34) Blow-Up

Blow-Up (1966)

Director: Michelangelo Antonioni

Starring: David Hemmings, Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles, John Castle

For the third week of Introduction to Cinema we are looking at art cinema. This is traditionally a tricky week. The film for this week is Michelangelo Antonioni's highly influential Blow-Up. It was the first art film to really break into the American market, causing a sensation when the studio refused to cut it in order to get a Production Code seal, claiming that it was an artwork and any censorship would devalue it. Special thanks to Jon for helping me get my hands on a copy of the film (I had to miss the screening to watch the Oscars).

It is the 1960s and Thomas (Hemmings) is an in demand fashion photographer in swinging London. While taking photos in a local park he comes across a man and a woman sharing an intimate moment and decides to photograph them. When the woman, Jane (Redgrave), notices him, she insists that he give her the film. He tells her that she can collect the prints from his studio. However, when he starts printing the photos he notices details which suggest something much more sinister is at hand.

Interestingly, this film originated with MGM studios rather than with Antonioni. This film is so strongly associated with Antonioni that it was surprising to learn that the germ of the idea was not his. Carlo Ponti, the highly commercial Italian producer on a multi-picture deal with MGM, had the idea of making a film about a hip, young fashion photographer in mod London, based on an article by Francis Wyndham called "The Modelmakers", and started working on the project in 1964. Antonioni came on board, seeing it as an opportunity to gain some commercial credibility (Antonioni, already a highly respected figure in art cinema circles, had previously expressed resentment about being underpaid and under-recognised in relation to his Hollywood counterparts). While the idea did not originate with Antonioni, he would make the film his own as both the writer and director of the finished film.

If you are inexperienced with art cinema, you will find this a frustrating film to watch. Art cinema narratives do not operate like conventional film narratives. They are not driven by cause and effect, in which everything that happens on screen contributes to the furthering of the storyline. Thus there are a number of interruptions to the building of dramatic tension and a number of scenes which are completely unrelated to the central narrative strand. Art cinema also uses narrative ambiguity. In other words, the film is not wrapped up with a nice, neat resolution at the end. In fact, in the case of Blow-Up nearly nothing is resolved at the end.

A point of interest for music buffs, at one point Thomas goes into a bar where The Yardbirds are playing. This is apparently the only bit of film in which you can see Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck playing together. So there you go.

While Blow-Up is more viewer friendly that something like Fellini's 8 1/2, if you are new to art cinema you will still find it hard going. If you are interested in seeing it, more power to you. It will be an important step in your film education. If you're just a casual movie watcher, I wouldn't bother. Francis Ford Coppola made a brilliant film in the 1970s called The Conversation starring Gene Hackman which was heavily influenced by Blow-Up and deals with similar ideas of surveillance, perspective, real and unreal. I think you are much better served tracking this one down first. It has a nice balance of art cinema sensibility with a more conventional narrative. Personally, I wouldn't say that I really enjoy watching art cinema, but I'm happy that I've reached a point where I can appreciate it.