Red Desert (1964)

Red Desert (1964)

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“You wonder what to look at; I wonder how to live. Same thing.”

Synopsis:
The traumatized wife (Monica Vitti) of a petro-chemical industrialist (Carlo Chionetti) begins an affair with a visiting associate (Richard Harris).

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Infidelity
  • Italian Films
  • Mental Breakdown
  • Michelangelo Antonioni Films
  • Monica Vitti Films
  • Richard Harris Films

Review:
Michelangelo Antonioni’s fourth and final film made with Monica Vitti was his first in color, and in many ways feels like a fourth addition to their original b&w trilogy — L’Avventura (1960), La Notte (1961), and L’Eclisse (1962) — given that once again, Vitti plays a dissatisfied woman who seems to be aimlessly drifting through life. However, in this case she’s simultaneously recovering from and continuing to experience an ongoing mental breakdown much more overtly than what her previous characters went through.

Indeed, Vitti’s Giuliana is visibly disoriented and deeply distressed. At one point she states, “There’s something terrible about reality, and I don’t know what it is. No one will tell me.” Her performance is believable, and especially challenging to watch knowing that she lived so many of her final years suffering from Alzheimer’s. It’s hard not to sympathize with her sense of disorientation given how stupidly and/or mindlessly so many people around her act, as epitomized in the film’s odd party sequence taking place in a crowded riverside shack.

While it’s a little strange seeing red-headed Harris playing a dubbed Italian:

… it works well enough, and his inherent gravitas is welcomed. Story-wise, however, there is as little here to hold onto as in Antonioni’s earlier films. As Andrew Sarris wrote somewhat impatiently in his review for The Village Voice: “Antonioni’s first color film after eight black-and-white features in 15 years… is more a series of paintings unfurled in time than the kind of dramatic spectacle we have been calling a movie for the past half-century.” Indeed, it’s the visuals here — a combination of natural landscapes:

… and harsh mechanical wastelands:

… that most linger in one’s memory, rather than anything about the narrative or characters themselves.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

  • Monica Vitti as Giuliana
  • Carlo Di Palma’s cinematography

Must See?
No, though most film fanatics will likely be curious to see it as part of Antonioni’s quartet of Vitti films. Listed as a film with Historical Importance and a Personal Recommendation in the back of Peary’s book.

(Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die)

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3 thoughts on “Red Desert (1964)”

  1. Rewatch 7/13/22. I can’t believe I rewatched it! Only for Antonioni enthusiasts – but I’m not sure even all of them would enjoy this one.

    An Antonioni film (esp. those in the latter half of his career) tends to be an iffy proposition. He wasn’t particularly a believer in ‘strong narrative’ – or, if he was, he would most often refer to that as ‘visual narrative’ (since visuals were always more important to him).

    In the case of ‘L’avventura’ (a must-see), he managed narrative and visuals equally. But that was a rarity for him.

    In the case of ‘Red Desert’, whatever he was attempting (he claimed he was most interested in capturing the beauty of the industrial world – well….ok, whatever), it comes across as pretentious. It’s certainly dull – every aspect of it. And, even for Antonioni, it’s an extremely s-l-o-w-moving flick.

    Art-house enthusiasts salivated over this kind of movie in the ’60s – but I don’t think time has been as kind to it. It reads as labored.

  2. As I was reading your comment, I had the idea that this would actually make for an interesting MST3K spoof – there is so much you could put into these characters’ minds as they’re walking about, you could literally create an entirely different (and likely way more interesting) storyline.

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