Lucia Bosè is the wife of wealthy Ferdinando Sarmi, who in a fit of momentary jealousy, hires private detectives to investigate Bosè's past. They find that she and her close friend's fiancé Massimo Girotti had fallen in love, and that her friend died stepping into an empty elevator shaft. After this tragedy, the two separated and Bosè met Sarmi.
The investigation gets back to Girotti, who is concerned and contacts Bosè. The two have not talked for seven years, but being back in contact rekindles their relationship ... and they start thinking about how much better off they'd be if Sarmi wasn't around.
Michelangelo Antonioni's feature debut is a fascinating film. His style seems nearly fully formed here ... long slow takes, stunning photography of modernist Italian architecture, and the subject matter is to some degree the spiritual malaise of Italy's nouveau rich. It's all grafted onto a noir plot that's straight out of James M. Cain (Girotti had even starred in Luchino Visconti's Cain adaptation "Ossessione"). I think it's a remarkable debut.
The investigation gets back to Girotti, who is concerned and contacts Bosè. The two have not talked for seven years, but being back in contact rekindles their relationship ... and they start thinking about how much better off they'd be if Sarmi wasn't around.
Michelangelo Antonioni's feature debut is a fascinating film. His style seems nearly fully formed here ... long slow takes, stunning photography of modernist Italian architecture, and the subject matter is to some degree the spiritual malaise of Italy's nouveau rich. It's all grafted onto a noir plot that's straight out of James M. Cain (Girotti had even starred in Luchino Visconti's Cain adaptation "Ossessione"). I think it's a remarkable debut.