Identification Of A Woman - Michelangelo Antonioni [1982]

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Customer reviews

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.
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.
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).
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.
The DVD is ok - Mr Bongo have managed not to mess this one up, though the subtitle translations are sometimes laughably inept.

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Similar categories

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

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