 2007.