Michelangelo Antonioni's
The Girlfriends
with
Eleonora Rossi Drago
Gabriele Ferzetti
Franco Fabrizi
Valentina Cortese
and
Yvonne Furneaux
Madeleine Fischer
Anna Maria Pancani
Written by Suso Cecchi D'Amico &
Michelangelo Antonioni with Alba de
Cespedes
Photographed by Gianni di Venanzo
Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni
Restored by Cineteca di Bologna at
L’Immagine Ritrovata
with funding provided by Gucci and The Film
Foundation.
“Antonioni’s quietly audacious
attempt to convey the inner workings of modern life... What
makes this drama mysteriously original is the details: the
architectural contours of the film’s myriad locations
seem to determine the action of the people who traverse them,
and such visual creations as portraits, reflections, sketches,
and eye-catching clothing have more reality than the empty,
miserable characters to whom they lend identities. ”
– Richard Brody, The New Yorker
“A WELCOME RESTORATION...A LOST
POSTWAR MASTERPIECE and showcase for Antonioni's novelistic
camera, as well as his appetite for alienation.”
– Benjamin Strong, The L Magazine
“ONE OF ANTONIONI’S GREATEST
FILMS! Diverse plot strands, character psychology, and a
masterful control of the camera are perfectly fused. With two
bravura set pieces — a picnic by the sea that foreshadows
L’Avventura and a troubled tea party —
Antonioni’s intensity and grip, and his vivid portrayal
of feminine anxiety in particular, make for a film that has
barely dated at all.”
– David Thompson, Time Out (London)
“Widely agreed to be its
director’s first truly outstanding achievement... The
style of the movie — unhurried shots which, by camera
movement, shift our angle of vision — reaffirms our
position as observers. Confirms undoubted talent for presenting
female characters in the sort of depth which, even today,
remains unusual.”
– Andrew Tudor, World Film Directors
“Antonioni’s outstanding film
of the 50s... Already the elements of this fastidious
craftsman’s style were locked in place: the awareness of
landscapes, the sense of people drifting through time and
space, but held always under the tightest control, the
persistence of vision. [The] shifting pattern of relationships
[are] brought to a fine point in the famous scene of the beach
afternoon, in which the camera watches and follows and controls
as all the futilities are brought drifting to the
surface.”
– Penelope Houston, The Guardian
“A masterpiece of understatement,
restraint, economy of style and characterization.”
– Jonas Mekas
A limited quantity of posters are available
for sale.
Screenings
