DVD RELEASES


L'Eclisse - Michelangelo Antonioni (1962)

Antonioni is my favorite Italian director of all time. There are a few directors whose films don't just make me say," Well, that was good." His films make me want to go say something. To flesh out whatever project I'm working on and get my arms elbow deep in it. To answer back with creative smoke signals and say, "I appreciate what you did because you cared about it and because it made me feel something." Watching his films you feel like he valued connecting with the viewer on an emotional level over making obtuse artistic statements. Although, the latter creeps in a bit as well.

L'Eclisse (or The Eclipse) is the final film in Antonioni's loose, unofficial trilogy about emotional distance and modern malaise. The others being L'Aventura and La Notte. In L'Eclisse the stunning Monica Vitti plays Vittoria, a young woman who is unsatisfied. The more she does to feel alive the more she realizes that she is engaged to participate in a marriage that will only leave her more dissatisfied. Eventually she has an exciting fling with Piero, a dashing stock trader. That's pretty much the plot, but it isn't the story. As with other Antonioni films, the story takes place in the elements outside the plot. He tells his stories with anxious silences, empty spaces and the shadows around the light.

The nature of L'Eclisse is one that makes a statement, but one that is specific to the viewer. The theme is that of, "How can we live in the world and be a part of it at the same time?" The theses depends on how you look at the world. This is the one in which the climax features no characters and no dialogue. Two loves agree to meet at an appointed time and place. Niether of them show. We see the places but not the people. Scholars love debating the meaning of L'Eclisse because they can't be proven wrong. Antonioni, when asked to explain the meaning of the film, would only dodge the question bashfully, nbever wanting to tell people what to think. He was actually a pretty down-to-Earth and loveable fellow. —Dave Cole