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By
FRANK BEHRENS
Since Michelangelo
Antonioni's "Blow-Up" appeared in 1966, rivers of
ink have been spilt over what it all means. Like
"Waiting for Godot," it is ambiguous enough to
mean anything you wish it to mean. I personally
think "Blow-Up" probably means as much as Greta
Garbo's famous stare at the end of "Queen
Chistina," when her director told her to think of
absolutely nothing and the audience would supply
the rest. There it worked. How far Antonioni has
succeeded you can judge for yourself, now that the
complete film (including all the notorious nudity)
is available on a Warner Bros. DVD.
Basically it is the tale of what might have been a
murder that a nameless photographer played by
David Hemmings thinks he has caught on film. A
good deal of the film seems to have no relation
whatsoever to the basic plot, unless you are
better in spotting symbolism than I am. But if you
see the film a second time with the overlaid
commentary by Antonioni expert Peter Brunette, you
will see how even he is puzzled by the meaning of
a good deal of this 111-minute cult classic, as
they call these things.
One thing he does not mention is that all the
characters the photographer meets in the first
half of the film are met in the reverse order in
the second part. So if you look on this film as a
wry commentary on filmmaking, you will enjoy it on
whatever other level you choose. (And you might
want to make the obvious comparison with the Gene
Hackman film "The Conversation.")
And it must be mentioned that the young Vanessa
Redgrave is beautiful and perfectly into the
character of the also nameless woman who wants the
negatives back very badly -- and who manages to
stay on camera naked from the waist up for a long
sequence without revealing a thing. (What the two
idiotic wannabe models reveal, on the other hand,
caused quite a stir back then.)
There is a silly extra feature which allows you to
view the film with the music only. But since 90%
of this film has no music, this bonus has little
use. |
