Blow Up film complete

In London, a fashion photographer believes he has seen (and photographed) a murder. He tries to solve the mystery, but fails. Reality has many faces, even evidence, even an image impressed on a plate can be denied. The film starts as a "mystery" but soon reveals itself to be a fascinating meditation on the gap (if there is one) between reality and fantasy. Unlike other Antonioni films, Blow up is perhaps a work that is more timely than valid. It came at a time when the public was interested in existential themes, in hermeticisms of language, in works without a plot. Carlo di Palma's prodigious photography captures the most suggestive views of the London of the Beatles and Carnaby Street and (quickly) resumes the nudity of Redgrave. Thomas, a young and brilliant London photographer, walking by chance in a public park takes photos of a mysterious girl who is in the company of a man; But when she notices, she follows him home and does everything she can to steal the film. Intrigued, Thomas develops the negatives, and by enlarging the images he realizes he has in his hands the evidence of a murder. Made in 1966 and filmed in London, Blow-up was the first film in English directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Tonino Guerra; produced by Carlo Ponti, the film was surprisingly a resounding international success and won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and an Oscar nomination for best director. Inspired by the short story La bava del diavolo by Julio Cortàzar, Blow-up is built around the eventful events of the day of the protagonist, a renowned fashion photographer played by David Hemmings, and continues the discussion on art and cinema already started by the Italian filmmaker in his previous titles. As often happens in Antonioni's works, the story does not follow a precise narrative structure but is entirely based on the ambiguity of the images. In the first part, the film shows us the Swinging London of the 60s, with its frenetic pace, its frivolous character and its eccentricities; then, at a certain point, the plot suddenly deviates towards the thriller, with the episode in the park that will be the engine of the obsessive investigation of the protagonist in search of an elusive and ineffable truth. And in fact, the film wants to be a reflection on the deceptive nature of reality, an enigmatic and incomprehensible reality filtered through the lens of the camera; to this theme is added that of the illusory nature of the gaze, in an atypical detective story in which what is seen does not always correspond to what is, and in which no certainty seems to exist anymore (did the crime take place or not?). It is no coincidence that, in the end, the spectator's doubts are destined to remain unresolved. Re-watched today, Blow-up continues to be certainly a hermetic and fascinating film, although there is no lack of narrative imbalance and some sequences may seem ends in themselves. At the time, it caused a scandal for the display of female nudes and for a certain somewhat specious transgression (as in the ménage-à-trois scene); however, the silent tennis match played by the mimes in the finale is worth remembering. It was one of the first film roles of the English actress Vanessa Redgrave. The title, Blow-up, refers to the operation of enlarging the photographs. #BlowUp #Antonioni #CinemaClassico #FilmAnalysis