L’Avventura movie storyline. One summery Saturday afternoon, a group of friends living in Rome departs on a yachting trip out to a local island. Two of the group, Anna (Lea Massari) and Sandro (Gabriele Ferzetti), young lovers considering marriage, have a dispute; that afternoon, Sandro announces that Anna is missing. A thorough search of the island is made on Anna’s behalf, but she is never found, and Sandro, who remains relatively unconcerned, is never questioned.
In fact, before the yachting group even returns to the mainland, Sandro tries to pick up Anna’s best friend Claudia (Monica Vitti). Still, he is not even considered suspicious. Claudia and Sandro gallivant through the Italian countryside, supposedly investigating Claudia’s disappearance, but their true motives are never clear, even in the last–entirely enigmatic–scene of the movie.
L’Avventura (English: “The Adventure”) is a 1960 Italian drama film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. Developed from a story by Antonioni with co-writers Elio Bartolini and Tonino Guerra, the film is about the disappearance of a young woman (Lea Massari) during a boating trip in the Mediterranean, and the subsequent search for her by her lover (Gabriele Ferzetti) and her best friend (Monica Vitti). It was filmed on location in Rome, the Aeolian Islands, and Sicily in 1959 under difficult financial and physical conditions. The film is noted for its unusual pacing, which emphasizes visual composition, mood, and character over traditional narrative development.
L’Avventura was nominated for numerous awards and was awarded the Jury Prize at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival. The film made Monica Vitti an international star. According to an Antonioni obituary, the film “systematically subverted the filmic codes, practices and structures in currency at its time.” L’Avventura is the first film of a trilogy by Antonioni, followed by La Notte (1961) and L’Eclisse (1962).
It has appeared on Sight & Sound’s list of the critics’ top ten greatest films ever made three times in a row: It was voted second in 1962, fifth in 1972 and seventh in 1982. In 2010, it was ranked #40 in Empire magazine’s “The 100 Best Films of World Cinema.”. The movie would go on to influence many different arthouse filmmakers like Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Jia Zhangke, and Hirokazu Kore-eda.
About the Story
Anna (Lea Massari) meets her friend Claudia (Monica Vitti) at her father’s villa on the outskirts of Rome before leaving on a yachting cruise on the Mediterranean. They drive into Rome to Isola Tiberina near the Pons Fabricius to meet Anna’s boyfriend, Sandro (Gabriele Ferzetti). While Claudia waits downstairs, Anna and Sandro make love in his house. Afterwards, Sandro drives the two women to the coast where they join two wealthy couples and set sail south along the coast.
The next morning the yacht reaches the Aeolian Islands north of Sicily. After they pass Basiluzzo, Anna impulsively jumps into the water for a swim, and Sandro jumps in after her. When Anna yells that she’s seen a shark, Sandro comes to her side protectively. Later onboard Anna confesses to Claudia that the “whole shark thing was a lie,” apparently to get Sandro’s attention.
After noticing Claudia admiring her blouse, she tells her to put it on, that it looks better on her, and that she should keep it. At one of the smaller islands, Lisca Bianca [it], the party comes ashore. Anna and Sandro go off alone and talk about their relationship. Anna is unhappy with his long business trips. Sandro dismisses her complaints and takes a nap on the rocks.
Sometime later, Corrado (James Addams) decides to leave the small island, concerned about the weather and rough seas. They hear a boat nearby. Claudia searches for Anna, but she is gone without a trace. Sandro is annoyed, saying this type of behavior is typical. They explore the island and find nothing. Sandro and Corrado decide to continue their search on the island while sending the others off to notify the authorities. Claudia decides to stay as well. Sandro, Corrado, and Claudia continue their search and end up at a shack where they stay the night. As they talk, Sandro takes offense at Claudia’s suggestion that Anna’s disappearance is somehow due to his neglect.
In the morning, Claudia wakes before the others and watches the sunrise. After finding Anna’s blouse in her bag, she meets Sandro out near the cliffs, and they talk about Anna, but Sandro now seems attracted to Claudia. The police arrive and conduct a thorough search, but find nothing. Anna’s father, a former diplomat, also arrives in a high-speed hydrofoil.
