Red Desert (1964)

Michelangelo Antonioni's mid-career masterpiece stars Monica Vitti as an emotionally anguished young woman embarking on a tentative affair with a businessman (Richard Harris).

Winner of the Golden Lion at the 1965 Venice Film Festival and a high point of post-war European cinema, Michelangelo Antonioni's first film in colour tells the story of Giuliana (Monica Vitti), a young woman suffering a mental and emotional crisis and embarking tentatively on an affair. Vitti – Antonioni's lover and muse, and the star of his earlier films L'avventura, L'eclisse and La notte – gives a magnificent, startling performance. She is ably accompanied by Carlo Chionetti as her unemotional husband Ugo, and Richard Harris as Corrado, Ugo's restless associate who finds himself drawn to her.

1964 Italy, France
Directed by
Michelangelo Antonioni
Produced by
Angelo Rizzoli, Tonino Cervi
Written by
Michelangelo Antonioni, Tonino Guerra
Featuring
Monica Vitti, Richard Harris, Carlo Chionetti
Running time
116 minutes

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

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