Slow Moving Pictures
@lewisbeerblog.bsky.social
Relentlessly blogging about a single film - currently Red Desert. www.slowmovingpictures.org
Ingrid Bergman wakes up after her long dark night of the soul on Stromboli. White flecks sparkle in the volcanic desert beneath her, as if the stars she gazed at the night before had descended to earth. She faces the morning sun with both awe and fear; it re-energises her, but also overwhelms her.
November 18, 2025 at 7:08 AM
Ingrid Bergman wakes up after her long dark night of the soul on Stromboli. White flecks sparkle in the volcanic desert beneath her, as if the stars she gazed at the night before had descended to earth. She faces the morning sun with both awe and fear; it re-energises her, but also overwhelms her.
A disturbing scene from La notte: Marcello Mastroianni inspects a young woman in her hospital room. In this moment, he is a hollow man who casts no shadow; her shadow seems an integral part of her, an extension of the darkness in (and behind) her eyes, and a commentary on the surrounding white void.
November 17, 2025 at 5:55 AM
A disturbing scene from La notte: Marcello Mastroianni inspects a young woman in her hospital room. In this moment, he is a hollow man who casts no shadow; her shadow seems an integral part of her, an extension of the darkness in (and behind) her eyes, and a commentary on the surrounding white void.
The shipyard sequence in Red Desert finds Giuliana at her most isolated and imperilled, but it is also the moment when she exercises the most agency. Navigating this treacherous landscape with a sense of purpose, she seeks out the origins of those unearthly noises that echo and groan all around her.
November 16, 2025 at 2:08 PM
The shipyard sequence in Red Desert finds Giuliana at her most isolated and imperilled, but it is also the moment when she exercises the most agency. Navigating this treacherous landscape with a sense of purpose, she seeks out the origins of those unearthly noises that echo and groan all around her.
In L’avventura, Anna has been reading Tender is the Night. On the cover is a painting by Matisse: a woman reclines languidly beside an empty chair (she does not want company), her features blank as though she has effaced herself. The image is both eloquent and opaque, like Anna's disappearance.
November 9, 2025 at 7:33 AM
In L’avventura, Anna has been reading Tender is the Night. On the cover is a painting by Matisse: a woman reclines languidly beside an empty chair (she does not want company), her features blank as though she has effaced herself. The image is both eloquent and opaque, like Anna's disappearance.
‘Even you haven’t helped me,’ says Giuliana to Corrado, in their final scene together. Red Desert’s screenplay states that he interprets this as an accusation, but Richard Harris’s face is more inscrutable: besides a mild sadness, it communicates almost nothing.
November 6, 2025 at 6:31 AM
‘Even you haven’t helped me,’ says Giuliana to Corrado, in their final scene together. Red Desert’s screenplay states that he interprets this as an accusation, but Richard Harris’s face is more inscrutable: besides a mild sadness, it communicates almost nothing.
I also love this moment a few seconds earlier: like Laura in Brief Encounter, Lidia seems exhilarated by the train that has rushed by, but as she turns back to Roberto she realises what a clichéd scenario they are playing out. A speeding train, a brief encounter, a rainstorm...who cares?
November 4, 2025 at 6:10 AM
I also love this moment a few seconds earlier: like Laura in Brief Encounter, Lidia seems exhilarated by the train that has rushed by, but as she turns back to Roberto she realises what a clichéd scenario they are playing out. A speeding train, a brief encounter, a rainstorm...who cares?
Jeanne Moreau, in La notte, gives a masterclass in non-verbal ennui. Soaked with rainwater, at what should be a moment of liberated passion, she looks at Roberto as if to say, ‘This too would amount to nothing.’ Her eyes express a profound inner sadness.
November 4, 2025 at 6:10 AM
Jeanne Moreau, in La notte, gives a masterclass in non-verbal ennui. Soaked with rainwater, at what should be a moment of liberated passion, she looks at Roberto as if to say, ‘This too would amount to nothing.’ Her eyes express a profound inner sadness.
