Gerasimos Livitsanos

Post-war Narrative Film in Italy and France

Professor John Pruitt

16 November 2011

L’Eclisse

Amongst the prominent Italian directors making films in the 1960’s, Michelangelo Anto-

nioni stands apart from the rest due to his sensibilities and organization of each of his beautiful

visual shot compositions. After watching L’Eclisse, it is apparent that Antonioni is not mainly

reliant on the dialogue between the characters to reveal their relationship with each other. The

sparse dialogue underscores the difficulties and parameters of language as being insufficient

means to communicate emotions to each other. While Antonioni’s trilogy (L’Avventura, La

Notte, and L’Eclisse) can be respected purely for its visual aesthetics, these films can only be-

gin to be understood by closely observing the relationship between the visual image and the con-

tent of the film image. There is never the impression that his shots are superfluous or overtly arti-

ficial. This can be attributed to Antonioni’s approach to filming a scene as being “in a fixed state

of virginity” in which the camera movements are “taken care of with the camera itself” (Anto-

nioni 27, 9). This way of approaching the actual shooting of a scene allows for Antonioni to fur-

ther link each of his compositions because he lets the landscape itself suggest how he wants to

craft a shot. By doing this, his shots become singular and do not adhere to normal film conven-

tions of portraying his narrative. Antonioni himself stated that he has “always tried to fill the im-

age with a greater suggestiveness-by composing the shot in a way that would assist me to say

precisely what I intend,...establishing a working rapport between the actors and the background”

(Antonioni 25). While La Terra Trema and other neo-realist films had already touched upon a

similar idea of linking the landscape with people, Antonioni extends and transforms this relation-

ship by using it in a very idiosyncratic way. As Peter Bondanella puts it, his “cinematic tech-

nique is his content” (Bondanella 270). In Antonioni’s narrative style, there isn’t a differentiation

between the image and the content of the film but rather an inherent unity of the two. Antonioni

is concerned with showing the character’s relationships to us through the characters spatial inter-

relatedness between both each other and the landscape that they inhabit (or do not inhabit, as

seen in the last seven minutes of L’Eclisse), which reveals to us certain existential themes

which are embedded in the image. When Vittoria says “there are times when holding a needle

and thread, or a book, or a man- it’s all the same”, while making sense within the narrative as

Vittoria seems to see the world as if from a photographic standpoint, this also applies to Anto-

nioni’s compositions, which equalizes mankind with what surrounds him. We inhabit this world

and feel very important due to our ability to reason yet we are still only a small part of our sur-

roundings, which functions through a different type of reason that cannot be fully understood by

human beings. To a certain extent, we understand our surroundings as much as a dog under-

stands electricity. Antonioni illuminates our misunderstandings of the world and allows us to

ponder and make our own meaning out of the images he constructs.

The ‘working rapport’ that he has mastered as an artist does not reflect the essence of the

characters he portrays, who are always alone, separate not only from each other but their cultural

past and traditions. In L’Eclisse, the void and great divide between people and the impossibility

of total communication is always present. This can be found in the relationships between Vittoria

and her two ‘lovers’- Riccardo and Piero. The character of Vittoria seems to have the most free-

dom of any of the female ‘protagonists’ in the trilogy. She is the one who leaves her fiancé, with-

out telling us a reason for leaving, and finds herself starting a new love affair with Piero, a mate-

rialistic and energetic stockbroker. While Piero and Riccardo (an intellectual writer of some sort)

could not be more different, Antonioni also shows us that they are essentially the same. In the

film’s opening sequence, we are presented with haunting void, felt through the inactivity and

lack of communication we get between Riccardo and Vittoria. In this scene, Antonioni intro-

duces Vittoria to us as living in her own world, distracted in the face of this heavy-handed situa-

tion. She constructs her own frame of consciousness as we see her actually creating her own

composition through a frame. Throughout this scene, it feels as if Vittoria’s distracted nature is a

kind of game that she acknowledges. She already knows that she is leaving Riccardo but is now

just going through the motions of having to tell him. Then, we are presented with Riccardo sit-

ting down in a chair, looking lifeless with his absent facial expression, with the only constant

sound coming from a rotating, monotonous fan placed next to him. The fan seems to further

highlight the routine and mundane nature of their relationship. Soon after, we get a shot in which

a mirror frames Vittoria as she looks at Riccardo, looks at herself, looks back at Riccardo, gasps,

then leans up against the mirror. This exquisite shot reveals much about Vittoria’s character. The

mirror serves as another frame in which Vittoria lives in which is cut off from Riccardo. She

must live according to the way that she believes to be right for herself, independent of being tied

down to another human being. She recognizes the lifelessness and lack of excitement she gets

when being with Riccardo, the disgust of keeping their relationship alive. When she gazes into

her own eyes, she then realizes the necessity of breaking off her relationship with Riccardo.

