Il deserto rosso (Red Desert) poster & wallpaper
Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites

Monica Vitti, Richard Harris, Carlo Chionetti, Xenia Valderi, Rita Renoir ... see more see more... , Aldo Grotti , Lili Rheims , Emanuela Pala Carboni , Bruno Borghi , Beppe Conti , Giuliano Missirini , Valerio Baroleschi , Bruno Scipioni

Red Desert (Il Deserto Rosso) once more combines the considerable talents of director Michelangelo Antonioni and star Monica Vitti. Cast as Giuliana, an unhappy wife, Vitti suffers from an unnamed for... read more read more...m of depression and malaise. Her quicksilver emotional shifts disturb everyone around her, but they, like she, pretend that nothing is truly wrong. British engineer Corrado Zeller (Richard Harris) seems to understand what Giuliana is really after in life, and he acts upon it by entering into an affair with the troubled woman. Giuliana eventually comes to terms with her physical and mental pain, but this hardly means that she's "cured" in the conventional sense. Monica Vitti's sense of isolation is heightened by Antonioni's (and cinematographer Carlo DiPalma's) choice of colors, and especially by Carlo Savina's bizarre electronic musical score. This is a landmark movie in Antonioni's effort to portray alienated individuals in contemporary life; he places people against towering forms of technology to emphasize their smallness and lostness in the modern world of technological change. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Flixster Users

85% liked it

4,468 ratings

Critics

100% liked it

13 critics

Unrated, 2 hr.

Directed by: Michelangelo Antonioni

Release Date: February 8, 1964

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: September 21, 1999

Stats: 236 reviews

report incorrect info

Photos

Monica Vitti Monica Vitti as Giuliana Il deserto rosso (Red Desert) Il deserto rosso (Red Desert) The use of color in Red Desert.
Upload a Photo | View All Il deserto rosso (Red Desert) Photos

Your Rating


clear rating

Flixster Reviews (236)

  • axadntpron
    March 13, 2012
    axadntpron
    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 plac... read moree 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.
  • bookmunki
    July 19, 2010
    bookmunki
    Absolutely stunning! Environmental composition, landscape, and color have never been used so effectively to convey state of mind. The industrial climate is an apt counterpoint to Vitti's neuroticism and lack of adaptibility. A daring and innovative cinematic achievement!!
  • fb1142797643
    February 18, 2010
    fb1142797643
    Well, no one can accuse this film of having too much plot. But the lead actors are charismatic, and the landscapes are striking.

    Really, it's more of a situation than a story. The setting is a drab, seaside industrial factory. The sky is overcast and foggy. The water is choked w... read moreith pollution. Monica Vitti plays the plant manager's wife, who is fresh from a suicide attempt. The implication is that her alienation and anxieties are a product of our modern, industrialized society. She dotes on her young son, but even he adds to her worries by faking polio for attention. She meets Richard Harris (awkwardly dubbed in Italian), an engineer passing through on business. Maybe he can provide her with some solace. Maybe not.

    The film's central message arrives when Harris ruefully notes that the world prioritizes humanity below progress, but above justice. Hmm.

    This was director Michelangelo Antonioni's first work in color, and the frame is dominated by muddy reds, grays, beiges and browns. There is no "desert" -- only a sense of desolation. Meanwhile, the sparse, electronic soundtrack is highly unusual, and vital to the film's chilly atmosphere. Metallic whirrs and drones subtly comment on Giuliana's malaise. No violins this time.

    The most entertaining scene is clearly a sequence inside a tiny, deteriorating shack where an unlikely orgy threatens to occur. But instead, the action de-evolves into Harris and others nihilistically tearing wooden planks from the walls to feed the stove. Another notable diversion is a fantasy segment in which Giuliana tells her son an escapist tale about a girl living in happy isolation on some mythic, sunny island.

    Antonioni has said "Red Desert" is not intended to be entirely pessimistic and, indeed, a flicker of hope finally comes when Giuliana observes that the birds overhead have learned to simply *avoid* the factory's plumes of yellow, toxic smoke. Adaptation seems to be the answer.

