The Adventure

The story of the L’avventura is misleading because the central point of the movie is not the search for the mysterious disappearance of Anna, but about what happens between Claudia and Sandro as they search for her. I found the film L’avventura to be a great example of the complexity of human emotion and relationships. The film shows this complexity of relationships through the characters Sandro, Anna, and Claudia. We can see that Sandro and Anna are having a difficult time in their relationship because he is always out on long business trips. Sandro does not listen to her and instead ignores her, and this causes her to run away and disappear. Sandro and Claudia begin searching for her together, and also a relationship forms between them. Claudia is not open to it at first but later on in the film, the two become romantically involved. Although it seems they are both in love, there are times of uncertainty in Claudia’s love like when she waits for Sandro to return from the hotel and is surrounded by hungry looking men. She feels guilty about seeing Anna and runs away to a store. Sandro also complicates the situation when he flirts with another woman named Gloria and they have sexual intercourse. The end scene shows that Sandro and Claudia have come to reconcile and there is a hint at a continued relationship. The character Anna becomes unimportant to the film’s story because her mysterious disappearance becomes unsolved. I believe that the title does not refer to the search for Anna, but describes the relationship and emotional rollercoaster among the characters in the film. After watching the film, I find the motives and thoughts of the characters confusing because at the end of the film Sandro and Claudia still end up together and Anna is forgotten. Sandro is a shallow and selfish man who just wants to get satisfied because of how he moves from on from each woman, and yet Claudia still falls for him.

Although the film is highly acclaimed, I find the story to be dragging and unexciting because of how little is accomplished over the two hours of the film. The start of the film is where the most excitement and build up is because we are introduced to the rocky relationship between Sandro and Anna and then all of a sudden her mysterious disappearance. The search for her starts off exciting because it makes the audience curious about her, but then the film veers away from her and instead focuses on Claudia and Sandro’s relationship. I did not get that invested in their relationship because the characters do not display that deep of an emotional bond and are just in it for the sexual pleasure. Claudia is so quick to come back to Sandro, and he moves from girl to girl that it makes the relationship seem so shallow. I also think that this story of their relationship is prolonged too long over the course of the film because how there is little development in the characters and in the story. Although I do believe that this story greatly reflects society as there are many shallow relationships and people in the world.

Identity Crisis

The Swedish Psychological horror film Persona which was directed by Ingmar Bergman is a great and interesting film because of its execution and how it leaves the audience wondering and thinking about the many plot points. I found it a great film because of its use of film conventions to help bring more meaning to the story. One thing I liked is the music and sound effects because it helped bring the right atmosphere and emphasis to the scary scenes. This can be seen even at the start of the film, when it is a black screen and then two lights start appearing. During this scene there is a piercing sound which starts softly and then becomes louder. This music and imagery evokes a feeling of uneasiness and uncertainty as to what is happening in the scene. Another example is during the scene when it shows both of Alma and Elisabet’s faces together in one face and the music became loud and piercing. It gave a feeling of urgency and terror because she was starting to lose her identity as Alma to the character Elisabet. The film used camera angles and costumes to greatly emphasise the theme of identity. During the time in the cottage, we can see that both actresses are wearing an identical white dress to sleep. There is also another scene which is when Alma was interrogating Elisabet about his son whom she did not love and tried to abort, and both Alma and Elisabet are wearing black. By showing these two characters wearing the same clothes in one scene, it makes the audience feel like they are both the same person, and this supports how Alma is slowly becoming Elisabet. There are also many scenes wherein the camera angles put Alma and Elisabet’s face very close together, and this helped emphasise how similar they are becoming. One example was when Elisabet stood behind her and held her forehead, and then their heads moved to opposite sides as if to show they are becoming one.

The film’s plot is also very interesting because of how it does not explain everything and it makes the audience reflect and think more on the interpretation of the film. This can be seen at the start of the film because of how it shows a goat bleeding and a young boy trying to touch a picture of a woman’s face. The film does not explicitly explain who the boy is or the connection of the goat to the story, but after watching the film I believe that the boy is Elisabet’s son whom she tried to abort. I think it is her son because the woman’s face appears to be Elisabet and the boy is trying to reach out to her out of love. Alma states near the end of the film that Elisabet despises her son while the son loves her immensely. The invisible wall that the boy is touching can be the barrier that Elisabet put between them to distance herself from him. This was another different film for me but I enjoyed the story and execution of it because of how it shows rather than tells the audience as to what is going on.

A Woman is a Woman: A Colorful Romance

Having taken a film class before this semester, I have seen a few european films, and I found them to be unusual because they do not follow the mainstream way of Hollywood narratives. The film A Woman is a Woman is a strange yet unique and interesting film because while the plot is straight-forward, the film’s characters, music, and visuals help bring a comedic and entertaining effect to the atmosphere of the film. The acting of the characters Emile and Angela caught my attention because of how they are always arguing and acting very childish. During the scene when they are about to sleep and did not want to talk to each other, each of them used the title of books to give each other a message. I also found it unusual how Emile kept refusing to give Angela a child and was okay with her trying to sleep with other men because if he truly loved her, he would not be ok with that. Anna can be also seen as a childish character because of how desperate she is to get pregnant. The music also helped bring a light tone to the film like during the scene of Angela’s performance as an exotic dancer, but I also noticed there would be times the music in other scenes would be cut out of nowhere and continue after.

Even though the plot of the film is not that intricate, the film’s strong points were its aesthetically pleasing visual of colors. One example is during the scene of Angela’s performance in the dancer setting because we can see her wearing a white sailor outfit against a bright red background. Then later on we see there is a light machine which shines colors of blue, green and purple on the performance. There are also scenes wherein I noticed the bathroom of their apartment shows colorful lights through the glass of the door. The film also makes use of the costume of characters to help with the colorful visuals. This can be seen in the clothes of Anna which are usually bright red, and Emile’s blue suit. All these aspects help contribute to the beautiful visuals of the film.

This film can be seen as an art cinema film because of how it emphasized the way of conveying the story rather than what the story was about. Even though the film’s plot is simple, it was still interesting because it also showed me the stereotypes of the two genders and yet how the two genders are not that different. Anna is stereotyped to be a woman whose main purpose is to bear children because that is all she wants and thinks about. Aside from that I also noticed that these Anna and Emile are not that different because of their childish acting. It showed that men and women can both be irrational and act in strange ways. Overall I enjoyed watching this film because of the entertaining mix of character acting and creative visuals. It was an unusual film because it gave me a fresh and entertaining experience of romantic films.