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BLOW-UP *** out of *****
 Genres
1966 Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni Written by Michelangelo Antonioni and Tonino Guerra Edward Bond (English dialogue) Cast Vanessa Redgrave .... Jane Sarah Miles .... Patricia David Hemmings .... Thomas John Castle .... Bill Jane Birkin .... The Blonde Gillian Hills .... The Brunette Peter Bowles .... Ron Veruschka von Lehndorff .... Verushka Julian Chagrin .... Mime Claude Chagrin .... Mime
 | Ladies, never get drunk and let your
boyfriend take those kinds of photos. | Italian film maker Michelangelo Antonioni has been responsible for a slew of art house Italian films, some of his most memorable include L’Avventura and La Notte. But in 1966 he created what some call his greatest work, his first English language film, and also his second in colour. Upon release Blow-Up was heralded as a beautiful exploration piece. Winning best picture and director from the National Society of Film Critics and earning two Academy Award nominations for best director and best writing directly for the screen.
As for describing the film the jacket cover for the DVD does it best:
The film follows professional photographer Thomas (David Hemmings) he saw nothing and he saw everything. Enlargements of pictures he secretly took of a romantic couple in the park reveal a murder in progress. Or do they? Blow-Up is a stylish study of paranoid intrigue and disorientation. It is also a time capsule of mod London, a mindscape of the era’s fashions, free love, parties, music and hip languor. The jaded photographer is enlivened by the mystery in his photos, the elusive woman pictured in them and the enigma of what you see, what you don’t see and what the camera sees is yours to solve.
 | "Look at my white pants. LOOK AT
THEM!!!!!" | It is no doubt that as a film maker Antonioni is a master at his craft, some would call him a genius, but when it comes to this film it’s hard to differentiate between the art and the reality, perhaps that’s the point he’s trying to make. Essentially this film is the epitome of pretentious art house filmmaking. Utilising linear narrative structure in an almost non-linear way, long, often dialogue-free set-ups, and random scenes that both subtly and sometimes in a blaringly abstract way comment on the social climate of the times. Blow-Up will inevitably be lost on some people and mainstream audiences will likely find it hard to watch. The film is slow moving and most will be confused by the mime tennis game ending.
 | Hey, this is just the picture on
the poster. I feel cheated. | Believe me once you’ve watched this movie, aside from the confusion, you’ll ask whether this photographer was seeing things. Did what happen actually happen? Was there a body in the first place? One thing is for sure, these questions are never given a straight answer, but they are answered none-the-less, however it’s up to the viewer to seek those answers. It almost feels like Antonioni was making a film about paranoid intrigue and disorientation not by examining those themes within the film but by creating a film that would cause the viewer to feel disorientated and also intrigued to find meaning in this piece.
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