Michelangelo Antonioni: An American Cinematheque Retrospective

ABOUT THE SERIES:

The American Cinematheque is pleased to honor legendary Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni with this curated retrospective highlighting his most ethereal work offering insight into the human experience and reflective of cinema’s ability to interrogate the complexities of identity. One of the most influential arthouse filmmakers of the 20th century, Antonioni is a true master of the craft, and his unparalleled understanding of human emotion remains as relevant as ever, challenging new audiences to reflect on both cinema and the alienation we experience in a global, lonely world.

Perhaps most notable of Antonioni’s oeuvre is his iconic “Trilogy on Modernity and Its Discontent,” comprising L’AVVENTURA, LA NOTTE and L’ECLISSE. These intricate mood pieces, along with RED DESERT, are among his chief works that explore existential themes delegated strictly to surviving the harsh realities of the modern world and its inherent tendency to alienate; and ultimately with this quartet of films that defined the early years of the 1960s, Antonioni transcended the legendary shadow of Italian neorealism to create a new European art cinema characterized by ambiguous narratives coupled with soulful visuals. The central tension of alienation amid a modernizing world, for Antonioni, is found in his investigations of love and marriage, as he unveils the falsehoods and truths that may be discovered about oneself in such experiences. Marital themes are paramount to the films above, but are also ever-present in his earlier works that preceded his most prolific period, appearing in films such as STORY OF A LOVE AFFAIR and IL GRIDO, as well as in the late-period of his career, with IDENTIFICATION OF A WOMAN. Antonioni’s fascination with the intersection between desire and alienation has often also been tethered to class conflict, eerily evident as early as LE AMICHE and progressively expanded upon since.

At the height of his powers, Antonioni left his comfort zone and approached these universal human themes in new contexts, becoming one of the first European arthouse filmmakers of the era to globalize his cinema, beginning with the ethereal exploration of artifice and truth, BLOW-UP. The result was an expressive art cinema authored by one of history’s most unique cinematic voices, one that now knew no borders—quite literally in THE PASSENGER, filmed in four countries and starring one of Hollywood’s leading actors of the time, Jack Nicholson. This period of Antonioni’s filmography can be distinguished by meaningful collaborations that indicated an amalgamation of artists and art forms, such as with ZABRISKIE POINT, which featured music specially composed for the film by Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead and others.