Video Essay: "Antonioni's Cinema of Absence"

Read the introduction to this video essay on MUBI's Notebook: mubi.io/3se6kpH​​
Video essay by Manuela Lazic and Alessandro Luchetti.
"Antonioni's Cinema of Absence" by Manuela Lazic and Alessandro Luchetti
A new video essay explores how the films of Antonioni invite viewers to take responsibility for their own understanding of reality.
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[@marcballantyne5277]

I saw The Passenger yesterday for the first time at Bfi Southbank in London. There are moments of magic in it: the slow pan to the veranda flashback conversation and the penultimate 6 minute take at the end, of which you show a few seconds each. I do not mind the alienation. I am alienated myself but I want to get into Antonioni. You have provided some useful clues. Maybe some clues are enough. Sometimes things are best left unexplained.

[@hunterhemingway3477]

Rohmer and Antonioni - the Unknowable Human Imagination.

[@jeanjacquesduboisimagesdic5605]

Un essai brillant qui m'a permis de mieux comprendre la fascination qu'exerce sur moi les films d 'Antonioni depuis 50 ans.

[@thevoid99]

antonioni is among my all-time favorite filmmakers. i have "le amiche", the alientation trilogy, "red desert", "blow-up", "the passenger", and "identification of a woman" on dvds as well as i have seen a few shorts and "zabriskie point". his early films, "the mystery of oberwald", and "beyond the clouds" are the ones i want to see the most as i'm just interested in how he developed his style through his early films and what he was doing in the late stages of his career.

[@johnlawrence2757]

Antonioni’s films are directed at audiences with high IQ. In these days of dumbing down that’s a rare find. Those of you who have difficulty comprehending his work should please leave us alone to enjoy his work: there’s plenty for the low IQ majority in cinemas and on TV but rare only are items that require audience to respond and stretch themselves intellectually

[@das-apfel]

says the dude with a hairy schnose as his pfp

[@Theanvcorporation]

Magnificent essay After all caetano veloso writing a song about antonioni invoked a blank page. That is the greatest clue to experiencing antonioni. Hypnotic director, greatest of them all.

[@heliumtrophy]

Antonioni's films more or less suffocate the viewer into dwelling on endless trivialities and deciding against narrowing down points of action because to pick one would mean to discard the other. It sounds profound but in practice either you can luxuriate in its pointlessness with its admittedly beautifully composed cinematography or you check out. Having said that - Antonioni's documentaries are a different affair because he is forced into focussing on people without seeing them as an endless perception of withholding plot points. His 3-part documentary on Maoist China is fascinating as he is struck by the difference between China under Chairman Mao and the philosophical wonders of Confucius and the temples which they built in olden times. That there shows a more innate struggle between his comprehension of China he understood and the China he's faced with investigating. In the end though, when it comes to his works of fiction, I can't help but feel that Fritz Lang was right in a way. Lang felt that Antonioni was too nihilistic in his filmmaking and that there was no purpose to his films. When I write that out, as a younger person I felt impressed, along with a friend's prompting, to investigate more. More often than not though, he just infuriated me with some unbelievably stupid scenarios. I just know that if I was one of those people at Cannes who had to sit through L'avventura, I would have booed the hell out of the film.

[@PedroBrazz]

HUMMM... MUBI ARE CREATING IT'S OWN VIDEO ESSAYS!!! That will be a goood ride!!! 😍😍😍

[@Johnconno]

Nicholson bought The Passenger, he liked it so much, in fact he loved it!

[@riccardoalcaro8483]

Not even a mention of Red Desert or Il Grido (the cry), yet they’re as good as the alienation trilogy or Blow-up and far superior to the Passenger. Good video by the way, especially the last bit when it says that Antonioni’s art was very much about challenging the spectator to engage with reality in other deeper forms than logic, consequentiality and spoken language

[@ariasscreen4334]

Masterful use of mise en scene. Such a nostalgic feeling! Great video.

[@nokiddingeddie]

grazie

[@mirjanailic826]

La sua interpretazione è perfetta! Grazie mille :)

[@TheWhitehiker]

best online analysis of A.

[@cmonman3639]

Antonioni takes the most amazingly composed photos. Beyond that -- which is already a lot -- he doesn't mean anything.

[@ilitch_castro]

I will always envy your genius.

[@rendroaryo5387]

💙

[@user-ux8bw7ue1c]

Es corretto

[@lastunctives2095]

Time as the pure mystery . What are it's signs ? Is there a best one ? Still looking . Literally the sign of time and of the times .The double sign . Who's knows it's binary - so there are at least two in Antonnioni? Or is it just rot - the celluloid fading no imminence - that makes 3 .

[@claran828]

8:30

[@sayantandutta7284]

Much common-sensical and obvious points. No deeper insights into the films. Not even any 'analytical' approach. What is the point of repeating the most obvious points which are already there in the films? This could have been much better, at least when it is coming from MUBI.

[@arnavverma4507]

Why don't you tell me your "deeper" insights? I would love to hear it

[@marcballantyne5277]

The problem is people want everything explained and tied up with a big bow. To explain art is to kill it. Once you have an "explanation" all subjective interpretation becomes redundant. Experience it, be open to it, respond.