Wow. Looks like for some movies I need to mature a bit first. I recall having scenes from this one at one point of my life, but my recollection of being bored with it is even stronger. Nothing could be further from my current opinion. The movie,–despite being two and a half hour long and not much happening in terms of actions–captured my attention throughout.
It reminded me to Bunuel’s Terminating Angel and to Fritz Zorn’s book: Mars. Both of them seem to be about the idleness of rich people. On the surface both of them seem to be more cruel than Antonioni’s movie, which after all has only one disappearance in it and no murders or death as far as we know. However the main character, Sandro, is so shallow like the others, he just cares less to cover himself. My inner voice shouted NO when I heard him saying ‘I was as sincere with her as I am with you’. Exactly he lied to Anna (and probably killed her) the same way he lied to Claudia, in order to get under their skirts. And right after this they start playing with the church’s bells, like an out of tune wedding march. Invoked coincidence. Antonioni is such a master of composition. Every scene that has at least one person in it is carefully composed, giving an additional descriptive meaning to the relation between the humans and their surrounding. There are so many frames that could stand on their own as a photograph. The barrenness of the sea and the lava island reflected the soul of the people visiting it. I agree with those who say this is a masterpiece. I believe I will have to re-watch to catch more of its subtleties.
This is a top 1000 movie.