Il Grido (1957)

The Story

“The conclusion at which my characters arrive is not moral anarchy. They come, at most, to a kind of shared pity. This, you may say, is nothing new. But without that, what is left to us?” – Michelangelo Antonioni 

Antonioni’s fifth feature was his first to demonstrate the distinctive style and content that would become the signature of his illustrious career. Aldo (Steve Cochran) has lost the woman he loves to somebody else, and feeling excluded from life, wanders through damp and desolate Po Valley landscapes, reflecting on his emotional loss. Unlike his future films, Antonioni’s main character is working class rather than middle class and Penelope Houston sees Aldo as “the sort of character who would rather sit suffering in the rain than walk to a shelter”. His ennui and isolation demonstrate “‘Eros is sick’, men are living by outdated moralities…in an age in which emotional life is out of step with advancing technologies.” This 4K restoration comes courtesy of The Film Foundation and Cineteca di Bologna.

Introduced by Noa Steimatsky at Ritz Cinemas and Vincent Giarusso at Lido Cinemas.

“If, in the year 1960, an individual can be a prisoner of his feelings in this way, then the concept of love that society has taught him is a corrupt one.” – Gérard Gozlan 

“Antonioni’s films, especially his early films, also question the functions of industry, institutions and the economy.” – James Brown, Senses of Cinema 

“A major transitional film in the career of Michaelangelo Antonioni as he moved from neo-realism to the elliptical, mannered style of his next picture L’avventura.” – Philip French 

Rating

Unclassified 15+

Duration

116 min

Cast

Steve Cochran, Alida Valli, Dorian Gray

Director

Michelangelo Antonioni