Le Amiche
For many reasons, “Le Amiche” ended up being the only film I was able to see during the Antonioni retrospective they had at the Arsenal. This is very sad, but if it was not the retrospective, I would never have been able to see this film otherwise. After all, the movie doesn’t even have a decent Wikipedia article!
It’s weird enough, because I have seen so many great movies lately, but none of them had an impact on me as strongly as “Le Amiche” did. Granted, this is not a very typical Antonioni, and I understand perfectly why it is not as acclaimed as his other films. Most Antonioni films are extremely visual and his style would make his film great even if the story were completely pointless. “Le Amiche” is not a feast for the eyes as most Antonioni films are, like “Blow Up” or “L’Eclisse”, although of course the characters are always very nicely dressed. It also doesn’t really have an intriguing mood like “The Red Desert” – very unlike every other movie of his, “Le Amiche” is just a simple film with a simple story.
But what a story! When I think back, the last film that impressed me in the same way was “Jules et Jim”, albeit for rather different reasons, since Truffaut’s masterpiece is very stylish and playful too. “Le Amiche” is comparably serious yet less dramatic. It’s mostly a love story, but a more ‘real’ one than Antonioni’s other films about love. When Rosetta wanted to kill herself, I could perfectly feel why. The characters in “Le Amiche” remind me a little bit of “Don Juan kommt aus dem Krieg”, where many different women are shown, but in the end they are all the same. All women take love seriously, even when they make a decision against it. There were quite a few scenes where I thought “Wow, how real” – very unlike Antonioni’s other films. One of them was when Momina says “A husband is always a husband” when she reconciles with him, another one was when Nene says that she must leave when there is no love in a relationship anymore, that she would have stayed if there were children. But since there are no children, love is necessary for two people to be together. This scene, and quite a few others, made me want to cry out in the movie theater.
I find myself to describe why I like “Le Amiche” so much, and actually this Amazon review does a much better job than me. It’s very personal, I guess, and it touched the core of myself, a little bit like “Huo Zhe” did. In that respect, this film is much more precious to me than every single other Antonioni. I have found all of his films to be brilliant, but none of them made such an impression on me than this little, unpretentious title.
Before I die, I am determined to see these other Antonioni’s:
– L’Avventura
– La Notte
– Antonioni’s China
– Professione: Reporter
– Beyond the Clouds
This means that I will at least double the number of Antonioni titles I have seen. See why I think it’s difficult to a cinephile in the making?