The Urban Landscape - screening series

Pollution

An enigmatic narrative film in which the industrial landscape of a factory-filled, polluted Italian city becomes a both a symbol and the material expression of the main character, Guiliana’s emotional anxiety, alienation and distress. The superb cinematography, coupled with an unnerving sound design built around almost imperceivable high pitched tonal screeches, creates a toxic modern world in which the protagonist Giuliana, played by Antonioni muse Monica ViJ, suffers a nervous breakdown and shares her turmoil with her husband’s co-worker, Corrado (Richard Harris). Antonioni’s first color film is unforgetable for its use of color and in particular, for the putrid yellow smoke against a perpetually grey sky.