Customer Reviews

The Vanquished (I Vinti) ( Les Vaincus ) [NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Italy]

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I VINTI might be the least imposing of the feature films made by the great Michelangelo Antonioni; actually, it's a compendium of three separate short films, each one set in different countries. All of the episodes involve what used to be called "juvenile delinquents", young people who are aimless and become involved in crime. There's an episode set in Italy, which seems rather desultory; there's an episode set in France, which leaves a nasty aftertaste; there's an episode set in England, which is simply bizarre. Yet it's instructive to see Antonioni, at a very early stage of his career, trying to work in different countries (which he would do, much more successfully, later in his career). The big plus of this edition is that the episodes are all presented in their original languages: this was a French-Italian-English co-production, and each of the episodes was done in the "native" language (though the screenplay was co-written by Antonioni, and sometimes, in French and English, the dialogue sounds mistranslated, with odd attempts at slang). There's also a cramped feeling to the film, as if Antonioni were afraid to venture out, but there are also occasional visual moments of lovely felicity. All in all: a fine DVD package of a curiosity by one of the masters of Italian cinema.

Challenging the linear narrative by weaving multiple story lines and exploring a directorial style way ahead of his time, Director Michelangelo Antonioni's unique triptych film, features three murders, one taking place in Paris, another in Rome, and another in London. All of the perpetrators are affluent youths, each killing for dubious motives. In the France segment, a group of adolescents kill for money, even though they don't need it; in the London segment, a poet uncovers a woman's body and tries to profit from the discovery; and in the Italian segment, a student becomes caught up in a smuggling ring, with deadly results. With elements that serve as a precursor to Blowup, Antonioni explores how modern society can produce nihilistic tendencies in the least likely characters.

Another reviewer:

"Michelangelo Antonioni's daring second feature, a contemporary existentialist document that could almost have been co-scripted by Albert Camus."

The Chicago Reader by Jonathan Rosenbaum