This is the most beautiful sequence in La notte: the camera tracks alongside Roberto's car as it passes beneath street-lamps, alternately lost in darkness and half-illuminated. Rain dominates the soundtrack and distorts the characters' features; there are no fully legible surfaces here.
November 3, 2025 at 6:29 AM
This is the most beautiful sequence in La notte: the camera tracks alongside Roberto's car as it passes beneath street-lamps, alternately lost in darkness and half-illuminated. Rain dominates the soundtrack and distorts the characters' features; there are no fully legible surfaces here.
Monica Vitti in Red Desert: alone with her shadow and a blank wall, she looks at her surroundings with wry disappointment. Earlier, Giuliana pictured blue walls and a green ceiling, but now the swirling white void seems more apt. Though not literally red, it is one manifestation of the red desert.
October 30, 2025 at 5:39 AM
Monica Vitti in Red Desert: alone with her shadow and a blank wall, she looks at her surroundings with wry disappointment. Earlier, Giuliana pictured blue walls and a green ceiling, but now the swirling white void seems more apt. Though not literally red, it is one manifestation of the red desert.
The following year, Soraya repeated Giuliana's gesture in Il Provino, vandalising her own reflection.
Giuliana had complained that 'Everyone talks to me about me.’ Both women want to reject the representational reality they are inserted into, the decorous reflections they are expected to cast.
Giuliana had complained that 'Everyone talks to me about me.’ Both women want to reject the representational reality they are inserted into, the decorous reflections they are expected to cast.
October 29, 2025 at 6:25 AM
The following year, Soraya repeated Giuliana's gesture in Il Provino, vandalising her own reflection.
Giuliana had complained that 'Everyone talks to me about me.’ Both women want to reject the representational reality they are inserted into, the decorous reflections they are expected to cast.
Giuliana had complained that 'Everyone talks to me about me.’ Both women want to reject the representational reality they are inserted into, the decorous reflections they are expected to cast.
This publicity still for Red Desert hints at an alternate ending, in which Giuliana vandalises the walls of her shop and faces Ugo and Corrado with a mixture of shame and defiance. In black-and-white, the dark paint-streaks look like blood, as though Giuliana has committed an act of violence.
October 29, 2025 at 6:25 AM
This publicity still for Red Desert hints at an alternate ending, in which Giuliana vandalises the walls of her shop and faces Ugo and Corrado with a mixture of shame and defiance. In black-and-white, the dark paint-streaks look like blood, as though Giuliana has committed an act of violence.
Red Desert is full of memorable split-second images like this: Giuliana runs down a dark Ravenna street, past a red light that evokes a warning, an emergency, or an open, bloody wound. She turns in mid-flight, her half-visible face expressing her state of mind, although we cannot hear what she says.
October 24, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Red Desert is full of memorable split-second images like this: Giuliana runs down a dark Ravenna street, past a red light that evokes a warning, an emergency, or an open, bloody wound. She turns in mid-flight, her half-visible face expressing her state of mind, although we cannot hear what she says.
This image from Red Desert may have inspired Lucio Fontana to make his slashed red canvas. On the back, he wrote: ‘I returned from Venice yesterday, I saw Antonioni’s film!!!’
Behind the blood-red surface, infinite shadows. Giuliana inhabits that behind-the-canvas shadow-realm.
Behind the blood-red surface, infinite shadows. Giuliana inhabits that behind-the-canvas shadow-realm.
October 24, 2025 at 12:16 PM
This image from Red Desert may have inspired Lucio Fontana to make his slashed red canvas. On the back, he wrote: ‘I returned from Venice yesterday, I saw Antonioni’s film!!!’
Behind the blood-red surface, infinite shadows. Giuliana inhabits that behind-the-canvas shadow-realm.
Behind the blood-red surface, infinite shadows. Giuliana inhabits that behind-the-canvas shadow-realm.
