Director/Writer - Michelangelo AntonioniCast Character
Gabriele Ferzetti - Sandro
Monica Vitti - Claudia
Lea Massari - Anna
Dominique Blanchar - Giulia
Renzo Ricci - Anna's Father
L'Avventura is a film about loss, alienation and the struggle to place meaning on things that do not necessarily need them. There is quiet solitude between the images and characters throughout the film. They understand and console eachother through the inevitable. The inevitability of their pain, shame and who they are and how they can never change. The film places heavy refection on the ocean and it's power - symbolic of the unconscious mind. The characters are also reflected in the wild ocean through their desires, fears and erratic tendencies.
At the start of the film we are introduced to Anna a sullen woman made even more-so by her father's reminding that her boyfriend, Sandro, will never marry her. He is a playboy and unapologetic at that. Her father represents strength and dignity as he is a politician. The film doesn't show his dealings or his character as he is briefly in the film but by later in the film we can infer he is dignified of sorts.
Claudia lets Sandro take her in the hotel primarily to make her friend Ana jealous. The fast river current under the balcony shows the torrid feelings she has for Anna. As they make there way to the boat trip they head to Aeolian Islands. On the boat Lady Patrizia a self made aristocrat of sorts says, "Islands I don't get them ... surrounded by nothing but water...poor things..." This shows her and the rest of the groups spiritual isolation. They are unreachable, incommunicable even with each other. They talk tritely with one another through fixed lines and prepackaged emotions.
In a funny scene with Raimondo and Patrizia he gropes her after she lights a cigarette. She lights a cigarette before and not after showing her boredom and dissatisfaction with life in having everything. Sandro comments she is faithful not out of obligation but rather laziness. When you have a yacht, money and everything you want nothing can satisfy.
The location they go to, Aeolian island, of all places is cold, rough and uninviting much like the characters. Anna on the island asks Sandro why he hasn't married her. The rocky uninviting island and the choppy water symbolize their uneasy relationship. She wants commitment, he wants freedom.
Soon Anna inexplicably disappears. Claudia looks for Anna. Sandro says it is her typical behavior that drives him mad. Sandro's clothes blend with the rock showing he is part of the background for Anna. Her disappearance is metaphysical, a suicide of the soul, denoting her her unhappiness. She chooses to vanish through her endless frustration.
Claudia looks at two twigs together one intact, one broken, like their ambiguous relationship. Claudia is fine, Anna is damaged. From the scene where they are changing bathing suits one can guess they are lesbians. They take their time when changing clothes not shy to look at each other.
They meet a man who visits the house on the island from Panarea. They question thoroughly thinking he could have kidnapped or taken her but he is bewildered by this. Finally he suggest she might have fallen off the cliff because he had a lamb that did. Ana is like a sacrificial lamb making up for the group's lack of spirituality and emptiness. But more so Ana dies through metaphysical suicide because of her hollowness. Her soul and spirit are dead so her body soon follows. She also avenges Sandro for his lack of seriousness in her.
The story then focuses on Claudia. The tension between she and Sandro starts from concern of Anna then moves to Sandro's attraction to her. This happens rather quickly for him funnily. He replaces one void for another. As Claudia breaks down and cries Patrizia doesn't do anything but just watches her. Many of the conversations and characters' actions throughout the film show the peoples' superficiality and dis-ingenuousness. The best one is when Sandro explains he loathes scuba diving but must conform. Claudia escapes all of Sandro's advances which come at some of the most inappropriate of times including on the island shortly after Anna goes missing. He is shameless and somewhat heroic.
Anna's father arrives by boat and is relieved Anna had a Bible making him believe she didn't commit suicide. As Sandro boards the boat to see Claudia he finally makes a move and kisses her to which she is fearful and tries to escape. The camera angle of the boat rocks left and right showing her dizzy, ambiguous feelings.
Claudia tries to leave by train. Sandro wants to go but she suggests he find Anna because it would complicate things further. She leaves to Milazzo but Sandro chases the train and hops on. He pushes further reminding her to forget Anna but Claudia's guilt is strong. As she sees a guy in the next compartment flirting with a girl it reminds her of Sandro's positive qualities and lightens the mood. As Claudia snaps of her trance she begs Sandro to not look for her. She most likely fears what happened to Anna will happen to her. He reluctantly leaves.
The next scene is filmed in a cinema-verite style reminiscent of the film Battle of Algiers. A funny scene has a loacl celebrity, Gloria Perkins, who is 19 goes to a notions shop to fix her dress which is ripped. Hundreds of men gather in their depravity hoping to see her. She gladly shows off her torn dress to everyone.
Sandro meets Zuria, a newspaper writer who wrote an article on Anna's disappearance. Sandro hopes to get some information on her. He tells hm there are rumors of her spottings in Rome and other cities but nothing is confirmed. He hints she may have sailed away in secret. When Sandro returns to his group they make jokes of her disappearance and carry on like nothing.
Giulia introduces Claudia to Goffredo, the princess's gradson who is 17. He is a stereotypical painter and does only nudes. He gives Giulia some cheesy dialogue to try and seduce her, she plays along. Claudia is the only person in the film concerned about Anna. The rest act their parts to give fake sympathy. Goffredo seduces Giulia in front of Claudia to which Giulia demands she leave.
Sandro continues his search of Anna. The next scene is pretty funny between the dispute between the pharmacist and his wife who argue over the attractive woman who came in. The husband and wife give different descriptions which are useless to Sandro at this point. When the paracist and Sandro are alone he tells him she went to Noto.
Sandro and Claudia go to a church and Claudia calls in:
Clauida: "Hear the echo... Why is it empty?"
Sandro: "Who knows. I wonder why they built it at all."
This is Antonioni's way of showing his characters as empty and searching to fill that void. Sandro has accepted his hollowness and chooses to move on quite fast as we see after Anna goes missing. He wonders why faith is offered when having it offers nothing in return. Claudia is more conflicted. It is as if Claudia is asking God what to do to which he is silent - giving her permission to further the affair.
The next scene has Sandro and Claudia kissing happily - no guilt for the first time. In a funny scene with Claudia around a hundred men followand stare at her once Sandro is away. This is her guilt crawling up again. The men are her subconscious. The men may also reprensent Anna's scorn.
He takes her to a square with magnificant buildings. He explains his profession as an architect and like an architect must convince her their foundation is strong and ready to be built upon. He explains he must do much estimating and cost evaluations - hinting he fools around and that is all part of the game. She is weary. A nun takes them to the top of the roof to show them the roof.
He asks her to get married. She says no. Eventually after much persuading she says yes. The next scene has her dancing and singing in her apartment like a kid again. When he is sullen - she knows he is thinking of Anna and she gets needy again. Her love is primarily based on narcissism and attention. His on power and ego.
One good scene is when inside the hotel Sandro looks out his window. The camera pans around to his view of the church. He closes the window - closig his eyes on ethics - to try to have sex with Claudia without remorse or guilt. She repulses knowing about Anna. They continue looking for her. As they go to a party she meets a friend who she tries to avoid. When they sit down a man above is seen with a rosary in his hand making her uncomfortable as Sandro was uncomfortable with the window open.
The next hotel they feel comfortable as there is heavy curtains up. This obviously shows their guilt for what they are doing. He meets Gloria Perkins at the party.
When Claudia confides in Patrizia about Anna she gives her trite advice. Everyone in the film is hollow and uncaringof one another except Claudia and even she is no saint. She is the only one who keeps searching emotionally and spiritually.
When she finds Sandro with Gloria Perkins she breaks down. When he returns to her he has nothing but visible shame. It is enough remorse for her for forgiveness.
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