In industrial Italy, Giuliana (Monica Vitti) is walking into a petrochemical plant with her son Valerio. The workers are on strike. She buys a half-eaten sandwich from one of them and walks into bushes to eat it by herself. Her manager husband Ugo is showing visitor Corrado Zeller (Richard Harris) around the plant. Ugo reveals that Giuliana has been troubled after a minor car accident. Corrado tracks down Giuliana.
Director Michelangelo Antonioni beautifully shoots industrialization and decay. The one thing that annoyed me is the kid. He needs to be definitively real or unreal right from the start. The way the kid appears and disappears from the movie leaves me wondering if he's a figment of her imagination. It would help if the man with the sandwich acknowledges his existence. He should be chasing after her for leaving her son behind. There was a small chance that the boy with his toys is all imaginary until Ugo starts playing with him. Quite honestly, I was hoping the people who disappear in the fog would be part of that surreal imaginary world. I'm not sure the plot amounts to much. At one point, the movie sidetracks into a story about a girl being told by Giuliana. The style is vastly interesting. In the end, I don't really get invested in the story.
Director Michelangelo Antonioni beautifully shoots industrialization and decay. The one thing that annoyed me is the kid. He needs to be definitively real or unreal right from the start. The way the kid appears and disappears from the movie leaves me wondering if he's a figment of her imagination. It would help if the man with the sandwich acknowledges his existence. He should be chasing after her for leaving her son behind. There was a small chance that the boy with his toys is all imaginary until Ugo starts playing with him. Quite honestly, I was hoping the people who disappear in the fog would be part of that surreal imaginary world. I'm not sure the plot amounts to much. At one point, the movie sidetracks into a story about a girl being told by Giuliana. The style is vastly interesting. In the end, I don't really get invested in the story.