‘What are you afraid of?’ ‘The factories, streets, colours, people, everything!’ Giuliana’s outburst, at this key moment in Red Desert, begins quietly and rises into a terrified scream. We are asked simply to look into her face as she says this, and to share her fear without understanding it.
October 24, 2025 at 4:46 AM
‘What are you afraid of?’ ‘The factories, streets, colours, people, everything!’ Giuliana’s outburst, at this key moment in Red Desert, begins quietly and rises into a terrified scream. We are asked simply to look into her face as she says this, and to share her fear without understanding it.
Walter McGinn as the recruiter in The Parallax View.
With his wearily sympathetic eyes, he tells you that he understands and doesn’t judge…but he also sees right through you.
If McGinn hadn’t died in a car crash three years later, we would know him as one of the great American character actors.
With his wearily sympathetic eyes, he tells you that he understands and doesn’t judge…but he also sees right through you.
If McGinn hadn’t died in a car crash three years later, we would know him as one of the great American character actors.
October 19, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Walter McGinn as the recruiter in The Parallax View.
With his wearily sympathetic eyes, he tells you that he understands and doesn’t judge…but he also sees right through you.
If McGinn hadn’t died in a car crash three years later, we would know him as one of the great American character actors.
With his wearily sympathetic eyes, he tells you that he understands and doesn’t judge…but he also sees right through you.
If McGinn hadn’t died in a car crash three years later, we would know him as one of the great American character actors.
‘My genius would appear to be my ability to do the wrong thing at the right time. Is there any final test of genius but success?’
Gillian Anderson, in The House of Mirth, makes us empathise with failure: we see Lily making all the wrong decisions, and we know we would have made them too.
Gillian Anderson, in The House of Mirth, makes us empathise with failure: we see Lily making all the wrong decisions, and we know we would have made them too.
October 14, 2025 at 6:14 AM
‘My genius would appear to be my ability to do the wrong thing at the right time. Is there any final test of genius but success?’
Gillian Anderson, in The House of Mirth, makes us empathise with failure: we see Lily making all the wrong decisions, and we know we would have made them too.
Gillian Anderson, in The House of Mirth, makes us empathise with failure: we see Lily making all the wrong decisions, and we know we would have made them too.
‘Did I ever tell you my favourite colour was blue?’
Look at Sam Neill's face, in this scene from In the Mouth of Madness, and tell me that colours aren't terrifying. They remind us that we are contingent fragments of reality, created against our will and doomed to be annihilated in the same way.
Look at Sam Neill's face, in this scene from In the Mouth of Madness, and tell me that colours aren't terrifying. They remind us that we are contingent fragments of reality, created against our will and doomed to be annihilated in the same way.
October 13, 2025 at 5:08 AM
‘Did I ever tell you my favourite colour was blue?’
Look at Sam Neill's face, in this scene from In the Mouth of Madness, and tell me that colours aren't terrifying. They remind us that we are contingent fragments of reality, created against our will and doomed to be annihilated in the same way.
Look at Sam Neill's face, in this scene from In the Mouth of Madness, and tell me that colours aren't terrifying. They remind us that we are contingent fragments of reality, created against our will and doomed to be annihilated in the same way.
Four creepy bedrooms: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Night of the Hunter, Red Desert, and The Parallax View.
The frames are theatrical, artificial; the characters trapped within a construct, a pathology, dogma, shadowy conspiracies, or (in the case of Red Desert) something more nebulous.
The frames are theatrical, artificial; the characters trapped within a construct, a pathology, dogma, shadowy conspiracies, or (in the case of Red Desert) something more nebulous.
October 12, 2025 at 5:42 AM
Four creepy bedrooms: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Night of the Hunter, Red Desert, and The Parallax View.
The frames are theatrical, artificial; the characters trapped within a construct, a pathology, dogma, shadowy conspiracies, or (in the case of Red Desert) something more nebulous.
