Michelangelo Antonioni-Cronaca di un amore (1950)

Groundlessly jealous of his wife’s romantic past, Enrico Fontana hires a private detective to finally determine whether she is faithful or not. 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. Paola and Guido’s past was clouded in tragedy. Guido had been involved with Paola’s close female friend’s death. Their passion rekindled once again, the lovers even get to the point where they are thinking about murdering Enrico… . (-DVD Product Info.)




Paola is a young, beautiful woman married to a wealthy entrepreneur. She meets her former lover Guido after seven years, but their relationship is marked by tragic events. (http://imdb.com/title/tt0042355/plotsummary)




Carloni, a middle-aged detective gets a new mission from his boss: to find out as much as he can about the past of a beautiful young woman called Paola. The orderer is her husband, a wealthy upper-class managing director who has been married to Paola for only a year. The director gets jealous after finding a couple of old photographs of his wife and he wants to find out if she still meets one of her old fiancés. (http://imdb.com/title/tt0042355/plotsummary)




After making highly regarded documentaries, STORY OF A LOVE AFFAIR was Michelangelo Antonioni's first feature length dramatic film. It also signalled a significant change in the direction of post-war neo-realism. Antonioni, the future director of L’AVVENTURA, L’ ECLISSE, BLOW-UP and ZABRISKIE POINT had already begun set down the fundamentals of his future films, exploring the uneasy emotions that lie between the gazes of his characters. (-DVD Product Info.)




Winner of the Italian Film Journalist’s Silver Ribbon for Best Music and a Special Award to Michelangelo Antonioni, this masterpiece still exudes extraordinary and intensely innovative power. (-DVD Product Info.)




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. 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. 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. 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. (–Rob Bracco , Editorial Reviews - Amazon.com)




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 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. (–Rob Bracco , Editorial Reviews - Amazon.com)