Having heard about this film for years, I finally had the opportunity to watch it on DVD last night. I only wish I'd seen it years ago so I could have spent the last 34 years telling everyone I know how brilliant it is. Yes, the concluding scene (shot) is everything that it has been cracked up to be, but what astonished me even more was how Antonioni was able to wrench such a brilliant performance from both Maria Schneider and, even more impressively, Jack Nicholson. Watching this film with our 21 year-old son, whose main Nicholson reference points have been developed only in the last 10 years or so, we had to explain that, yes, in his day, Nicholson could actually act with restraint and subtlety. But never more so than in this film.
We watched it twice in succession and even the second time around it was a remarkable experience. The other reviews on IMDb offer plenty of insightful analysis. But do watch it twice.
We watched it twice in succession and even the second time around it was a remarkable experience. The other reviews on IMDb offer plenty of insightful analysis. But do watch it twice.