Identification Of A Woman - Michelangelo Antonioni [1982] [DVD]

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Customer reviews

review by: rjchardine date: 2009-04-23 rating:
moving wallpaper
Throw a stone into a puddle and watch it change your reflection watch Antonioni and see others do it to themselves. Michelangelo A films while actors throw stones. Who feels what for whom here? I can see them moving but these people aren't going anywhere. We've seen Hemmings and Nicholson put in this position before i think to greater effect but it engages, rauchily, anticipating Winterbottom's "9 Songs" hanky-panky.

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review by: date: 2008-12-12 rating:
Intriguing and beautiful late Antonioni film
It's churlish to complain that Identification of a Woman isn't the equal of L'Avventura, La Notte, Red Desert, Blow Up, Zabriskie Point, or The Passenger. If it was, it would be a masterpiece of European art cinema. While it perhaps falls a little short of those Antonioni high points, it's nonetheless an intriguing and beautiful piece of work in its own right. The customary Antonioni themes - the elusiveness of desire, the fragility of identity, the mysteries of visual perspective, the unreliability of knowledge - are explored in typically elliptical and aleatory fashion, and lead towards a characteristically inconclusive but bafflingly moving ending. And along the way there are scenes that are the equal of Antonioni's best for mood, atmosphere and sheer cinematic creativity and skill. Niccolo and Mavi's drive into the fog is a scene of brilliant mystery and power. Their climb up the stairs of a swanky villa to an elite Roman soiree is an object lesson in how to use the camera and editing to generate a sense of foreboding and philosophical unease out of the simplest of materials. Niccolo and Ida's voyage out onto a Venetian lake is a gorgeous metaphor for their unfathomable relationship. And if anyone can tell me what that mysterious object in the tree - to which Antonioni keeps drawing us back - outside Niccolo's window is all about, I'd be grateful. The animated final scene of the film, which some viewers find a let-down, is brilliant - almost the equal in conception and weird appropriateness to the endings of Blow Up or Zabriskie Point. This is a film which improves with every viewing and ought to be embraced as the last significant work of a great master. br /

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review by: Markus Gossas date: 2008-07-23 rating:
The last film of Antonioni
Maybe not as great as L'Avventura or La Notte, but still a great film. As in L'Avventura a girl disappears, and as in La Notte the protagonist is a director searching for a (new) woman to love. I liked this movie, the acting is good, the characters are interesting, the plot is captivating and the ending is ambiguous. And for about 7GBP it is good value for money. The transfer is good, though there are no extras. If you like Antonioni, you should buy/watch this one. Recommended!


review by: date: 2008-07-18 rating:
Antonioni lost in the 1980s
A film director receives mysterious threats to end his affair with a young aristocrat woman. The woman then disappears. The director ( his next girlfriend) try to find the missing woman. br /As might be evident from that brief synopsis, "Identification" is a half-hearted replay of the plot of Antonioni's breakthrough film "L'Avventura" - which is ironic as "Identification" turned out to be Antonioni's last proper film (before his debilitating stroke). There was a very long gap between "Identification" and the previous film "The Passenger" - that film was probably his peak he may have realised it would be difficult to match so lost heart enthusiasm as he moved into old age. br /With "Identification" Antonioni seems to have all but lost his grip as a director. The film breaks his usual rules and includes pointless voiceovers flashbacks ( even an animated sci-fi ending!). Typical Antonioni ingredients are here but they border on self-parody (especially the heavy-handed dialogue). The film gained notoriety when released because of its sex scenes but the whole approach is surely that of a tired old man - the passionate love all these young women have for the morose ageing film director character lacks any credibility. Basically, the film prefigures the equally patchy "Beyond the Clouds" (made post-stroke with Wim Wenders). br /I suppose the best thing that can be said is that Antonioni had always tried to capture the zeitgeist of each decade here he makes a valiant attempt to capture the 1980s (rampant capitalism, heroin epidemic etc) complete with classic 80s clothes haircuts a synthi-pop soundtrack featuring Ultravox, Japan etc. br /The DVD is ok - Mr Bongo have managed not to mess this one up, though the subtitle translations are sometimes laughably inept. br /

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Similar categories

Video . DVD Blu-ray . Categories . Drama
Video . DVD Blu-ray . Substores . Regular Stores . World Cinema
Video . DVD Blu-ray . Refinements . Format (binding_browse-bin) . DVD
Video . DVD Blu-ray . Refinements . BBFC Rating (intended_use_browse-bin) . 18
Video . DVD Blu-ray . Refinements . Editions (feature_two_browse-bin) . Standard Edition
Video . DVD Blu-ray . Refinements . Region(feature_browse-bin) . Region 0
Video . DVD Blu-ray . Refinements . Release Date (feature_three_browse-bin) . 1980 - 1989

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