L'AvventuraWhat would you do if, one day, a friend of your's were to vanish suddenly without a trace? What would it do to you? I think we might all answer that in the same way to start, that we'd feel fear, confusion, anxiety; all normal, expected responses. But what happens then? Where does the story go? The story of L'Avventura is hinged upon the disappearance of a young woman named Anna (Lea Massari), whose absence marks the beginning of a relationship between Anna's friend, Claudia (Monica Vitti) and her lover, Sandro (Gabriele Ferzetti), and how Anna's presence (or lack thereof) affects them.
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L'Avventura translates as "the adventure"; but what is the adventure in this film? The story begins with a vacation on a yacht along the islands in the Mediterranean Sea around Italy for a group of well-off friends, including Anna, Claudia, and Sandro. Prior to the expedition, Anna confronts her father (Renzo Ricci) over a vague argument, then accompanies Claudia presumably to tell Sandro it's over between them. Instead, Anna makes love to Sandro, while Claudia waits outside, as she wanders through an art gallery. Further, when the party is at sea, Anna fakes a shark sighting, but only tells Claudia of it being a false alarm. Anna seems to have a need to provoke chaos, but doesn't seem to do so out of spite or malice, although that too is possible. When Anna goes missing on the island they have stopped off at, the party splits up to search for her to no avail. Little clues insinuate themselves into our minds; did she drown? Did she get picked up on a boat by a group of smugglers? Did she sneak off, and is--for some reason--on the run? There are no real answers, nor would any answer really be either satisfactory or appropriate, because Anna's disappearance is not the focus of the story, just the catalyst. Within short time, Sandro begins to make advances toward Claudia, which leaves her confused and uncertain given the sudden disappearance of not only her best friend, but Sandro's lover. It's evident that Claudia and Anna were close, close enough for Anna to confess her true (if they are true) feelings about Sandro to her, and loan her clothing. It might be as simple as that Sandro sees Claudia in Anna's shirt, and is uncertain how to project his displaced affection. That's certainly a hollow kind of love, but that might be the most honest kind in L'Avventura. Sandro pursues Claudia, and in time she acquiesces to his advancements; by "in time", that is to say over the course of a few days. That makes the couple sound callous, but in the heat of the action to seek out what became of her friend, Claudia's own emotions run hot, and her defenses are down when it comes to the invitation to (what looks like) love. The effect of Anna's disappearance has similar effects on the ennui-stricken friends of Claudia and Anna's, including Giulia (Dominique Blanchar), who has felt cold reproach from her older husband, Corrado (James Addams), and begins an affair with a teenage artist out of a mix of spite and lust. The "adventure" here is an emotional one, even more so than the actual quest by Claudia and Sandro to find Anna. Suddenly, the lives of Anna's friends are brimming with excitement and surge with new experiences...at least for as long as the flame of their excitement burns; after that, well...
There is a sense of melancholy or aloof detachment in Anna; so when her father makes the tactless assertion that "we can rule out suicide" by virtue of a Bible being among Anna's possessions, it may shock Claudia to hear it said, but it is no doubt a thought which occurred not just to us, but to Claudia as well. Anna is, in a way, treated as a hobby or object of Sandro, and perhaps he takes their engagement for granted. Sandro may be far from perfect, but he doesn't seem malicious, save for a revealing moment as he takes a walk around an old, Renaissance church, and deliberately spills an artist's vial of ink over his work. Why would Sandro do this? Maybe he's starting to feel the excitement of Anna's disappearance wearing off, and he needs another fix of excitement to break him out of the sense that he is--like many of us--just fading into the background of life. Sandro complains that although he has made a good deal of money by giving estimates for building construction, he misses the sense of accomplishment that comes with actually designing something, doing something creative. Day after day, life seems staid and doesn't seem to be that exciting, because "exciting" tends to be a result of chaos, which is rarely brings anything good. Claudia and Sandro's adventure has them going around the Italian countryside to abandoned hotels--and not-so-abandoned hotels--to pharmacists and churches, ostensibly seeking Anna's whereabouts, and gradually falling in love in the process. Ultimately, their adventure is no longer about finding Anna, but about discovering themselves...only to find that they don't have as much to offer in the way of excitement compared to the thrill of seeking Anna. Given Anna's predilection to sow discord, it might even be possible that her disappearance was a deliberate effort to conjure forth this response--unsympathetic as it may be--from her friend and her lover. L'Avventura reveals several truisms about society as a result of the discordant quest which Claudia and Sandro embark upon. At one point, Sandro goes to visit a reporter--to find some clues about who saw Anna, and where--only to find himself bearing witness to the paparazzi swarming a beautiful heiress and writer, and dozens of men trying to get close to her, ask her questions, as she seeks out a tailor to repair a revealing tear in her dress. The young woman bears a slight resemblance to Anna, and it is clear that Sandro--like all the other men--ogle her with sexual desire on their mind. Compare this with a similar scene when Claudia waits outside for Sandro, as he goes in to see if Anna is inside, and steadily she is surrounded by dozens of men, watching her, their muttering somehow sounding lascivious by virtue of the sense that she feels exposed, guilty, or just plain threatened. It is a psychological moment, but one that reveals more about what is going on within Claudia's mind than what is strictly shown, a challenging trick for a film, which by nature reveals events not through implication but through observation. This--and other scenes like it--are the "real" movie, where the events are meant to mirror the psychological effects on people who have become so numb to their own emotions, that when an event jostles them from their emotional malaise, the sensation is somewhat alien and tumultuous, like a ship at sea in a storm. And the sea seems to always be there to remind us of its existence.