However, she is still not certain of what she is to do with herself and also seems scared of what is

to come. When Vittoria opens up the curtains, she opens them up as a way to break the claustro-

phobic feel of not only the room itself but the situation as well. While the scenery is not neces-

sarily beautiful, it brings some kind of breathe of life into the dead space. We further see the di-

vide between the two as she lays against the door, again framed by it. A part of the wall sticks

out and physically divides them from each other as Riccardo enters the bathroom door. Within

this scene, Antonioni also subtly shows us the separate worlds and point of views of the two

characters. He crafts his shots in a way that never shows us the two directly looking at each other

by showing the back of Vittoria’s head as Riccardo looks at Vittoria. In one of the shots of the

scene, the camera shows us Riccardo’s face covered by a lamp shade while Vittoria looks at him.

If the lamp shade were not there, we would finally get a shot where we see the two characters

eyes gaze into each other. But, alas, Antonioni does not want to show us this because it further

develops the idea that these characters will never look eye-to-eye on things. When Vittoria

leaves his place, the camera is placed to show us only the top of her head as she walks out of the

fence door and along the sidewalk. He does not show us any type of dramatic facial expressions

or grief as she walks away because it is not necessarily important. What is important is the com-

plex composition. The top of the fence door creates another type of frame, one that consists of

trees, the surroundings that Vittoria often gazes at. This is another indication of her own dis-

tracted, free-flowing thoughts. However, another frame is present within the camera frame. This

frame is of Vittoria within the metal bars. This can be seen as a somewhat liberating shot since

Vittoria is now outside of the confines of Riccardo’s compound. However, it can also be seen as

it looks on the camera frame, which is that Vittoria’s next affair will be doomed to be repeated

and entrapping like the last.

When Vittoria meets Piero, it seems that Vittoria hopes that this affair will be more excit-

ing than the last. While their relationship is much more lively than the one we see with Riccardo,

it is the visual compositions that shows us that Vittoria and Piero’s affair will not last, as their

playful relationship develops as being just as unfruitful as the last because any lover is simply

just another lover. The first interaction between Vittoria and Piero in the stock exchange exhibits

the great divide and space between the characters. When they first speak to each other during this

scene, it is during the supposedly reverent silence for the death of one of Piero’s colleagues. It al-

ready shows the irreverence of Piero’s take on other human beings, showing him as a materialis-

tic person. After they speak, we are given a shot which has a column between both of them, as

they continue their silence. This shot clearly shows us the barrier between them. In their next en-

counter in the stock exchange, we get another sign of this main difference between them. Their

eyes are constantly playing a game with each other throughout the whole film, similar to the way

Vittoria and Riccardo never do. When they are speaking to each other about how much money

Vittoria’s mother has lost, it is important to notice the eyes of both Vittoria and Piero. Through-

out this conversation, Vittoria and Piero never actually look each other in the eye. Again, they

are separate and each in a different world than the other. At first, when Vittoria asks Piero how

much money her mother has lost, the camera frames the back of Piero’s head while Vittoria

looks straight at Piero. As they turn and talk, Vittoria gazes down as Piero then looks at her as he

answers. Once they meet again at a bar, we see Piero shrouded by dangling ropes in the entrance

as he greets her. The camera follows the back of her head as she sees him, again never showing

us a clear shot of them looking at each other. Throughout this scene, their eyes are diverted when

they speak to each other, even when asking and answering questions, as before. Once they arrive

at Vittoria’s mother’s house, there is a moment when it looks as if Piero and Vittoria are finally

looking each other straight in the eye when Vittoria lies down in her old bed. However, this is

blocked off from the audience as a window pane covers her whole face as they speak, much like

the lamp shade covers Riccardo’s face in the opening sequence. When Piero drives to see Vitto-

ria, we are presented with a shot where she looks out of the window and sees Piero. This shot

looks almost identical to a shot earlier in the film when Riccardo walks by looking for Vittoria.

