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The classless photographer indulges in his fashion shoot. |
It wasn’t until Michelangelo Antonioni
ventured to the UK and made his first English language film that he
becomes a truly international filmmaker. Blow-Up (1966) was the Italian
directors biggest commercial success. It was based on a short story Las Babas del Diablo by the Argentinian
writer Julio Cortazar. Shot mainly in South London it tells the story of glamorous
fashion photography, inspired by classless snapper David Bailey who divides his
time between serious shoots and sessions with fashion models. The film opens
with Thomas (David Hemmings) dressed as a transient leaving a Salvation Army
Hostel, a place that would then have been referred to as a doss house,
with reels of 35mm stock showing the men and the conditions they lived in, all
of which are to be used in a forthcoming book. Leaving the area in a
convertible Rolls Royce he goes back to his studio to photograph the German
model Veruschka and a fashion shoot for a magazine. Later whilst waiting for
the owner of an antique shop to return so he can make an offer for the property
he enters Maryon Park and starts taking photos for a future project. He
see's a young women (Vanessa Redgrave) and an older man petting and intrusively
starts taking pictures. The woman is furious and tries to get hold of his
camera, eventually tracking him down to his studio. Thomas can't understand why
the woman wants the negatives so much until he develops and enlarges the
prints.
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The films release was blocked because of some explicate images. |
If the film does nothing else it shows
what the mid 1960s were perceived to be like underlining the hyped up feel so
beloved of the media at the time. But in fact there was a significant
discrepancy between most people's experiences and the colourful dream that was
the swinging sixties. Most of us were earning our living in a far less
romanticized fashion than the well-heeled individuals portrayed in the movie. It
did however show the beginnings of the celebrity culture, note the two young
girls (Jane Birkin and Gillian Hills) notoriously going to any length to get a
famous photographer to take their pictures with perhaps the hope that some of
his fame will rub off on them. Certainly, for a main stream British film at
that time, the nudity was quite explicit, including Redgrave removing her
blouse and wondering around the studio with only her crossed arms protecting
her modesty, the films initial release being blocked because of it. It
also shows the acceptance of the drug culture, the casual sex, and the fashion
consciousness of the time and of course music concerts, all of which was available
to those that could afford to indulge in the life style. Incidentally the film
has a great soundtrack from Herbie Hancock and also includes the track performed
by The Yardbirds with a classic lineup that included both Jimmy Page and Jeff
Beck.
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The Swinging Sixties wasn't like this for us all!! |
Antonioni's film was said to influence
Coppola's 1974 movie The
Conversation and after seeing both film’s recently I would beg to differ.
Coppola set out to make a thriller where as Blow-Up
was neither suspenseful nor a thriller. It was really a portrait of what was to
become known as a swinging London movie but like many of them had the addition
of some disturbing undertones involving the mystery of what our aggressive
young photographer saw or did not see in a dog less South London park.
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The mystery of Maryon Park, South London. |
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