Recommended for: Fans of a classic example of an "art film" about an introspective journey of emotion, which appears as a mystery about a girl missing while at sea. Some characters may appear superficial, but I wonder how we might appear to others from the outside looking in.
There is a sense of melancholy or aloof detachment in Anna; so when her father makes the tactless assertion that "we can rule out suicide" by virtue of a Bible being among Anna's possessions, it may shock Claudia to hear it said, but it is no doubt a thought which occurred not just to us, but to Claudia as well. Anna is, in a way, treated as a hobby or object of Sandro, and perhaps he takes their engagement for granted. Sandro may be far from perfect, but he doesn't seem malicious, save for a revealing moment as he takes a walk around an old, Renaissance church, and deliberately spills an artist's vial of ink over his work. Why would Sandro do this? Maybe he's starting to feel the excitement of Anna's disappearance wearing off, and he needs another fix of excitement to break him out of the sense that he is--like many of us--just fading into the background of life. Sandro complains that although he has made a good deal of money by giving estimates for building construction, he misses the sense of accomplishment that comes with actually designing something, doing something creative. Day after day, life seems staid and doesn't seem to be that exciting, because "exciting" tends to be a result of chaos, which is rarely brings anything good. Claudia and Sandro's adventure has them going around the Italian countryside to abandoned hotels--and not-so-abandoned hotels--to pharmacists and churches, ostensibly seeking Anna's whereabouts, and gradually falling in love in the process. Ultimately, their adventure is no longer about finding Anna, but about discovering themselves...only to find that they don't have as much to offer in the way of excitement compared to the thrill of seeking Anna. Given Anna's predilection to sow discord, it might even be possible that her disappearance was a deliberate effort to conjure forth this response--unsympathetic as it may be--from her friend and her lover. L'Avventura reveals several truisms about society as a result of the discordant quest which Claudia and Sandro embark upon. At one point, Sandro goes to visit a reporter--to find some clues about who saw Anna, and where--only to find himself bearing witness to the paparazzi swarming a beautiful heiress and writer, and dozens of men trying to get close to her, ask her questions, as she seeks out a tailor to repair a revealing tear in her dress. The young woman bears a slight resemblance to Anna, and it is clear that Sandro--like all the other men--ogle her with sexual desire on their mind. Compare this with a similar scene when Claudia waits outside for Sandro, as he goes in to see if Anna is inside, and steadily she is surrounded by dozens of men, watching her, their muttering somehow sounding lascivious by virtue of the sense that she feels exposed, guilty, or just plain threatened. It is a psychological moment, but one that reveals more about what is going on within Claudia's mind than what is strictly shown, a challenging trick for a film, which by nature reveals events not through implication but through observation. This--and other scenes like it--are the "real" movie, where the events are meant to mirror the psychological effects on people who have become so numb to their own emotions, that when an event jostles them from their emotional malaise, the sensation is somewhat alien and tumultuous, like a ship at sea in a storm. And the sea seems to always be there to remind us of its existence.
Recommended for: Fans of a classic example of an "art film" about an introspective journey of emotion, which appears as a mystery about a girl missing while at sea. Some characters may appear superficial, but I wonder how we might appear to others from the outside looking in.