Antonioni, or, The Surface of the World

by Seymour Chatman

Michelangelo Antonioni is one of the great visual artists of the cinema. The central and distinguishing strength of Antonioni's mature films, Seymour Chatman argues, is narration by a kind of visual minimalism, by an intense concentration on the sheer appearance of things and a rejection of explanatory dialogue. Though traditional audiences have balked at the "opacity" of Antonioni's films, it is precisely their rendered surface that is so eloquent once one learns to read it. Not despite, but through, their silences the films show a deep concern with the motives, perceptions and vicissitudes of the emotional life.

This study covers films not dealt with in any other book on the great director, including Il mistero di Obertwald (1980) and Identificazione di una donna (1982), which have not yet been seen in the U.S. Its coverage of the early documentaries and features, when Antonioni was forging his new and original stylistic "language," is especially full.

In a free-ranging analysis of the evolution of Antonioni's style that quotes liberally from Antonioni's own highly articulate writings and interviews, Chatman shows how difficult it was for the filmmaker to liberate his art from the conventional means of rendering narrative, especially dialogue, conventional sound effects, and commentative music. From his first efforts to his triumphant achievements in the tetralogy of L'avventura, L'eclisse, and Il deserto rosso, Antonioni's acute sensibility struggled to achieve the mastery that has won him a secure place in film history.

Chatman's study is the only complete account of Antonioni's work available in English. Its novel visual approach to the films while attract not only film scholars but also readers interested in painting and architecture—both important elements of Antonioni's work.

Genres: Film, Art, Nonfiction

384 pages, Hardcover

First published October 4, 1985

Reviews

[James F · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much more in depth than his Michelangelo Antonioni: The Investigation which I read a couple months ago, this discusses all the films from the beginning through Identificazzione di una donna. It is particularly good at showing the similarities and differences between the films as parts of a complete oeuvre. I thought most of what he said about the films that I have seen was very insightful. The one negative was the poor quality of the photographs; he apologizes for this at the beginning of the book, but they were worse than I expected.

[Jesse · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't count how many times I've attempted this and eventually thrown up my hands in defeat... it's rather mind-boggling how so many beautiful ideas can be so dully conveyed...

[It is nice, long after I wrote the thoughts above, to have it confirmed by the perceptive critic Robert Koehler in the Fall 2011 Cineaste: "English-language cinephilia [has been] unfortunately dominated for some time by the worst of any Antonioni critical study (and yet, still, the most widely available), Seymour Chatman's consistently unhelpful and often wrongheaded Antonioni, or the Surface of the World." He recommends Sam Rohdie's Antonioni instead, which I will now have to read.]

[Raney · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quick read, would like to find something more in-depth on his work.

[Silvia Michienzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Non ho mai letto un saggio di analisi cinema così bello