There is in my opinion a before 1962 and after 1962. ' L'Eclisse ' crept into our cinemas and consciousness and at the time it was yet another new film well worth seeing. Surrounded as we were at the beginning of the 1960's with Bergman, Visconti, Malle, Godard etc we were saturated by a supposed new way of understanding people and often we left the cinema sighing how great it was to be young in in this age of ' Modernism. ' But did we notice that perhaps, just perhaps, ' L'Eclisse ' was both part of that and yet way ahead of all that we read and watched then ? Antonioni with arguably his greatest film, and the greatest presence of Monica Vitti who had become with ' L' Avventura ' emblematic of the times had created an exceptionally new vision surpassing even ' L'Avventura. ' The last minutes of the film alone proved that. In this film he showed how despite all our reading and watching we had lost touch with the world around us, and that our communications with others too often failed or were never attempted. ' L'Eclisse ' is not a love story but about our failure to love. To love the world enough to save it from ultimate annihilation ( all too apparent in 2022 ) and that intrinsic human greed was destroying our planet. In every image of the film we see desolation; a window opening on to a monstrous mushroom shaped building and arid surroundings around it. Then a stock exchange literally screaming out for the acquisition of more money and near to tears when there is a sudden fluctuation in the market and there are losses. A man drops dead there and there is a reluctant few minutes of silence costing as Alain Delon observes ' billions per second ' and with that stockbroker's comment we really know the priorities of the world. Futile to give spoilers about the plot except there is a tentative attempt at a love affair, and really no story at all. I am not sure we had ever seen a film without a story that gave us the realisation that a film could approach one, then retreat in the knowledge that human nature is not up to it. Sex yes, and our basic instincts but not love. I was among the ' we ' and I am sure I only partially understood, and only on this revisiting the film did I see that Antonioni's perspective had unconsciously altered my perspective on life. Many will still disagree, but Antonioni was perhaps the most profound observer of all the supposed greats. I must add that with the loss or impending loss of our world as we know it I mourn the loss of Monica Vitti in it. The abyss before us has widened.
Review of L'Eclisse
