Michelangelo Antonioni

[lord_clyde]

I'm wondering if his last wish was to outlive Bergman.

"Lo Sguardo di Michelangelo" ranks with "Love Streams" as the greatest cinematic farewell.

I now find myself imagining (rather morbidly) Antonioni sitting at home watching the news, and upon hearing of Bergman's death muttering 'finally' as he slumps over. I would rather imagine the two of them in the afterlife, greeting each other as equals and sitting down for a game of chess.

It seems both men had full lives but it's sad nonetheless, not so bad when I think of James Dean, Edward Yang, and Fassbinder.

[MichaelB]

It seems both men had full lives but it's sad nonetheless, not so bad when I think of James Dean, Edward Yang, and Fassbinder.

Do you remember River Phoenix dying on the same day as Federico Fellini? The latter was entirely expected, as he'd been in a coma for weeks, but Phoenix's death came as a total shock - in fact, it was obvious looking at the obituaries which had been prepared leisurely in advance and which hadn't!

[David Ehrenstein]

Great to hear about Rohmer.

The last time this sort of thing happened was back in the late 70's when Chaplin, Hawks and Jacques Tourneur died the same week.

[lord_clyde]

It seems both men had full lives but it's sad nonetheless, not so bad when I think of James Dean, Edward Yang, and Fassbinder.

Do you remember River Phoenix dying on the same day as Federico Fellini? The latter was entirely expected, as he'd been in a coma for weeks, but Phoenix's death came as a total shock - in fact, it was obvious looking at the obituaries which had been prepared leisurely in advance and which hadn't!

What's the saying? Oh, yes: When it rains, it pours. At least I had time to come to accept Altman's passing before this bombshell.

[David Ehrenstein]

Poor River

[malcolm1980]

I watched The Passenger to commemorate his passing.

Great film.

[Cinesimilitude]

I hope that Bergman and Antonioni's souls have met, wherever they may be, and that they can now speak some universal language, while laughing at how much they got right, and how much they got wrong...

[lord_clyde]

Poor River

Are those photos from when he was considering playing Warhol?

[jbeall]

Famous deaths tend to occur in threes. Antonioni's the second; who's next (unless this particular trio included Ousmane Sembene)?

A sad moment for cinephiles, but Antonioni and Bergman had long, full lives.

[Michael Kerpan]

Famous deaths tend to occur in threes. Antonioni's the second; who's next (unless this particular trio included Ousmane Sembene)?

A sad moment for cinephiles, but Antonioni and Bergman had long, full lives.

You're forgetting Edward Yang. This actually makes four so far....

[tavernier]

I assumed the three were Bergman, Tom Snyder, and Bill Walsh. (What a bizarre famous trio!)

Maybe we're onto a second set of three...?

[Gropius]

I'll be interested to see if this death reaches any front pages (outside Italy, that is), but I expect Bergman will have overshadowed it. Antonioni was never the subject of a Bill & Ted parody.

[Luke M]

The saddest thing about Antonioni's death is that for at least the last 20 years he had been so incapacitated that his last two or three movies really had to be directed through an amanuensis, like Wenders. But his achievement is incredible, and surely he's one of the few true modernists and abstract artists of cinema.

What a loss!

I should put in here a profound recommendation for the beautiful French Universal disc of Par-delà les nuages/Beyond the Clouds. I'll be devoting the next few days to it.

Does this DVD have English subtitles?

[Barmy]

Antonioni was prominently placed on the NYTimes website cover page, at least for a few hours, with a 4 page obit. Unfortunately, they are now back to their commie natterings about Iraq.

[ellipsis7]

Antonioni is for me the bigger story... But between the 2 the tale is how arthouse auteurs have as their last act once again thrust this cinema that we all so love into the mainstream media... Obviously any editor having led or editorialised on Bergman has little to gain with similar on Antonioni, but it also the fact that Bergman signifies the body of arthouse cinema, its commercial foundation. while as the CC announcement says Michelangelo gives us a brilliant demonstration of the potential, the flair and the cool combativeness which hopefully can be rediscovered.... Live on Michelangelo!...

[kinjitsu]

Addio!

[jbeall]

I'll be interested to see if this death reaches any front pages (outside Italy, that is), but I expect Bergman will have overshadowed it. Antonioni was never the subject of a Bill & Ted parody.

No, but he did get an Austin Powers parody!

