L’Eclisse (35mm OmU)

In the organizer's words:

Director: Michelangelo Antonioni, France/ Italy 1962, 126 minutes, 35mm, original Italian version with English subtitles, print courtesy of Cinecittà Luce

Its plaintive, oppressive finale - a symphony of silently listening objects on a nondescript street corner in Rome, destined for a rendezvous to which none of the lovers show up - is one of the most revolutionary and rightly celebrated moments of mid-century European cinema. But L'eclisse is characterized by the same cinematic brilliance throughout: Antonioni's depiction of urban alienation insinuates itself insidiously into the doomed affair between a translator (Monica Vitti) and a stockbroker (Alain Delon).

In masterfully composed tableaux, Antonioni exposes the inner emptiness of Rome's nouveau riche society and hints that a deeper restlessness lies behind the modern blasé attitude. Vittoria seems tired of love, her relationship with Piero remains superficial, more a game than a feeling. The last seven minutes bring this aesthetic of disappearance to perfection. A work of constantly growing unrest, whose seismic shock Martin Scorsese described as "progress in storytelling".

In the supporting program: Gente del po
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Italy 1947, 11 minutes, DCP, original version with English subtitles

Blue Salon, Room 012, HfG Karlsruhe
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