Il deserto rosso (The Red Desert) (1964)

Today's film is The Red Desert.  It reminded me of looking at a painting in a museum.  It's pretty to look at, but not much is going on.  It was quite artistic though, I will give it a 6/10.

The story focuses on Giuliana.  She was in a car accident, and even though she wasn't badly hurt, she seems to have be traumatized by the event.  No one really understands what she's going through.  She's married and has a son, but is pursued by the handsome Corrado, played by the same guy who would later play Dumbledore.  I was like hell yeah get that lady, Dumbledore.  You don't get to hear his distinctive voice since everything was dubbed over in Italian.

Giulana spends some of her time at the power plant/factory/whatever where her husband works.  Everything is cold and steel, and there's lots of red paint.  This was Michelangelo Antonioni's first color film, so color is going to be an important part of the film.  When she walks past the water, it's not a beautiful blue color, it's icky green and brown with pollution.  She and her son notice poisonous yellow smoke coming out of the smokestacks and wonder if it kills the birds.

I think part of the problem is the Giuliana is a natural person.  She needs to be out in nature.  While painting her store, she decides on blue and green - natural, cool colors.  Outside, the machinery is painted bright white and red.  Everything is dead or polluted outside.  She says when she looks out over the ocean, she forgets about the land.  The ocean is beautiful, natural and endless.  She tells her son a bedtime story about a gorgeous beach, where a girl swims, alone and happy, while the whole land sings.  Maybe she is this girl in her dreams.

Let's talk about Corrado, who is there to recruit workers for a factory.  Yay more destruction.  I know in Spanish corrido is a form of ran, does this refer to his constant desire to move cities?  We know from the beginning that he's interested in Giuliana but doesn't act on it until the end.

Later, she receives another scare when her son starts acting sick.  Even though she is assured that he has had all his vaccinations, his legs aren't responding and she believes he has polio.  She finds out that he was faking it and runs off upset.  Corrado uses this as an opportunity to take advantage of her.  Giuliana leaves and retrieves her son, where they again walk the empty dead landscape around the factories.