    Some will find this film evocative, but others will have little to do but marvel at Vitti's exquisite hair.
  • fb208103125
    February 18, 2011
    fb208103125
    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.
  • shannylee38
    December 20, 2006
    shannylee38
    Use of color and electronic sound create the perfect state of mind of the disturbed woman.
  • HuskersNC949597
    March 2, 2012
    HuskersNC949597
    A woman is mentally ill in a dull, ugly town. A moody movie, not particularly "eventful", save it for a day when you feel particularly deep in thought. Or don't, it probably doesn't make a difference.
  • danielsloyan1
    November 17, 2011
    danielsloyan1
    my first antonioni film and i gotta say i was let down, nothing really of consequence seems to happen, just meandering from one place to another, i guess the locales were good, and a few scenes were well put together, but overall just boring, i really just tuned out halfway through
  • vinnynasso
    December 18, 2010
    vinnynasso
    Chromaticity
    Yellow-dog saturation
    Refined color space


    Modern agita
    Psycho-social imbroglio
    Distressed filtered lens
  • columbiatch
    July 1, 2009
    columbiatch
    Antonioni's most experimental film. The aesthetic choices such as the use of color and shallow focus were used beautifully to achieve a cold and sterile effect. It also features Monica Vitti in her most neurotic performance.
  • Cvalda
    November 4, 2006
    Cvalda
    The best film from Michelangelo Antonioni and Monica Vitti. Brilliant use of color and fabulous cinematography. Too bad the mediocre non-anamorphic DVD is out of print. Why hasn't the Criterion Collection rereleased this? They released L'Eclisse, and while that was very good, Red... read more Desert is still the superior Antonioni film.

View All Il deserto rosso (Red Desert) Reviews

Critic Reviews

Michael Atkinson
August 30, 2011
Michael Atkinson, Village Voice

Swoon, ye 21st-century philistines, before the cataract of existential glamour that is Antonioni's Il deserto rosso, Full Review

Jonathan Rosenbaum
July 31, 2007
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

The film's most spellbinding sequence depicts a pantheistic, utopian fantasy of innocence, which she recounts to her ailing son. Full Review

July 31, 2007
TIME Magazine

Red Desert is at once the most beautiful, the most simple and the most daring film yet made by Italy's masterful Michelangelo Antonioni. Full Review

Jaime N. Christley
August 29, 2011
Jaime N. Christley, Slant Magazine

Thematically, Red Desert is a distillation of Antonioni's preferred themes and imagery: alienation, anxiety, modern life, and industrialized landscapes. Full Review

James Kendrick
June 28, 2010
James Kendrick, Q Network Film Desk

a multi-layered treasure that offers much, but never easily Full Review

Sean Axmaker
June 27, 2010
Sean Axmaker, Parallax View

[Antonioni] casts a hypnotic spell, his every frame is impeccably composed and painted... and his imagery stripped of extraneous details... Full Review

Christopher Long
June 22, 2010
Christopher Long, Movie Metropolis

Savor every image and every sound. Few directors have created audiovisual landscapes as lush as Antonioni's. Full Review

Ken Hanke
July 5, 2006
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

In some ways, this is Art House 101 stuff -- the kind of movie you just know is good for you, because it's so dull and depressing.That, however, is merely one aspect of it. Full Review

Geoff Andrew
June 24, 2006
Geoff Andrew, Time Out

Perhaps the most extraordinary and riveting film of Antonioni's entire career; and correspondingly impossible to synopsise. Full Review

Dennis Schwartz
April 22, 2004
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Fantastically haunting psychological drama. Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Cast

More Like This

Click a thumb to vote on that suggestion, or add your own suggestions.

  • Vive l'Amour
    Vive l'Amour (100%)
  • La Donna Scimmia (The Ape Woman)
    La Donna Scimmia (The Ape Woman) (100%)
  • Walkabout
    Walkabout (0%)
  • Zabriskie Point
    Zabriskie Point (0%)

More Movies like Il deserto rosso (Red Desert)

Facts

No facts approved yet. Be the first

Il deserto rosso ... : Watch Free on TV

Movie Quizzes

No quizzes for Il deserto rosso (Red Desert). Want to create one?

Video Clips

No video clips yet. Want to upload one?

Meet Other Fans

Add Il deserto rosso (Red Desert) to favorites

Recent News

No recent headlines. Got one?

Recent Lists

Make a List |

View All Lists

Most Popular Skin

No skins yet. Interested in creating one?