L'avventura (1960)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Michelangelo Antonioni

Writers:

Michelangelo Antonioni (story)
Michelangelo Antonioni (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

4 March 1961 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery

Plot:

A woman disappears during a Mediterranean boating trip. But during the search, her lover and her best friend become attracted to each other.

Plot Keywords:

Friend | Island | Search | Italy | Yacht

Awards:

Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Gabriele Ferzetti	...	Sandro
Monica Vitti	...	Claudia
Lea Massari	...	Anna
Dominique Blanchar	...	Giulia
Renzo Ricci	...	Anna's Father
James Addams	...	Corrado
Dorothy De Poliolo	...	Gloria Perkins
Lelio Luttazzi	...	Raimondo
Giovanni Petrucci	...	Prince Goffredo
Esmeralda Ruspoli	...	Patrizia
Jack O'Connell	...	Old man on the island
Angela Tommasi Di Lampedusa	...	The Princess
Franco Cimino
Prof. Cucco	...	Ettore
Giovanni Danesi

Also Known As:

L'isola (Italy) (working title)
The Adventure (International: English title) (literal title)

Runtime:

141 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

Italian | English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Italy:VM14 | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | Iceland:L | Singapore:PG | South Korea:15 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG (re-rating) (1995) | UK:X (original rating) | West Germany:18

Filming Locations:

Aeolian Islands, Messina, Sicily, Italy

Company:

Cino del Duca

Trivia:

The film was censored heavily because of its alleged immorality. Two of the love scenes were considerably edited and others were obscured by on-screen masking devices. Antonioni was officially charged with obscenity and immorality, although the charges were later dismissed.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: During the sequence in which Sandro and the newspaper reporter cross a street, the shadows of the camera and the crew are clearly and prolongedly visible on the actors and on the street surface.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004) (TV)

"I Love You... I Hate You... I Feel Nothing"

The circular story, the emphasis on isolation and futility, and the symbolic use of Sicilian landscape returned with greater strength in "L'Avventura," the first film in a free trilogy ("La Notte" and "L'Eclisse" followed) about restless, disillusioned unhappy women and sensitive, unreliable, soft men...

Some way into the movie and without a careful explanation, a central affluent character disappears without a trace from a yachting trip... Few of the group of socialites—wealthy, elegant, bored—come in sight bothered by what has occurred, and while the girl's neglectful sweetheart and her best friend (Monica Vitti) pair off in a search around a remote, uninhabited island, they embark on a spontaneous exciting intimacy…

The story is simple, but the greatness of the film, however, is in two parts... First, it analyzes the psychology of the two main characters in keen and penetrating yet doubtful tones... Second, unconcerned with the reasons for the girl's unexpected disappearance, Antonioni instead concentrates on the moral discomfort that drives forward their closest knowledge to betray her memory...