L'Avventura

Michaelangelo Antonioni is certainly among the most challenging Italian filmmakers. Non-fans disparage works like Red Desert (1964) as stereotypical art movies where "nothing happens." Later entries Blow-Up (1966) and Zabriskie Point (1970) go the opposite route, imbibing in obnoxious symbolism that infuriates more than engages.

Quite a bit "happens" in L'Avventura (1960) - just not what a casual filmgoer expects. It starts as an inscrutable mystery then becomes a slow-burning melodrama. Its depth of character and impenetrable atmosphere make enjoyable, if somewhat frustrating viewing.

Five friends go on a boat trip to the Aeolian Islands. Headstrong Anna (Leah Massini) has a rough-and-tumble relationship with Sandro (Gabriele Ferzetti), a smooth playboy. Among others joining them is Anna's friend Claudia (Monica Vitti). During the trip Anna mysteriously vanishes; a search by her friends, and later the police turns up nothing. Claudia and Sandro struggle to move on, falling for each other in the process.

On one level, L'Avventura works as masterful bait-and-switch. Early scenes presage Picnic at Hanging Rock, a vacation capped off by an eerie disappearance. Antonioni doesn't go for Peter Weir's quasi-supernatural atmosphere, instead drinking in the beauty of the Aeolians. The mystery centers on half-remembered hints, like a phantom rowboat Claudia thinks she saw. Unlike Hanging Rock, where the mystery obsesses everyone, L'Avventura treats it as one of those things. People die or disappear, but life goes on.

Halfway through, L'Avventura shifts to a character study. Antonioni shows Claudia and Sandro as well-off dilettantes, unable to enjoy their status. Their affair seems perfunctory, a facade of human interaction disguising their mutual discontent. Still, unlike spoiled Anna (who fakes a shark attack to get Sandro's attention) or ditsy friend Giulia (Dominique Blanchar) they're self-aware enough to know something better exists. In one scene, Sandro enviously spoils an artist's easel, musing about wasting his youth and ambition on petty affairs. Claudia ultimately wonders if Anna's disappearance wasn't a good thing. Considering how her and Sandro grow from the experience, that's not so selfish as it initially appears.

L'Avventura's reputation suggests something like Last Year at Marienbad or Death in Venice, where languorous visuals overwhelm a thin story. The movie's certainly slow-paced, but the intricately crafted story provides a good hook for open-minded audiences. Certainly the character dynamic proves compelling even after the mystery wanes: Claudia and Sandro are well-drawn protagonists, with convincing development from bored ciphers to flawed humans.

Monica Vitti makes Claudia sympathetic, showing anguish and discontent in a finely-crafted turn. Vitti would rejoin Antonioni on several later films, notably L'Ecclise and La Notte. Gabriele Ferzetti (Once Upon a Time in the West) does fine work playing a suave Lothario, forced to reconsider his lifestyle. In her brief appearance, Leah Massini suggests a heinous spoiled brat who must be the center of attention. 

L'Avventura isn't for everyone, but it's a marvelously crafted movie. You could do worse for your plunge into European art cinema. And the lack of tennis-playing mimes certainly helps.