When he sees the books his daughter has been reading—Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and The Holy Bible—he feels confident that she hasn’t committed suicide. The police announce that smugglers were arrested nearby and are being held in Milazzo. Sandro decides to investigate, but before leaving, he finds Claudia alone on the yacht and kisses her. Claudia rushes off, startled by his actions. She decides to search the other islands on her own. They all agree to meet up at Corrado’s Villa Montaldo in Palermo.
At the Milazzo police station, Sandro realizes the smugglers know nothing about Anna’s disappearance. When he discovers that Claudia has arrived from the islands, he meets her at the train station where their mutual attraction is evident, but Claudia urges him not to complicate matters and begs him to leave. She boards a train to Palermo, and as the train pulls away, Sandro runs after it and jumps aboard. On the train Claudia is annoyed, saying “I don’t want you with me.” She says it would be easier if they sacrifice now and deny their attraction, but Sandro sees no sense in sacrificing anything. Still focused on her friend’s disappearance, Claudia is troubled by the thought that it “takes so little to change.” Sandro relents and gets off the train at Castroreale.
In Messina, Sandro tracks down the journalist Zuria, who wrote an article about Anna’s disappearance. Their meeting is interrupted by crowds of excited men following a beautiful 19-year-old “writer” and aspiring actress named Gloria Perkins (Dorothy De Poliolo) who is actually an expensive prostitute. Sandro stops to admire her beauty. Zuria says he heard stories that Anna was spotted by a chemist in Troina. After bribing Zuria to run another story on Anna, Sandro heads to Troina. Meanwhile, Claudia meets her boating companions at Corrado’s Villa Montaldo in Palermo. No one seems to take Anna’s disappearance seriously except Claudia. Even Corrado’s young wife Giulia openly flirts with the young prince in front of her husband. After reading Zuria’s follow-up story, Claudia leaves the villa for Troina to continue her search.
In Troina, Sandro questions the chemist who claimed to have sold tranquilizers to Anna. Claudia arrives, and they learn that the woman identified by the chemist left on a bus to Noto in southern Sicily. Sandro and Claudia resume their search together and drive south. Outside Noto, they stop at a deserted village, and then find a hill overlooking the town where they make love while a train goes by. Later in town, they go to the Trinacria Hotel where they believe Anna is staying. Claudia asks Sandro to go in alone. While Claudia waits outside, a crowd of men gather around her. When she thinks she sees Sandro and Anna coming down the stairs she runs into a paint store, but Sandro follows and confirms that Anna is not there. Claudia remains torn between her feelings for Sandro and her friendship with Anna.
Awards and Nominations
1960 Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or Nomination (Michelangelo Antonioni)
1960 British Film Institute Sutherland Trophy (Michelangelo Antonioni) Won
1961 BAFTA Award Nomination for Best Film from any Source (Michelangelo Antonioni)
1961 BAFTA Award Nomination for Best Foreign Actress (Monica Vitti)
1961 Golden Globe Award for Best Breakthrough Actress (Monica Vitti) Won
1961 Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists Silver Ribbon for Best Score (Giovanni Fusco) Won
1961 Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists Silver Ribbon Nomination for Best Actress (Monica Vitti)
1961 Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists Silver Ribbon Nomination for Best Cinematography, B/W (Aldo Scavarda)
1961 Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists Silver Ribbon Nomination for Best Director (Michelangelo Antonioni)
1961 Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists Silver Ribbon Nomination for Best Original Story (Michelangelo Antonioni)
1961 Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists Silver Ribbon Nomination for Best Supporting Actress (Lea Massari)
L’Avventura (1960)
Directed by: Michelangelo Antonioni
Starring: Gabriele Ferzetti, Monica Vitti, Lea Massari, Dominique Blanchar, Renzo Ricci, James Addams, Dorothy de Poliolo, Lelio Luttazi, Giovanni Petrucci, Esmeralda Ruspoli
Screenplay by: Michelangelo Antonioni, Elio Bartolini, Tonino Guerra
Production Design by: Piero Poletto
Cinematography by: Aldo Scavarda
Film Editing by: Eraldo Da Roma
Costume Design by: Adriana Berselli
Makeup Department: Galileo Mandini, Mario Mandini, Giuseppe Peruzzi
Music by: Giovanni Fusco
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Cino Del Duca (Italy), Columbia Pictures (United States)
Release Date: May 19, 1960 (Cannes), June 29, 1960 (Italy)
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