L’ECLISSE directed by Michelangelo Antonioni (Italy, 1962)
Mostly, we watch movies as a means of seeking relief from the worries and tedium of everyday life but, with deliberate perversity, Antonioni’s L’Eclisse (Eclipse) makes no attempt to cater to this desire for contrived entertainment or escapism.
It’s a movie about nothing and everything with a plot so paper-thin it would fit on a post-it note. My summary would be : A young woman leaves her older husband – she meets a younger man – she doesn’t love either – she doesn’t know what she really wants.
The setting is Rome, but apart from the frenetic activity of the city’s stock exchange it looks like a ghost city. Many shots would not be out-of-place in the Sci-Fi classic, The Day The Earth Stood Still. When we do see the inhabitants, most of them look haunted, bored and ill at ease.
The narrative is linear yet the story feels as mysterious and enigmatic as one of David Lynch’s waking dream sequences. Continue reading
