Customer Reviews
6 stars if it were possible XXXXXX...there - By: David M. Grant, 01 Aug 2008 
Anything that can be said has been said so I wont go on to much...In my view for me this is without doubt one of the best films I have seenin years, Monica Vitti is so stunning even mesmerising. Beautifuly shot. A girl myseriously disappears while on a yachting trip after that the search begins by her Lover & her best friend...(what are friend for) & what use are lovers ??. I feel that many men & women will relate to certain main charactersin the way they act out there lives, I wont give anything away.cos thats the kinda guy I am.
I would also suggest seeing L'Eclisse also starring Monica Vitti & the stylish Alain Delon (good hair) also Red Desert I think it may be released on dvd region 2in October 2008 its available on region 1 at present.plus La Notte is a must as well.
Michelangelo Antonioni's study of the idle upper class,is a gem. The quality of this Criterion dvd is second to none. And the 2nd disc with the audio commentary by film historian Gene Youngblood is fascinating..
Buy this with no hesitation you will not regret it..
Superb Criterion Release. - By: Phoust, 15 Oct 2006 L'Avventura 1960
Superb Criterion Release.
L'Avventura was directedin 1960 by what many would regard now as one of the truly great directors of all time, Michelangelo Antonioni. `L'Avventura' is now regarded as being the first partin a quadrilogy of films followed by `La Notte' (1961), E'clisse (1962) & `Red Desert' (1964) all dealing with the themes of modern alienation & the human condition. The feature that sets `L'Avventura apart from the other three films though is that `L'Avventura still has a strong masculine, if immature & spiritually impotent, character. Later films would concentrate on the female character to a far greater extant.
L'Avventura is essentially a road movie with an objective that is not important to the film, so I won't say anything about that. What is important is that Antonioni is writing a whole new cinematic languagein his use of camera angle & position within a scene, actors being filmed from behind & characters entering a scene from what would appear to be the wrong direction. The scenes & composition on the island are perhaps some of the best I've ever watched. Antonioni also uses architecture as a metaphorin many scenes & would be explored to a greater extentin his next two films `La Notte' & `E'clisse'. Saying that though, there are some Hitchcockian clichésin `L'Avventura' such as the train entering the tunnel as a metaphor for intercourse. It can sometimes be difficult for a younger audience to understand why `L'Avventura' is so important because so many of these ideas seem familiar to us now, but nothing was made like this before it. The audio commentary on this disc by film historian Gene Youngblood is an invaluable tool to a greater understanding of this films position & statusin cinema history & is highly recommended. The transfer is superb & presentedin 1.77:1 & enhanced for 16x 9 televisions.
L'Avventura starred Monica Vitti (E'clisse, 1962; Red Desert,1964), Gabriele Ferzetti (Once Upon A Time In The West, 1969) & Lea Massari (Mummur Of The Heart, 1971). Other similar films I would recommend are `La Dolce Vita' (Federico Felini, 1960); `Picnic At Hanging Rock' (Peter Weir, 1975) & `Paris, Texas' (Wim Wenders, 1984). `L'Avventura won the Special Jury Prize at Cannein 1960 yet still feels like a fresh & modern film & gets better every time I see it. It'sin my top 5 greatest films ever made without a doubt.
Highly Recommended.
Key work from Michelangelo Antonioni. - By: Jason Parkes, 28 Nov 2002 1959's L'aventura was the film that moved Antonioni into the international realm of directors- it is far more diverting & perplexing than the later, somewhat over-rated Blow Up (1966). The story, as such, is not unlike Peter Weir's later Picnic at Hanging Rock- though there is just one disappearance here. The plot is fairly simple- people are on a cruise of the Mediterranean, Sandro & lover Anna are on it with her friend Claudia- on an island Anna vanishes, never to be found & Claudia replaces Anna as Sandro's lover.
This is a very strange film, with interesting/oblique compositions courtesy of photographer Aldo Scarvarda; L'aventura along with The Red Desert are Antonioni's finest works (later films like Blow Up & Zabriskie Point have moments & are visually stunning, but as a whole leave me cold)- & it ranks next to another oblique film of this period, Alain Resnais's L'Annee derniere a Marienbad (1961)- which is equally fantastic & a presient for modern films like Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive & Open Your Eyes. Antonioni & L'aventura may not to be your taste, but it still demands to be seen by those with an interestin cinema beyond mere entertainment...
