In 1983 the world-renowned filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni suffered a physically debilitating stroke that left him severely aphasic. While mentally alert, he had, but for roughly a dozen words in Italian, lost the ability to speak and to write. He was able to draw -- but only with his left hand. None of this, however, could extinguish his creative drive and he was determined to continue working. Eventually he managed to convince financiers that he was still capable of making a film as long as there was another director on the set to interpret his drawings and nods of the head. Thus in the spring of 1994, with the internationally acclaimed German filmmaker Wim Wenders signed on as co-director to calm concerned insurers, he began filming Beyond the Clouds.
My Time with Antonioni is Wenders's diary of filming with "the maestro". With insight and respect, he recounts the experiences -- both good and bad -- of striving to bring to fruition Antonioni's cinematic vision.
