Red Desert (1964)

Not rated, but like many of Antonioni films, Red Desert has an element of sexuality through it, culminating in the third act with a sex act that could, at best, be described as involving questionable consent.  There's obscured nudity and innuendo in the film.  Also, the movie feels quite cruel, even though that might not be something that MPAA necessarily rates.  Still, not rated.

DIRECTOR: Michelangelo Antonioni

It was always going to be the next movie I watched.  I just loved that it fell exactly after I told the kids to challenge themselves to things that they may not be awesome at.  Both this and Asteroid City required some further reading before trying to take a crack at writing.  Part of me loves going into an interpretation blind.  It challenges me.  But I also think to my failure with a Bergman interpretation before launching head-first into a blog that might be difficult.  I just have to keep repeating my mantra: "Research is a good thing."  

The good news --kind of --is that Red Desert is difficult for everyone.  Both essays I read stressed that Red Desert doesn't have one interpretation.  I guess most stories don't.  But it's almost as if Antonioni is keeping his cards close to his chest.  He wants me to struggle a little bit.  It's more about mood than it is about having a concrete theme.  We know that Giuliana is victimized in this movie, and not only by her husband.  Yes, her husband seems like the worst, but it seems like the world is out to get her.  Antonioni plays this chess match against himself when presenting the story of Giuliana's oppression.  He creates an environment where Giuliana's oppression seems valid.  People seem distant and terrible.  Regardless of how many people are around her, she always seems alone.  But on the other hand, Antonioni also creates a world where Giuliana comes across as eccentric and overly dramatic.  Almost driving off of a pier; leaving a purse behind in fear of a contagious disease --these are the moments that present an unsympathetic manic energy.

I'd like to think that I'm smarter than most when it comes to film interpretation and that's only because I watch a lot of movies and I think I've met Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hour rule for writing.  But whatever strengths I have for analysis, I acknowledge that I just don't have the chops when it comes to dropping art theory.  I've taken theory classes.  I was actually pretty good at them at the time.  But it's one of those things that I haven't nurtured.  But I want to talk about setting because both articles made meals about the settings of Red Desert.  It's odd, but the world of Red Desert has that haunting element that can be seen in Terry Gilliam's Brazil or Alex Proyas's Dark City.  Obviously, Antonioni is giving the more grounded version of that aesthetic.  But Red Desert is a sobering look at how industry has cut a hole in the natural world.  There's this absolutely gorgeous part of the movie where Giuliana is telling her son a story of a girl on an island with pink sand.  Antonioni really wanted to sell this part and puts a big thank-you letter in the opening credits for being allowed to film on the pink-sanded beach.  It's got intense color that almost hits that Technicolor pop.  Contrast that to the rest of the film.

Giuliana's distance from society is described by her as "My gears don't fit right" (or something.  I really should start taking notes or Googling more).  I love that she uses these words because the entire thing feels industrial.  Corrado's business seems to be doing well, but everything feels dirty, grungy, and below board for how things should be handled.  Giuliana's illness kind of feels like the inversion of that.  She looks gorgeous.  She looks like she has the perfect family, but the gears aren't working.  Perhaps it is because she values things outside of money or success that force her to feel out of joint with the rest of society.  

But I also want to talk about my own read on the story.  It seems like everything Antonioni does is just a little bit sexual and a little false.  If I binged all of the Antonioni movies (which I'm sure was never meant to be done), I'd see a bunch of very different movies about lies.  (Note:  When a director keeps on making movies about affairs, either sexual or emotional, I raise some red flags.)  Red Desert's take on falseness and lies almost goes to the lies that we tell ourselves.  Giuliana is surrounded by liars.  While Corrado doesn't straight up tell her that he's in love with her, Giuliana isn't wrong to think that Corrado is obsessed with her.  Corrado is almost a master manipulator in their relationship.  He positions himself as  a concerned nice guy.  Giulana needs someone in her life that is safe.  Corrado sees the toxicity of Ugo and just stands beside him, juxtaposing himself in every situation.  From that perspective, his constant presence and the knowledge that he's not as bad as Ugo, makes him appealing and we know that.  When Giuliana asks Corrado if he loves her in the final act, he doesn't say "yes" or "no."  Instead, he makes her question herself by saying "What makes you say that?"  

Because everything is lacking truth, I get this vibe that Giuliana questions herself about things she knew were true.  This goes back to that manic energy I mentioned earlier.  Her husband lies to her.  The scene that really convinced me that this a story about how casual we are about lying is the polio sequence.  For the people who don't know what I'm talking about, Giuliana's most endearing sequences are Giuliana as mother.  While often she's a bit of a neurotic mess, she prioritizes her kid's needs over her own.  She really keeps everything in check.  One day, she wakes her kid up for Kindergarten and he says that his legs don't work.  Mind you, this is after she has the big freakout about a communicable disease, so illness is on the brain.  She does the right thing: she doesn't believe him.  (I'm on team "don't believe the kid" too.  I'm not being sarcastic about that.  Kids lie about stuff all the time.)  She puts him through his paces, trying to coax him out of bed until she really starts to worry about his well-being.  The kid is really sticking to his story.  She lifts him up and takes him to the doctor.  The doctor runs some tests that'll take 24 hours and she's a mess.  She walks in on the kid; he's standing on the bed to grab something high up.  Now, there's a lot that goes into this scene.  She immediately is grateful that her kid isn't paralyzed.  I mean, she was really leaning into polio.  But then, there's this broken moment that the great Monica Vitti just shifts.  It's this subtle, yet palpable move that she makes with her character.  This break happens in her and she realizes that humanity is comprised of liars, even her child.  Now, I choose to read this as "humanity is made of liars," but I get an even better read that men are liars.  They are born liars and they get away with it.  It's something.

It's a fascinating movie and it aligns with stuff like L'Avventura ​in terms of structure (and everything else, I suppose).  But I find Red Desert a bit too aimless. I have to always put a disclaimer that I'm a human being and maybe I just wasn't feeling it at the time.  But I kept feeling like I was missing story beats, but I really wasn't.  It is just one of those Antonioni about the cruel existence of life and that means that actual plot points are few and far between.  There is always something visual to appreciate, but it isn't exactly riveting throughout.  Still, I don't regret watching it considering that it was intellectually pretty stimulating.