A parable about the possible dehumanizing effects of photography...(fin)
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Thomas resembles Odysseus in the way he is continually thwarted by chance encounters, which cause him to lose sight of his mission. Indeed, the film's meandering, episodic plot does seem to have elements of classical epic: the rock concert and the marijuana party afterward all suggest a ritual journey through a modern 'Land of the Lotus-Eaters.' Ironically, it is just when he discovers a sense of emotional commitment and social obligation in his life that his self-justifying cynicism and arrogant indifference toward others is replaced by a growing sense of impotence and defeat. In the final scene, speech is phased out of the film entirely, leaving only a silent form of physical communication unmediated by language and social pretensions.
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BLOW-UP was the Antonioni's greatest commercial and critical triumph and the film's narrative;an odyssey through a modern city,following the protagonist from feigned poverty to the false security of wealth and ending on a note of final lingering doubt about one's place and purpose in the world;seems itself a trenchant comment on the nature of success and what it does to people.By transposing to 'Swinging London' the Marxist concerns of his Italian films, Antonioni demonstrates once again that this malaise of modern life is not caused by technology and consumer culture but rather by man's failure to adapt to the conditions of the new environment he has created for himself
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Récompenses
1967 : Palme d'or au Festival de Cannes
1967 : NSFC Award du meilleur réalisateur
1968 : Ruban d'argent (Syndicat national des Journalistes cinématographiques italiens) du meilleur réalisateur de film étranger
1968 : Prix de la critique (Syndicat français de la critique de cinéma) du meilleur film étrange
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Vidéographie
Blow-Up, Warner Home Video, 2004, (EAN 7-321950-651351), L'édition contient en supplément un commentaire audio de Peter Brunette et l'option piste audio musicale seule.
Bibliographie
(en) Monthly Film Bulletin, no 401.
(en) Sight and Sound, automne 1966 (photo de couverture) ; printemps 1967 (article p. 60 + notule p. 106).
Cahiers du cinéma, no 191 (juin 1967) ; no 193 (septembre 1967).
Positif, no 84 (mai 1967) ; no 87 (septembre 1967).
Thierry Roche, Blow-Up, un regard anthropologique : affleurer la surface du monde, 2010, 172 p. (ISBN 978-2-87340-260-0).
