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Product Description
Identification of a Woman, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni (Red Desert), is a body-and soul-baring voyage into one man’s artistic and erotic consciousness. After his wife leaves him, a film director finds himself drawn into affairs with two enigmatic women, while at the same time searching for the right subject (and actress) for his next film. This spellbinding anti-romance was a late-career coup for the legendary Italian filmmaker, and is renowned for its sexual explicitness and an extended scene on a fog-enshrouded highway that stands with the director’s greatest set pieces.
SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES • New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition • Theatrical trailer • New and improved English subtitle translation • PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic John Powers and a reprinted 1982 interview with Michelangelo Antonioni by critic Gideon Bachmann
Product Description
Identification of a Woman, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni (Red Desert), is a body-and soul-baring voyage into one man's artistic and erotic consciousness. After his wife leaves him, a film director finds himself drawn into affairs with two enigmatic women, while at the same time searching for the right subject (and actress) for his next film. This spellbinding anti-romance was a late-career coup for the legendary Italian filmmaker, and is renowned for its sexual explicitness and an extended scene on a fog-enshrouded highway that stands with the director's greatest set pieces.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By Richard J. Brzostek
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:DVD
Identification of a Woman is an Italian film about an Italian director. I find the director, Niccolo (Tomas Milian), to be an interesting character as he is both artistic and intelligent, yet not a push over. The story begins when Niccolo gets a call from a mysterious man that wants to meet with him. When Niccolo sees him, he gives Niccolo a very vague threat about continuing to see a particular woman will result in some kind of trouble. Shortly later, Niccolo begins a passionate affair with a younger woman named Mavi (Daniela Silverio). Although Mavi says she doesn't know much about Niccolo, I would say she is even more mysterious. I also found it mysterious that he got a threat about not seeing her before he met her (and I watched it three times to confirm that this is the sequence of events). In the big scheme of things, this is a minor detail and shouldn't be worried about too much.
But the mysteries only grow in this film. Mavi disappears after some time of dealing with the stalkers spying on Niccolo and having to make their affair secretive. So as intense as their passions were for each other, the flames between Mavi and Niccolo seem to be extinguished abruptly, which isn't acceptable at all for Niccolo. He is driven to find out what happened and who was behind the threats. Niccolo then meets another woman named Ida (Christine Boisson) that not only helps him put some closure to the mystery, but also becomes his new girlfriend. Ida is quite different than Mavi and presents Niccolo with a situation in which he must decide if he wants to continue their relationship.
What is fascinating about the movie is that the story is basically normal, but it is also bizarre. While everything that happens isn't too far from everyday events, they are also pretty extraordinary. I found Identification of a Woman to be a intriguing movie, but it also came up short because it left a few details unanswered. Although those these questions left in our mind may have been intentional, as they provide us with quite a bit to ponder, I still would have preferred more concrete answers.
But the mysteries only grow in this film. Mavi disappears after some time of dealing with the stalkers spying on Niccolo and having to make their affair secretive. So as intense as their passions were for each other, the flames between Mavi and Niccolo seem to be extinguished abruptly, which isn't acceptable at all for Niccolo. He is driven to find out what happened and who was behind the threats. Niccolo then meets another woman named Ida (Christine Boisson) that not only helps him put some closure to the mystery, but also becomes his new girlfriend. Ida is quite different than Mavi and presents Niccolo with a situation in which he must decide if he wants to continue their relationship.
What is fascinating about the movie is that the story is basically normal, but it is also bizarre. While everything that happens isn't too far from everyday events, they are also pretty extraordinary. I found Identification of a Woman to be a intriguing movie, but it also came up short because it left a few details unanswered. Although those these questions left in our mind may have been intentional, as they provide us with quite a bit to ponder, I still would have preferred more concrete answers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.7 out of 5 stars
13 reviews
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Antonioni Fan
Nov 1 2011
By Ronald P. Fowler
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Blu-ray|Amazon Verified Purchase
Being an Antonioni fan I was excited to see this film available on Blu-Ray. The product did not disappoint. This is a mesmerizing study of familiar Antonioni themes (women, love & sex, the creative process, etc.). The film is beautiful, one of Antonioni's most beautifully filmed, of particular note is his use of windows, both looking out of them and reflecting from them. I love the film but would not recommend it for those unfamiliar with Antonioni's other great films. His films are typically enigmatic and often start slowly. In the beginning, for example, I was unsure of the casting and acting of Tomas Milian. Eventually, however, as the themes became clearer he seemed an excellent choice. Antonioni's genius for beautiful location filming is very much on display here as well with beautiful shots of Rome, the Italian countryside, and Venice. The accompanying essay and interview are excellent, but they are the only special features. I think the film deserves more.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Quintessential Antonioni - Late Masterpiece
Oct 29 2011
By Antony Sellers
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Blu-ray|Amazon Verified Purchase
A late period masterpiece from the great Italian auteur Michelangelo Antonioni, an exploration of of many of his favourite themes in the story of a separated film director, in search of a partner, a concept, love, the subject and star for a film maybe, ideas that beautifully dissipate and reform rather than crystallise in concrete conclusions... A marvellous meditation on man & woman in the modern world, matched by a superb transfer by the Criterion Collection...
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Creature_Comfort
May 26 2010
By Latino
- Published on Amazon.com
It's churlish to complain that Identification of a Woman isn't the equal of L'Avventura, La Notte, Red Desert, Blow Up, Zabriskie Point, or The Passenger. If it was, it would be a masterpiece of European art cinema. While it perhaps falls a little short of those Antonioni high points, it's nonetheless an intriguing and beautiful piece of work in its own right. The customary Antonioni themes - the elusiveness of desire, the fragility of identity, the mysteries of visual perspective, the unreliability of knowledge - are explored in typically elliptical and aleatory fashion, and lead towards a characteristically inconclusive but bafflingly moving ending. And along the way there are scenes that are the equal of Antonioni's best for mood, atmosphere and sheer cinematic creativity and skill. Niccolo and Mavi's drive into the fog is a scene of brilliant mystery and power. Their climb up the stairs of a swanky villa to an elite Roman soiree is an object lesson in how to use the camera and editing to generate a sense of foreboding and philosophical unease out of the simplest of materials. Niccolo and Ida's voyage out onto a Venetian lake is a gorgeous metaphor for their unfathomable relationship. And if anyone can tell me what that mysterious object in the tree - to which Antonioni keeps drawing us back - outside Niccolo's window is all about, I'd be grateful. The animated final scene of the film, which some viewers find a let-down, is brilliant - almost the equal in conception and weird appropriateness to the endings of Blow Up or Zabriskie Point. This is a film which improves with every viewing and ought to be embraced as the last significant work of a great master.
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Go to Amazon.com to see all 13 reviews
3.7 out of 5 stars
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