Story of a Love Affair

Michelangelo Antonioni's feature debut is a fascinating film. His style seems nearly fully formed here ... long slow takes, stunning photography of modernist Italian architecture, and the subject matter is to some degree the spiritual malaise of Italy's nouveau rich. It's all grafted onto a noir plot that's straight out of James M. Cain (Girotti had even starred in Luchino Visconti's Cain adaptation "Ossessione"). I think it's a remarkable debut.

The first Michelangelo Antonioni feature. Too shallow for me. Not sure how to explain. It's just not the type of character build that does much to trigger my senses. There is a certain modern maturity that lifts the experience, but the characters does not, even if Lucia Bosè was close to doing it.

Antonioni and neorealism is an odd mixture that ends up as something different than you'd expect from either, but it's a different I like. The content itself is nothing revelatory, but the construction is exquisite, building several aspects methodically with hooks in all the right places and weaving all the parts together into an excellent climax. It pushes a tad over the top at the end, but keeps from going over the edge.

Michelangelo Antonioni #1

Much unlike Antonioni's later, more famous work, his first feature is actually dialogue-heavy and intensive. It's as complicated as can be, and there is a lot of text to take in - which, while very good, gets a bit difficult. The directing is excellent but not yet indicative of Antonioni's distinct style.

Even if I were not to know the acclaim of this filmmaker's upcoming years, a certain awareness and technical prowess is unmistakable. The story just isn't terribly interesting.