Boy was I bored. If it hadn't been for the beautiful work of art that this film, from an objective point of view, is, I'd hate it. But it was one of those experiences where your aesthetic sense is stimulated to an extreme degree, while the plot makes you fall asleep. It's the world's best sleeping pill, this combination, you're bored but still impressed and you get sucked into you pillow with a smile on you face... I love the mood of old italian films like this, still, so it's on the plus side.

Antonioni leaves us with an unresolved plot, as he slowly, but surely indicates signs of self-indulgence and little concern for its audience. Great title, douchebag, were you hoping for a medal ? I appreciate the craftsmanship behind it all; It's beautifully shot and the actors are great but I'll take "La Dolce Vita" any day over this. Both films end on a similar note yet everything leading up to it is presented in a promising light.

Stunning on the rock; tier 10. Then atrophy.

Probably the most disturbing film I've ever seen, but it's also one of the best storylines ever committed to film.

mind-numbingly boring

I have to give Antonioni credit for making all the locations beautiful yet all the characters so unlikable. However, doing so made the movie very hard to watch. It's worth watching for analysis but definitely not for entertainment.

"Characters root themselves separately in background and foreground planes, their emotional distance rendered via the director's unnerving use of deep focus." - Ed Gonzalez

I was bored through most of the movie, though from what I'm reading about it, that may have been part of the point - much in the same vein as La Dolce Vita, the characters themselves are bored, and searching for some scraps of passion in their lives. The missing girl tricked me into thinking the movie would go in a more conventional direction and not the way it did, so I probably approached this from the wrong angle. This is one I'll have to revisit later.

I'm afraid I lost patience and interest in this about the time Anna disappears. The relationship between Claudia and Sandro is so insipid and boring, I just wanted that idiot Sandro to die, please, just go away and leave her alone. Blah.

If you enjoy superficial beauty and abhor substance, this is the film for you. Every meaningless gesture and howlingly bland line of dialogue takes place in gorgeous settings shot and framed exquisitely.

....so.... This is a classical masterpiece why?

The difference between what men want from women and what women want from men leads to tragic circumstances. Humans deserve pity.

Classic, early modernist pieces. Ridiculously beautiful, but ultimately disenchanting. Did I mention it's beautiful?

39

absolute win

I can recognize the "revolutionary" aspects of the film and I can recognize that plots needn't be tied up neatly (i.e. Cormac McCarthy), but it seems to me a complete waste of time to take us on a journey which doesn't have depth. There's nothing here besides endless contextualized images from which we're supposed to derive meaning. But why should I care about any of it? Let alone two and a half hours of it? To be honest, listening to the Criterion commentary made me like it less.

i always thought l'avventura is more about how men want to possess women, than about this 'ennui'-thingy. so annas decision to disappear from the patriarchic system is the first, the happy end. she just isn't daddys girl anymore. cool, but she had to vanish. LATER. in one of the first scenes you see claudias hands waving in the wind - free. the very same hands, which are chained to sandro at the second end. she isn't free anymore, she has fallen in love with the system that imprisons her.

I should love the films of Antonioni, but from the ones I've seen I've mostly felt complete disinterest in them, leaving me baffled. This is a prime example; the plot and its ideas are interesting, and in terms of cinematography and composition it is a masterclass, yet it feels hollow and a dull slog to get through at times. Maybe a reason for this issue here is that it could've tackled these ideas in a much pacier and shorter work. Whatever it is, it is saddening that I can't adore it.