While I wouldn’t class myself as much of a fan of Michelangelo Antonioni, I have enjoyed all of his films that I have seen. However, until today that consists solely of his English language contributions Blow-Up, Zabriskie Point and The Passenger. Identification of a Woman sees the director return to his native Italy for the story of Niccolo (Tomas Milian), a film director who has recently been deserted by his wife. This spurs him on to embark on an odyssey of sexual exploration, supposedly in search of a female lead for his new film, which examines women and their relationship, but amounts to little more than an attempt to work through his own insecurities. While the pace is slow and deliberate, and the narrative fleeting at best, the film did hold my attention and nterest far better than I anticipated.
The film is surprisingly explicit, with plenty of flesh on display, as Niccolo becomes involved first with the mysterious upper class Mavi (Daniela Silverio), whom he meets through his sister’s gynacology practice of all places, and later Ida (Christine Boisson), a young actress. AS a sci-fi nut, I was suckered in by the film’s ending, in which an unsuccessful Niccolo discards his pasion project and embraces an idea originally proposed by his young nephew, that he should make a science fiction movie. The film ends with a shot of an asteroid spacecraft hurtling towards the sun – seemingly completely at odds with the rest of the film – but nevertheless a vivid image that lingers in the mind, long after the film’s numerous pastel interiors and bare bodies have faded from memory.
