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Slow Moving Pictures

@lewisbeerblog.bsky.social

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Relentlessly blogging about a single film - currently Red Desert. www.slowmovingpictures.org

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · Jan 4

Every Saturday in 2025, I will be blogging about Michelangelo Antonioni’s Red Desert, a film that (for me) perfectly encapsulates how it feels to be at odds with the reality you live in. All content is free and all comments are welcome.

Everything That Happens in Red Desert (1)

Loss of focus

www.slowmovingpictures.org

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 3d

That is very surprising - maybe a bad case of vote-splitting...

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 3d

It's like the Weronika-POV we inhabited when she died on stage, and when she was lying in the grave - embodied by light and the camera, the film-maker's two most important tools, as though our relationship with a film (or a song, or art in general) is what gives us that sense of a 'double life'.

From Krzysztof Kieślowski's The Double Life of Véronique: a blurry image of the orchestra and concert hall slipping through our vision as we collapse to the floor; we are seeing this moment from Weronika's point of view, as she has a heart attack in the middle of a performance.

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 3d

Has the colour green ever been used so well in any other film? And such a perfect marriage of imagery and music - whenever I listen to Zbigniew Preisner's score, I feel like I'm watching the film play out in my head.

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 3d

In The Double Life of Véronique, when Alexandre shows off his creepy twin-puppets, Véronique realises he has been manipulating her for the sake of his art – which her instincts had already told her. She is trapped in an exploitative construct, until she ends both this relationship and this film.

From Krzysztof Kieślowski's The Double Life of Véronique: Véronique looks down at the hands of the Véronique-puppet crafted by Alexandre; he stands behind her, partially obscured by shadows, with his hand over Véronique's as it moves the head of the puppet. She looks (understandably) troubled.

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 4d

Antonioni admitted to having bullied and slapped Lucia Bosè on the set of Story of a Love Affair. Rather than separating the art from the artist, I argue that this real-life abusive hypocrisy is connected to something ugly in the films, and that the rape scene in Red Desert is a case in point.

Everything That Happens in Red Desert (40)

What happens to Giuliana?

www.slowmovingpictures.org

Reposted by Slow Moving Pictures

Robert M. Payne @robertmpayne.bsky.social · 9d

Buon compleanno, Michelangelo Antonioni!

From my blog...

adventuresinvertigo.blogspot.com/2015/05/clas...

Classicism, Modernism, Christopher Booker & ‘L’Eclisse’

Michelangelo Antonioni’s ‘L’Eclisse’ (1962): Monica Vitti (partially obscured, left) and Alain Delon One of the most illuminating boo...

adventuresinvertigo.blogspot.com

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Reposted by Slow Moving Pictures

Women and Film History International @wfhinetwork.bsky.social · 11d

We actively are seeking hosts for future Women and the Silent Screen conferences, including WSS 2027!

A helpful potential host info sheet & the application form can be found here: www.wfhi.org/about-wss.

If you are interested in hosting WSS 2027, please submit a proposal by 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟕, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓.

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 10d

In this astonishing image from Satyajit Ray’s Devi, the individual and her surroundings are dissolved by sunlight. This trick-of-excessive-light symbolises the delusion that has been imposed on Doya; the film suggests that the clearer light of reason might have prevented this.

From Satyajit Ray's Devi: Doyamoyee stands in front of a window, wearing her wedding clothes and putting on a large necklace; sunlight pours in through the window, casting a haze over Doya and the portion of the room she stands in; we cannot really see her face in this blinding light.

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 11d

Red Desert is an ambitious but (knowingly) doomed attempt to evoke a state of fear that cannot be portrayed directly. It is a fear of ‘colours, people, everything,’ of a phantom entity that appears on the wall, then on the ceiling, then in the gaze and touch of another person. #filmsky

Everything That Happens in Red Desert (39)

What is Giuliana afraid of?

www.slowmovingpictures.org

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 13d

‘That’s your mum and dad,’ says Janice’s boyfriend, looking out at the rows of identical suburban houses. ‘And that’s normal. But is it sane?’ Janice’s illness is caused by her environment, by the layers of meaning infused into every object, by all the forces contained in the phrase ‘family life’.

From Ken Loach's Family Life: Janice and her boyfriend stand at a window, looking at the world outside.

The view out of the window: interlocking rows of rooftops and chimneys, suburban houses extending out for miles; far in the distance, the chimneys and smoke stacks of an industrial complex.

Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 13d

'Sometimes I think it's if I do cooperate that's how I'll be in here forever!' Janice (in Ken Loach's Family Life) is saying two things: she can cooperate by playing the 'madwoman' everyone needs her to be, or she can play their version of sanity and be stuck 'in here' in a different sense.

From Ken Loach's Family Life: Janice looks angrily at her father as he tells her to cooperate with the doctors.

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 13d

Even after seeing it in motion, I feel like this particular frame is burnt into my mind - also a great example of how silent films can recreate the sensation of dreaming, when you encounter weirdly static, haunting images and they stay with you for a long time afterwards.

Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 14d

That sounds wonderful - I rented them on VHS from a local arthouse video rental store. As a teenager I was really into horror and Hitchcock so I think it started with Clouzot (Wages of Fear and Les Diaboliques) and then I gradually discovered the rest. Good times, wish I could re-live them!

Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 14d

‘I will never be cured – never, never…’ This is the bleakest moment in Red Desert, not just because of what Giuliana is saying, but also because it is a soliloquy: she has to isolate herself before saying it. Corrado may be within earshot, but he does not engage.

From Antonioni's Red Desert: a medium close-up of Giuliana in Corrado's hotel room; she has moved away from him and knelt down beside the armchair, looking into the darkness behind the camera as she declares herself incurable.

Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 14d

Those are my go-to favourites of the period as well, especially Le Jour se Leve - it makes poetry out of tear gas! Such a beautiful, coolly tragic film.

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 15d

But Zanni's industrial zone is more deserted than Antonioni's; an apocalypse has drained the world of life. This is the grey desert where we end up, emotionally speaking, after gazing into the red one. The accompanying musical tracks constitute a similar response to the film.

adriano-zanni.bandcamp.com

Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 15d

A memorable Red Desert location, as photographed more recently by Adriano Zanni @boredmachine.bsky.social We see the industrial orbs from a lower and more human angle: we see the poles anchoring them to the earth and the bases of the ladders we could climb if we wanted to ascend these structures.

From Antonioni's Red Desert: a wide shot; in the lower half, Giuliana walks alongside a grey wall; in the upper half, behind the wall and looming over it, is a complex of identical round metal tankers; steam also rises up from behind the wall.

From Adriano Zanni’s ‘Sequenze di fabbrica’: the same industrial orbs we saw in Red Desert, now seen from a lower angle, from closer up, and in black and white.

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 15d

I agree, La Ronde strikes just the right tone - it gets better every time I watch it. And yes, it's a masterclass in mingling the cinematic and the theatrical. The language is beautiful but I think of this film as Viennese more than French, and would like to see a German-language version...

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 16d

He edits out a sex scene, but has to see it for himself in order to know where to cut the film. If La Ronde suggests that we are trapped on a carousel, it also admits that the carousel is just a story, and that stories are never impartial or uncensored – their rules exist to be broken.

From Ophüls' La Ronde: the Master of Ceremonies (Anton Walbrook) holds one end of a strip of film in his mouth, and holds another part of the strip up in order to see where he needs to cut it with a pair of scissors, to prevent us from seeing anything inappropriate.

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 16d

Anton Walbrook, the Master of Ceremonies in La Ronde, explains that he sees reality ‘in the round’, meaning that he comprehends it in a way that 'real' people do not. He acknowledges the artifice of the film we are watching, liberating us from the seemingly compulsive narrative.

From Ophüls' La Ronde: the Master of Ceremonies (Anton Walbrook) introduces the next segment ('The Chambermaid and the Young Man') with a film clapper-board; he looks directly into the camera lens, addressing us.

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 17d

‘Strange how homeless, how rejected he felt. Since his conversation with his wife he had been moving away from the habitual sphere of his existence, into some remote and unfamiliar world. He felt that the order and balance in his life were an illusion and a lie.’ (Arthur Schnitzler, Dream Story)

From Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut: a close-up of Bill, staring at Alice as she tells him about her deepest, formerly concealed desires.

A medium close-up of Alice, sitting beside the window, looking at Bill; red curtains with leafy green patterns to either side of her; blue light from the window behind her head.

Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 17d

In Eyes Wide Shut, the roaming Steadicam and ubiquitous Christmas lights (multiplied in mirrors) turn ordinary spaces into wonderlands; our peripheral vision is pervaded by strange, blurry colours. As in Red Desert, a frustration with everyday decorum triggers a conflict with reality itself.

From Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut: Bill (Tom Cruise) walks down a staircase into a nightclub; the Steadicam moves backwards in front of him; the walls are covered in colourful Christmas lights and mirrors which reflect and fragment the space.

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 17d

Yes, that one is long overdue. The Oberwald Mystery has gone up in my estimation since I watched it for a third time - it's a strange, off-putting film but the more I dig into it the more interesting stuff I find. Would love to see it get an English-friendly release with contextualising extras.

Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 17d

Madame de… (d. Max Ophüls) and Eyes Wide Shut (d. Stanley Kubrick).

It’s easy to see why Kubrick was inspired by Ophüls’ use of camera movement to transport characters and audience to another plane of reality. The effect can be romantic but also dizzying, a dream that waltzes into a nightmare.

From Ophüls' Madame de...: Louise and Baron Donati, in a medium shot, waltzing and falling in love; the other dancers are out of focus, the background punctuated by candlelight.

From Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut: Alice and Sandor, in a medium shot, dancing and flirting; the other party guests are out of focus, the background swarming with Christmas lights.

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Slow Moving Pictures @lewisbeerblog.bsky.social · 17d

I love the 50s films too, especially La signora senza camelie, I vinti, and Le amiche. Very envious of your cinema experience in 85 - I saw L'eclisse at the NFT in 2015, which was incredible, but otherwise have never seen any of these films in the cinema.

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