Story of a Love Affair

After making highly regarded documentaries, Story of a Love Affair was Michelangelo Antonioni's first feature length dramatic film. Ironically, his suspicious attitude unconsciously brings his wife Paola (Lucia Bosé) together with Guido (Massimo Girotti), a man with whom she had once been in love. Guido had been involved with Paola s close female friend s death. It also signalled a significant change in the direction of post-war neo-realism. Groundlessly jealous of his wife s romantic past, Enrico Fontana hires a private detective to finally determine whether she is faithful or not. Paola and Guido s past was clouded in tragedy. Their passion rekindled once again, the lovers even get to the point where they are thinking about murdering Enrico... Antonioni, the future director of L'Avvetura, L'Eclisse, and Blow Up had already begun to set down the fundamentals of his future films, exploring the uneasy emotions that lie between the gazes of his characters.

Like his contemporaries' earlier works, Story of a Love Affair is a must for cinephiles who love to see all those "Antonioni-style" trademarks in their infancy. Of particular note is the typical Antonioni shot, in which where the two main characters have a full conversation with their backs to the camera. Though originally separated due to the death of their close friend, seeing each other sparks up some buried passion that ironically will put Enrico and Paola's marriage to the test. Though Story of a Love Affair does not pack the historical punch of L'Avventura or Blow Up, it is definitely more approachable for the general public and an excellent neo-realistic film in its own right. Instead of confronting her directly, he hires a private detective (Gino Rossi) to investigate her past. While checking up on the mysterious death of Paola's friend, the private dick indirectly puts one of Paola's old lovers (Massimo Girotti) back in contact with his client's wife. Before becoming the poster child for the extreme arty, slow paced foreign films of the '60s, Michealanglo Antonioni actually developed his craft on very straightforward, neo-realistic films. --Rob Bracco Story of a Love Affair (1950) was Antonioni's first feature-length dramatic film, and much to his critics' chagrin, it is extremely linear, it has limited drawn out, "real time" shots, and his actors actually project more emotion than the typical "Antonioni apathy." Enrico (Ferdinando Sarmi) is an extremely wealthy and jealous husband who suspects his young, beautiful bride, Paola (Lucia Bosé), is unfaithful.