The Story of a Love Affair. (PG.)
Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. (1950.)
Starring Lucia Bosé, Massimo Girotti, Ferdinando Sarmi, Gino Rossi and Marika Rowsky. In Black and white. Italian with subtitles. Out on Blu-ray from Cult Films. 102 mins.
The first film by Antonioni, the legendary Italian director of films like L'Avventura and The Red Desert, opens with a mystery. And because it's his first film, there is the likely expectation that this mystery will be resolved. Once he had established his reputation as a tip-top arthouse auteur he would never have to bother himself with answering audiences' questions ever again. But in 1950, when he was just getting his start making an Italian take on Hollywood film noirs, he would not be allowed to get away with leaving those post-war audiences guessing. Oblique was not a luxury he could afford at that stage.
It starts with a rich Milanese industrialist (Sarmi) hiring a private investigator (Rossi) to look into the past of his young bride (Bosé) who he had married during the confusion and chaos of the war seven years earlier. The private eye goes snooping around in her home town and soon uncovers the mysterious death of one of her closest friends. She had been having an affair with her friend's fiancé and afterwards, both had quickly left town and gone their separate ways. The investigation though prompts word to get back to the pair of them and they meet up again in Milan and resume their relationship.
This re-release has prompted reviewers to retro-fit Antonioni trademarks onto his debut, to see little indicators of future trademarks. But if you didn't know I don't think you'd see this as the early stirrings of a future auteur, more the work of very accomplished debutant mainstream filmmaker. The sense of place – rainy, wintry Milan - is unusually well captured and because it's Antonioni you may notice at times how the way the characters are placed against the surroundings emphasises their emotions. Mostly though this is a cracking thriller and in Lucia Bosé, it has a fantastic femme fatale.
Extras
Premiere cinema presentation of the restored film, with Antonioni, Lucia Bosè and Dario Argento and more
- ‘When a First Work Is already a Masterpiece’ – review by renowned Italian film critic Tullio Kezich
- The genesis of the film by Assistant Director and co-writer Francesco Maselli
- The making-of the film with Francesco Maselli plus interviews
- Restoring a masterpiece by cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno (The Leopard, Boccaccio 70, Amarcord)
Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. (1950.)
Starring Lucia Bosé, Massimo Girotti, Ferdinando Sarmi, Gino Rossi and Marika Rowsky. In Black and white. Italian with subtitles. Out on Blu-ray from Cult Films. 102 mins.
The first film by Antonioni, the legendary Italian director of films like L'Avventura and The Red Desert, opens with a mystery. And because it's his first film, there is the likely expectation that this mystery will be resolved. Once he had established his reputation as a tip-top arthouse auteur he would never have to bother himself with answering audiences' questions ever again. But in 1950, when he was just getting his start making an Italian take on Hollywood film noirs, he would not be allowed to get away with leaving those post-war audiences guessing. Oblique was not a luxury he could afford at that stage.
It starts with a rich Milanese industrialist (Sarmi) hiring a private investigator (Rossi) to look into the past of his young bride (Bosé) who he had married during the confusion and chaos of the war seven years earlier. The private eye goes snooping around in her home town and soon uncovers the mysterious death of one of her closest friends. She had been having an affair with her friend's fiancé and afterwards, both had quickly left town and gone their separate ways. The investigation though prompts word to get back to the pair of them and they meet up again in Milan and resume their relationship.
This re-release has prompted reviewers to retro-fit Antonioni trademarks onto his debut, to see little indicators of future trademarks. But if you didn't know I don't think you'd see this as the early stirrings of a future auteur, more the work of very accomplished debutant mainstream filmmaker. The sense of place – rainy, wintry Milan - is unusually well captured and because it's Antonioni you may notice at times how the way the characters are placed against the surroundings emphasises their emotions. Mostly though this is a cracking thriller and in Lucia Bosé, it has a fantastic femme fatale.
Extras
Premiere cinema presentation of the restored film, with Antonioni, Lucia Bosè and Dario Argento and more
- ‘When a First Work Is already a Masterpiece’ – review by renowned Italian film critic Tullio Kezich
- The genesis of the film by Assistant Director and co-writer Francesco Maselli
- The making-of the film with Francesco Maselli plus interviews
- Restoring a masterpiece by cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno (The Leopard, Boccaccio 70, Amarcord)
