MUBI: A new video essay explores how the films of Antonioni invite viewers to take responsibility for their own understanding of reality.

The Discarded Image takes a look at Michelangelo Antonioni\’s use of locations in films like L\’Avventura, L\’Eclisse, Red Desert and Blow-Up.

In 1980 the great French philosopher and author Roland Barthes wrote an open letter to Antonioni. It is an appraisal of Antonioni’s place as an artist in the world. Barthes was a revolutionary thinker who, like Antonioni went beyond conventional modes of analysis. Dear Antonioni is linked by that letter, examines the life and work…

In the 1960s, Antonioni commissioned Dante Bini to create a unique Sardinia villa, based on the original “Binishell” concept. La cupola was built by inflating a balloon underneath raw concrete, shaping it into a self-supporting half-sphere. The director was an active collaborator and infused the project with rich imagination. He invented details like slab stairs,…

Cannes Film Festival, 1982