[John Cope]

I have to agree with those for whom Antonioni held greater significance than Bergman. I respect Bergman and admire some of his films tremendously, but I was never captivated by them as I am with those of Antonioni. Having said that I sympathize with Bergman's very genuine metaphysical wranglings and that aspect of his work always resonated with me.

I wonder if Atom Egoyan will comment on Antonioni's passing. I know that after Beyond the Clouds, there was to be a follow up film with Egoyan doing the Wim Wenders chores but that never came about. Does anyone know whether the two actually spoke about concepts and ideas for this proposed piece or if it was all only ever in the speculation phase?

On the hopeful side of this loss, I would certainly be pleased if it might roust some distributor to release a decent version of Zabriskie Point. I've been wanting to rewatch that properly for years.

I mourn the passing of both of these giants, as I will most certainly mourn the loss of Angelopoulos and Oliveira when their time comes--not because they haven't had full, satisfying lives; because the loss is not theirs but ours. These are artists producing work of great substance and lasting value. Every work we receive from them (even the compromised ones) is a real blessing and a tribute to the fulfillment of their potentiality as artists.

[Barmy]

Variety obit

Repeats the error that Jeremy Irons was in Beyond the Clouds. Also describes Zabriskie Point as a failure. Pathetic.

[Nothing]

From 1960 to 1966, he was the equal to the great masters.

Antonioni was/is THE great master. RIP.

[Barmy]

One obvious point about Antonioni is that he is one of the few great masters whose reputation rests almost entirely on a brief period, namely 1960-66. I am in the minority in feeling that "Zabriskie Point" is as good as any of those films. I think "The Passenger" has some flaws that make it seem less "classic" somehow, although I love it. I am quite fond of "Identification of a Woman" and his "Eros" piece, but I can understand why they are viewed by many as minor or bad.

His failure to get backing for films in the 70s (if that's what the problem was), coupled with the stroke in the early 80s, is one of the tragedies of cinema history.

[zedz]

I'm actually less affected by this latest double blow than I was by the deaths of Edward Yang or Robert Altman.

In the case of the former, the reasons are obvious: he was responsible for four films that mean more to me than anything by Bergman or Antonioni (with the possible exception of L'eclisse), and he potentially had as many masterpieces left to make. For me, Yang was hands down the "greatest living filmmaker", to the extent that that formulation ever means anything.

Altman is a slightly different case. His career was so erratic and energetic that you never knew when he was going to make his next great film, and he'd been on a good streak in recent years. Plus, even his films from thirty years ago still seem alive, fresh and different whenever I go back to them. He was very much a 'living filmmaker' who made 'living films', and his death, however predictable, came as a blow.

Bergman and Antonioni, on the other hand, hadn't managed to avoid the creative declines (at least in their filmmaking work) that effectively sealed off their canon many years ago, however many footnotes they might manage to squeeze in during their twilight years. They were both great artists, but they were already great artists of a previous age, and had left fine, finite creative legacies and lived long, I hope fulfilling, lives. No surprise about their passing, and no shock either. Nothing personal.

[blindside8zao]

I think something interesting about this situation, speaking to what some of you are saying about the two directors being in decline, (though Fanny and Alexander is my personal favorite). I think that for many people the tragedy isn't so much in the fact that Bergman or Antonioni might have still had a masterpiece or two left in them, but more the fact that they were both "legends" (to use another word many have been using). The two directors were both monolithic symbols of cinema art and their passing only makes any pessimism about the present times all the worse. I am reminded of how I feel watching Fassbinder's segment in Room 666, knowing with hindsight that he was soon to die.

edit: that they were both "in decline" almost makes it harder in this way.

[Barmy]

There are types of decline. Antonioni's can be attributed to his stroke. He can't be "blamed" for his output from the mid 80's onward. I frankly don't think Bergman declined either, he just gave up. Decline applies more to people like Godard and Fellini.

[Gropius]

They were both great artists, but they were already great artists of a previous age

Maybe so, but their not being dead contributed to a sense, however illusory, that that 'previous age' was still tangible, still within living memory. Antonioni in particular is the last great Italian filmmaker of that generation to die. It represents the closing of a historical chapter, even if the last few paragraphs of that chapter (to stretch an already-trite metaphor) were fairly empty of content.

Since cinema is still such a young artform, these deaths are probably roughly comparable to the death of Giotto in painting or Machaut in music, if those analogies aren't too anachronistic - pioneers who laid the groundwork for future (one hopes) formal experiments. Godard will of course be the last nail in this particular coffin.

As for Yang's death, it is probably of more historical significance than most Westerners are yet able to appreciate.