The frames are theatrical, artificial; the characters trapped within a construct, a pathology, dogma, shadowy conspiracies, or (in the case of Red Desert) something more nebulous.
It's like the Weronika-POV we inhabited when she died on stage, and when she was lying in the grave - embodied by light and the camera, the film-maker's two most important tools, as though our relationship with a film (or a song, or art in general) is what gives us that sense of a 'double life'.
October 5, 2025 at 1:35 PM
It's like the Weronika-POV we inhabited when she died on stage, and when she was lying in the grave - embodied by light and the camera, the film-maker's two most important tools, as though our relationship with a film (or a song, or art in general) is what gives us that sense of a 'double life'.
In The Double Life of Véronique, when Alexandre shows off his creepy twin-puppets, Véronique realises he has been manipulating her for the sake of his art – which her instincts had already told her. She is trapped in an exploitative construct, until she ends both this relationship and this film.
October 5, 2025 at 1:02 PM
In The Double Life of Véronique, when Alexandre shows off his creepy twin-puppets, Véronique realises he has been manipulating her for the sake of his art – which her instincts had already told her. She is trapped in an exploitative construct, until she ends both this relationship and this film.
In this astonishing image from Satyajit Ray’s Devi, the individual and her surroundings are dissolved by sunlight. This trick-of-excessive-light symbolises the delusion that has been imposed on Doya; the film suggests that the clearer light of reason might have prevented this.
September 28, 2025 at 11:57 AM
In this astonishing image from Satyajit Ray’s Devi, the individual and her surroundings are dissolved by sunlight. This trick-of-excessive-light symbolises the delusion that has been imposed on Doya; the film suggests that the clearer light of reason might have prevented this.
‘That’s your mum and dad,’ says Janice’s boyfriend, looking out at the rows of identical suburban houses. ‘And that’s normal. But is it sane?’ Janice’s illness is caused by her environment, by the layers of meaning infused into every object, by all the forces contained in the phrase ‘family life’.
September 26, 2025 at 4:59 AM
‘That’s your mum and dad,’ says Janice’s boyfriend, looking out at the rows of identical suburban houses. ‘And that’s normal. But is it sane?’ Janice’s illness is caused by her environment, by the layers of meaning infused into every object, by all the forces contained in the phrase ‘family life’.
'Sometimes I think it's if I do cooperate that's how I'll be in here forever!' Janice (in Ken Loach's Family Life) is saying two things: she can cooperate by playing the 'madwoman' everyone needs her to be, or she can play their version of sanity and be stuck 'in here' in a different sense.
September 26, 2025 at 4:59 AM
'Sometimes I think it's if I do cooperate that's how I'll be in here forever!' Janice (in Ken Loach's Family Life) is saying two things: she can cooperate by playing the 'madwoman' everyone needs her to be, or she can play their version of sanity and be stuck 'in here' in a different sense.
‘I will never be cured – never, never…’ This is the bleakest moment in Red Desert, not just because of what Giuliana is saying, but also because it is a soliloquy: she has to isolate herself before saying it. Corrado may be within earshot, but he does not engage.
September 25, 2025 at 5:27 AM
‘I will never be cured – never, never…’ This is the bleakest moment in Red Desert, not just because of what Giuliana is saying, but also because it is a soliloquy: she has to isolate herself before saying it. Corrado may be within earshot, but he does not engage.
A memorable Red Desert location, as photographed more recently by Adriano Zanni @boredmachine.bsky.social We see the industrial orbs from a lower and more human angle: we see the poles anchoring them to the earth and the bases of the ladders we could climb if we wanted to ascend these structures.
September 24, 2025 at 5:05 AM
A memorable Red Desert location, as photographed more recently by Adriano Zanni @boredmachine.bsky.social We see the industrial orbs from a lower and more human angle: we see the poles anchoring them to the earth and the bases of the ladders we could climb if we wanted to ascend these structures.