L'Eclisse - Vittoria & Riccardo

 L'Eclisse, Michelangelo Antonioni 1962

Antonioni is the architectural auteur. He uses the built environment to depict the alienation of modern life, and emphasises landscape and architecture to diminish the human to their surroundings.
Being a fan of architecture and a cinematography lover, his films blow me over with their poetic and considered photography.

L'Eclisse is the final film in a loose thematic trilogy beginning with L'Avventura (1960) and La Notte (1961), and it is possibly the most powerful and beautiful of the three.
The opening scene, shown below, depicts the emotionally exhausting break-up of Vittoria (Antonioni's muse Monica Vitti) and Riccardo (Francisco Rabal). The scene is quiet, with little dialogue and the continuous humming of a desktop fan, a fantastic inclusion to the scene. The mise-en-scene is crucial to the narrative, Antonioni using the room's dimensions, its objects, furniture and artworks to depict and accentuate the emotional states of the characters.

Francisco Rabal

Monica Vitti

It begins by revealing small details of the room and its occupants, giving an incomplete view of the scene, tactically showing fractured shots of the setting's elements, whilst gradually allowing viewers to piece together the scenery, and the plot.

The Criterion Collection cites Michelangelo Antonioni's favourite themes as "alienation and the difficulty of finding connections in an increasingly mechanised world" and L'Eclisse's opening scene is testament to this.

The director uses the art in the apartment as a visual representation of the character's interior states

This Roman structure alludes to the nuclear war threat, highlighted in the film's closing scene

Vittoria is disillusioned, alienated, and drifting amongst the solidity of the modern built environment, unable to make meaningful connections with other people - although really, all the characters share these struggles. This is tellingly shown in the last scene that Vittoria and Riccardo share together, where after futilely trying to mend their relationship, Riccardo walks away, not even attempting to look back at his ex-fiance.  

Riccardo walks away from Vittoria, never looking back

This is a very powerful and emotional film, Antonioni expertly manipulating images and mise-en-scene to depict the struggles of modern life.

If you're a lover of beautiful cinematography, considered mise-en-scene, architecture, the landscape and looking at beautiful people, L'Eclisse is surely for you.
Antonioni is a master of film art, and it's a pleasure to see the world through his eyes.

Where the Sidewalk Ends

Where the Sidewalk Ends, Otto Preminger 1950

I thought I would introduce myself to the work of Otto Preminger by delving into one of his film noirs, and so came along Where the Sidewalk Ends, starring Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney.
Being a fan of both the noir genre and typography, my heart was captured in the opening five seconds of the film. Talk about an impressive title sequence!

Sidewalks & gutters, so very noir

 "Why do you always try to push me in the gutter, Dixon? I got as much right on the sidewalk as you."

Dana Andrews

Andrews and Gene Tierney

"Preminger believes first in mise en scene, the creation of a precise complex of sets and characters, a network of relationships, an architecture of connections, an animated complex that seems suspended in space." - Jacques Rivette

Coffee & Paper

A morning spent with a cup of Blackstar coffee in my Rob Brandt mug, pouring through the latest issue of Smith Journal.
Smith is usually great, but when it has a feature article on a man who crafts miniature ships in bottles - you know it is going to be stellar.

Life can be so sweet.

Alexander's fears

Fanny and Alexander, Ingmar Bergman 1982

In this sequence, the young Alexander goes to visit his father on his death bed. The audience is shown quiet, subjective shots of details Alexander has noticed in the room, before he lays eyes on his father in bed.

It's a great sequence, with beautiful shot placement and editing, and reflects the stillness, fear and trepidation we feel in moments of mourning.