Red Desert

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Cast & Crew

Monica Vitti
Giuliana

Richard Harris
Corrado Zeller

Carlo Chionetti
Ugo

Xenia Valderi
Linda

Rita Renoir
Emilia

Aldo Grotti
Max

Valerio Bartoleschi
Giuliana's son

Giuliano Missirini
Radio telescope operator

Lili Rheims
Telescope operator's wife

Emanuela Mino Carboni
Girl in fable

Michelangelo Antonioni
Director

Antonio Cervi
Producer

Angelo Rizzoli
Producer

Giovanni Fusco
Original Music

Vittorio Gelmetti
Original Music

Carlo Di Palma
Cinematographer

Eraldo Da Roma
Film Editor

Piero Poletto
Art Director

Gitt Magrini
Costume Designer

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Critic Reviews for Red Desert

Audience Reviews for Red Desert

• May 03, 2017

  Antonioni impresses us with his stunning use of color (as well as his mise-en-scène, and in his first film in color, no less) to create meaning and visually emphasize what he wants to say in this intelligent and absurdly sharp study about depression and existential emptiness.
  Carlos M Super Reviewer
• Mar 13, 2012

  Being Antonioni's first color film, one cannot help be stirred by his masterful use of it. By muting colors with filters-and of course with a little help from paint-he introduces us to an industrial Italy. One void of all the romanticism associated with places like Venice. A place replete with drab grays & brown, where even fruit on roadside stands have lost their hue. It is a world changing. One in which our protagonist Giuliani, played by Monica Vitti, cannot readily accept. The way in which Antonioni captures these new machines, with a sense of eerie wonder, makes it easy to understand why Giuliana would be so unsettled by this new existence. Even Antonioni seems to easily get sidetracked by the awesome power of these monstrous machines & man's relative insignificance when standing next to them. In some ways, I would venture to call it an "industrial horror film." While my use of the term "horror" may raise a brow or two, for Giuliana, this new world is a genuine source of terror. The mechanical screams constantly pierce the air, causing Giuliana much distress. Antonioni frames scenes in which it appears that giant cargo ships are sailing right toward Giuliana, threatening to take her out in the march toward progress. In fact, Giuliana doesn't even feel at ease inside her own home. Haunted by her son's constant contact with these new technologies & other abject horrors not seen by the audience, Giuliana seems to rarely be in a state not consumed with fear. Antonioni exacerbates this fear with his camera, giving her very little room to breathe and in some instances, even backing her into corners. All of this tension is heightened by a superb electronic score which is at times as equally unsettling for the viewer. Overall, a provocative visual exercise & an interesting look at industrial Italy.
  Reid V Super Reviewer
• Nov 13, 2011

  A film thats puzzling at times, getting into the mindset of a wife who is not a well woman mentally here, the interesting part about the film is the bleak setting, nset in Italy in a harsh industrial enviroment thiis is the world she lives a wiufe of a industrial manager. the film goes places and there are interesdring moments to be had. not a italian film you think of sometimes
  scott g Super Reviewer
• Feb 18, 2011

  A very strange and somewhat hard to follow film but one that has a atmospheric and appropriate setting. You feel a sense of despair that the environment and it's star, Giuliana, portray.
  

  Chris B Super Reviewer

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