L'Eclisse Discussion
**EDIT**: In spite of my rather wishy-washy intro here, it looks like the discussion has kicked off in the comments below.
OK, folks, how do we want to do this? I've seen the film. Has anyone else? This one's no different from most of my other encounters with Antonioni. Somehow, I fail to really connect with his films, but I'm eager to hear your thoughts and am sure that what you say will help me out. This week's looking pretty busy for me, so we can either give everyone some time to watch/rewatch this and then start the discussion next week, or we can....well, feel free to make suggestions below.
posted by Diane @ 12:45 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
I'll do what I can to watch it this weekend.
I'm sorry it didn't groove for you, but so it goes. I'm gonna see about rewatching this over the weekend, although it may be hard to find time. If not, I do have the bonus disk and haven't watched it yet, so maybe I'll use it for a quick refresher.
I feel like I have a lot to say about this film, but I haven't figured out how to say it yet. Maybe I'll just watch the commentary track and parrot it.
Not a problem. It's not that I didn't like the film. Antonioni is just tough for me, and I'm not quite sure why.
Anyway, guys, if you can't watch it this weekend, it's no big deal. We'll get to it eventually.
Last night I watched one of the second-disk bonus features on L'Eclisse, and it reminded me of what I love about this film. Comic Judy Tenuta's famous line "have you ever dated someone because you were too lazy to commit suicide?" touches on the inertia-driven relationship that we've surely all found ourselves in (or it it just me?) although the protaganists aren't despairing or lazy, really. They're drawn to each other but don't fit together, so the relationship is fueled by their passions but isn't really a good venue for those passions. The dissolve of their relationship-the eclipse-is a reality that is so rarely shown in films. Usually movie romances have happily ever after conclusions or big showy breakups, but so many real relationships fizzle out, and L'Eclisse finds a cinematic way to communicate that.
I also love Antonioni's obvious interest in locations, a sense of place, and how the world around us and the thingness of things shapes our lives. The Rome of L'Eclisse reminds me of Birmingham, somehow; the venue in which one lives is a part of one and one's life. I spend more time engaging the physical realities of the street I live on than I do engaging any one person I know, but I don't really think about how that relationship-the relationship between my street and me-shapes me, until I see a film like this. At the end of the film we're left with the location instead of the people, and it allows us to recall how the people related to the place, and how the places have an integrity without people.
Those are some great thoughts, Aaron. Thank you for posting them. I'll have more to say in the coming days, but you've given me some things to think about. I like what you say about the relationship in the movie, so for now, I'll just quickly post this quote, which stunned me when I heard it because, well, it just summed up this particular relationship so well:
Vittoria (to Piero): I wish I didn't love you or that I loved you much more.
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