With this shot, we again are unable to see Piero’s eyes as he looks up into the window due to a

fence outside. Throughout this scene, there is a divide between Vittoria and Piero. At first, there

is the window, where Vittoria is able to see Piero and yet does not call down to him or greet him

right away. Once they start conversing, there is a large void between Vittoria and Piero as they

speak to one another. We are still presented with two worlds far apart. Yet another division be-

tween Vittoria and Piero can be seen in a shot after Piero’s car is found. They walk underneath

an umbrella in which the pole is in between them as they speak, bringing in to mind the column

of the stock exchange. Sitting down right in front of them is an old couple who are also divided

by the umbrella pole, looking in different directions from each other. The camera stays fixated

on them once Piero and Vittoria exit the scene. With this shot, Antonioni further shows the im-

possibility of love. Young or old, there will always be a barrier between two lovers. After this

scene, we are provided a contrast with the old couple. Piero and Vittoria’s relationship seems

rather light-hearted as they walk through the EUR and arrive at their meeting point at the inter-

section.

Once Vittoria and Piero meet again at the intersection, Piero’s eyes fidget up and down,

looking at breasts as talking. Again, Antonioni doesn’t give us a shot at the two of them looking

each other in the eye, instead showing them looking out of the camera as talking. Like before,

their eyes are still playing a game, as she looks outward as soon as he looks at her. However,

once they decide to go to Piero’s place, their eyes finally meet but quickly look away. This mo-

ment of awkward interlocking gazes implies that this decision also means sex but it does not

come readily. Vittoria looks at another man as the camera follows him walk. The camera corre-

lates to Vittoria’s own gaze at the man. The camera seems to be as distracted as Vittoria is. Vitto-

ria does not let herself become chained to Piero and does not see any harm in complimenting the

man’s face, while it seems like Piero may be uncomfortable. As the two of them walk away from

the camera, we see Piero’s eyes following a baby in a stroller while Vittoria pays no heed. This

brings to mind the scene when Vittoria and Riccardo are walking and Riccardo touches a child as

he runs by. Again, Vittoria does not pay attention. It becomes clear that Piero, like Riccardo, sees

the tradition of family in a good light as they both smile while looking at the children. Vittoria’s

world does not acknowledge any necessity for having a child of her own and remains removed

from this tradition. Once the two lovers arrive at Piero’s, we are given a two frames within the

camera shot in which Vittoria looks at. One is of the painting of a little girl and the other is of an

old lady across the street who is framed by a window, as she walks back into the darkness. The

painting Vittoria sees comes across as being nostalgic for the past which is then contrasted with

the actual future that Vittoria will one day live, until she herself walks into the darkness, the

great void of death. Once we see Vittoria’s face, she looks pensive, her mind transported miles

away from her actual surrounding. She doesn’t concern herself with such issues as having a child

because her thoughts are more meditative on the existence of her life in the moment and what

that means to her. Her point of view is so far removed from Piero’s that the only way that they

truly get along is when they are being playful and never when anything serious is at hand. Vitto-

ria is aware of this as seen with their last exchange of words. Before they promise each other to

see each other every day, there is a moment when Vittoria looks distressed. This is the moment

when she realizes that her affair with Piero is light-hearted and that she will be unable to truly

connect with him. Once they hug, her big smile seems very naive as if she is trying to make the

best of this affair. Their exchange of words seems almost childish yet hopeful as they depart

from each other’s lives (within the film that we are watching). When we see Piero returning back

to the world of his career, he is sitting back in his chair with a monotonous fan blowing through-

out. With this last image, we can see how essentially Piero has become another Riccardo for Vit-

toria. Vittoria realizes this as she holds onto the barred gate at the end, which leads to the final

seven minute sequence where we realize that Riccardo nor Vittoria are absent from the landscape

we have come to expect them to inhabit.

Works Cited

Antonioni, Michelangelo, Carlo Carlo Di, Giorgio Tinazzi, and Marga Cottino-Jones. The

Architecture of Vision: Writings and Interviews on Cinema. New York:

Marsilio, 1996. Print.

Bondanella, Peter E. A History of Italian Cinema. New York: Continuum International Pub.

Group, 2009. Print.