Chronique d'un amour

To date, there are 13 reviews of this film. Perhaps all the writers saw this movie theatrically. I have the Bo-ying version of USA'a NoShame DVD, and, to say the least, it certainly ranks as the most extraordinary DVD I've ever seen in my life! Presumably, as the original negative was destroyed in a fire in 1989, this DVD has been reconstructed from bits and pieces of the original Italian version and the dubbed English-language version, and then re-sub-titled. A huge effort has been made to make the LOOK of the film consistent -- even when the version used changes -- which it OFTEN does -- right in the middle of a scene! And would you believe that -- with this direct comparison facing us every couple of minutes -- the English-language version is actually superior to the original Italian. The acting is superior and even the syncing is better. (As most of you know, all Italian films are post-dubbed -- and not necessarily by the original actors). But that's not the end of the matter. The sub-titles we see with our eyes often don't fully agree with what we hear with our ears. In at least two cases, the sub-titles (presumably based on the Italian version) are the exact opposite to what we actually hear! And many of the titles also carry extra (rather than less) information. As for the movie itself, I loved it! Beautifully photographed, exquisitely acted, and most engagingly directed. Until now, I was not an Antonioni fan. But anyone who loves streetcars is a friend forever. And there are more streetcars in "Story of a Love Affair" than in any other movie I can think of, except Bunuel's wonderful 1953 homage, "Illusion Travels by Streetcar".

The feature film debut of future Italian cinema star Michelangelo Antonioni is quite conventional and straightforward as compared to his later works, which are generally regarded as masterpieces. Though not in that category, this film ranks as a very well-made melodrama that dares to also include exploration of the darkest of human desires, specifically within the context of marriage and fidelity.

Chance also plays a large role here, helping to reunite former lovers who pick up where they left off, ironically thanks to the woman's husband hiring a private detective to follow her as he suspects she is having an affair. What follows is often high-strung, dense and very moving as Antonioni shows us the most desolate shots of the beautiful city Milan. Many of the establishing shots are long shots of corridors, streets and other walkways that create great sense of alienation, isolation and illicit activities. The ending may require a bit of explaining but still fits the overall tone of elegy and bitter sadness. A powerful and moving Italian melodrama that certainly could be used as a template for American filmmakers today.

Although Antonioni was part of the Italian Nouvelle Vague ,like Fellini,he began as a director of the neorealism school.He did not cut,however, the best of De Sica ,Rossellini and Visconti.

Best part comes from a sensitive Massimo Girotti but he's not really given a scene to shine -as he had in Visconti's "Ossessione" -.Lucia Bosé gives a good but a bit icily impersonal performance.

"Cronaca di un amore" is an interesting movie,if only for the things it forecasts: -the screenplay takes the shape of a private investigation,predating by ten years the second part of "l'avventura" and "blow-up" -the scenes displaying wealthy people living in luxury and exchanging futile conversations will be fully developed in "la Notte" But the most interesting subject is responsibility.Is a crime we intend to commit really a crime?This subject was rarely treated in Italian cinema ."Blow up" will come back to appearances .

Suffering is an inate response to life, this is one of the inescapable principles of existence. Antonioni saw far in the career that followed, farther than perhaps any director in cinema, but here he begins where it's proper, with life as a cycle of suffering, a seemingly random pattern of recurring time where we're denied what we most desire, happiness eludes us and our dreams and hopes are thwarted and frustrated.

Too young to see a true reality, Antonioni nonetheless sees clearly the reality of illusions. First that the cycle we call life is not blindly, randomly spun, and that we're to be held accountable for our part in the spinning, foremostly that our pursuit of happiness as we like to think is really the deluded pursuit of satisfying desire.

The crucial point that connects these is, rather poignantly, a death, and it happens not once but twice, mirrored identical the second time like a prefiguration of Vertigo. As with Vertigo, this borrows the world of film noir to speak of karmic wheels and the mechanisms that control them, a Double Indemnity scenario where secret lover and wife calculate to get rid of the rich husband.

In a magical touch, the plotted murder happens of its own accord, seemingly out of the whim of an agent of a higher court passing by.

It's not then just a matter of what begins as thought and desire invariably manifests in imminent reality, this is a powerful inspection of mind, but moreover that having devoted themselves by all means to the pursuit of that desire, a passion born of ego and craving, the obstacle that stood in their way now removed, the two protagonists realize how impotent they remain to pursue that desire, how desire is by its nature an insatiable attribute. Their punishment, which is not divine but of their own doing, is the toll exacted on their conscience.

This first appearance in Antonioni of karma as the force that keeps going the cycle of suffering is not perfect by any means, it seems at the same time to imply questions of moral order, whether or not for example wishing for a crime to happen is a crime in itself, spiritual in nature. And all of this is more verbose than need be, something Antonioni would excise in a few years.

We find things in this debut that Antonioni would elaborate upon in wonderful ways, the ineffability of connection, the city as a cold, alienating limbo where souls in transit struggle for meaning, the transparent reality that extends outside the frame to suggest an entire world and flow of life with or without these characters (indeed we find here, abetting this, the beginnings of his amazing sound work, where the city traffic is always audible), but all these are in nascent form here.

What stands out for me is the true perception that begins to form in Antonioni's cinema. Meaning our idea of reality is just that, an idea born of our own habits and various storytellings, which clouds our soul and needs to be challenged, dismantled, removed from our eyes so that we can see life as it is.

Antononoi's first feature film deals with a jealous husband looking into the past of his wife, Paola, via private investigator, which inadvertently gets her back together with an old lover, Guido, who unlike the rich wife, is a poor, barely scraping by car salesman. Although the two seem to be in love with each other, the difference in economic status and Paola's marriage keep them apart. Also looming over them is the shadow of an "accident" they feel responsible for.

Many have called this a sort of noir, and it's easy to see why. Paola could be seen as bordering the line of a femme fatale, there's the past catching up, the grey morality of the characters, etc. However if one were to watch this alongside noirs like Double Indemnity, Laura, and Out of the Past, they would fine "Story of a Love Affair" feels completely different, and besides these tropes, hardly feels like a noir. It would be safer to say the film has noir elements.

Like a number of Antononoi's later works, the film deals with alienation, as well as the bourgeoise. The disenfranchised characters who easily fall into damning passions is present here. The plot is very intricate and the film is carried by mostly dialogue, as opposed to later films where imagery would play more prominence. Although not as grandiose as the cinematography from films like "The Adventure" and "la Notte", his touches can certainly be seen in this splendidly crafted first film.

Thankfully, the writing and characterization is more than enough to carry things here. The multitude of plot threads, characters and themes are woven masterfully, and while not featuring the most sympathetic characters in the world, they are certainly fascinating ones, and that's enough.

If you can find this and are a fan of these kinds of films, it's well worth checking out.