I didn't know where this topic should go, so if you are a moderator and want to move it, please do.

I started this film by Antonioni over the weekend, and unfortunatly got stopped half way through. I had always heard that it was groundbreaking when it came out, but is very dated now. I don't get the dated part. This movie holds up pretty well, and seems pretty great to me so far.

The most interesting thing in watching it so far has been comparing it to the short story that it is based on. I read the short story several years ago, and thought it was pretty good because it was so narrowly focussed on one specific incident. The entire short story is only a small fraction of the total action in the movie as far as I can tell, as I am more than an hour into the movie and we have only just come to where the short story begins. Does anyone know if the original writer (Julio Cortazar if my shaky memory is working correctly) was involved in the screenplay?

Anyway, it seems to be a good movie so far.

I don't want to get too far into it since you haven't finished it, but I did move it to Art/Independent/Foreign even though it's in English. I've never read the story, but this is Antonioni's best to me, so of course, I highly recommend it and believe it's worth a thesis at least.

As far as writing credits, Cortazar and Antonioni share story credit, so that might explain why the first half is different from Cortazar's "Las Babas Del Diablo". Cortazar does NOT share screenplay credit though; that's credited to Antonioni, Tonino Guerra (frequent collaborator with Antonioni, Fellini and the Tavianis), with English dialogue by Edward Bond.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mark f,

One of my favourite movies too. And Yardbirds doing "Stroll On" is real cool. I don't want to spoil the self-interpretive bent but the tennis court scene is superb!

The yardbirds scene is all my dad says he remembers from this movie when he say it on original release in the theaters. Not surprising considering he's a nut for music, but never seems to go for movies all that much. I still have not been able to finish the movie yet, but I think tonight might be the night. I got some good news today which and think I will reward myself with a double feature. I'm gonna finish this and then try out Elmer Gantry.

Wow! I hope you like Elmer Gantry because I think it's one of the most honest, dramatic, humorous and serious discussions of human relations and the way people relate to God, sex, denial, etc. Yet it's super entertainment. OK, I better shut up before you get even more disappointed.