The picture

"The photographer in Blow Up, who is not a philosopher, wants to see things closer up. But it so happens that, by enlarging too far, the object itself decomposes and disappears. Hence there's a moment in which we grasp reality, but then the moment passes. This was in part of the meaning of Blow Up." - Michelangelo Antonioni.


At the core of Blow-Up (Michelangelo Antonioni - 1966), there is this picture of a couple taken by a fashion photographer in a park.

Successively blowing it up, we find out that there's something going on which was invisible at first sight: a crime was perpetrated before our very eyes. Evidence is the shape of a body lying behind a tree, which we can see with the photographer when blowing up the picture even more...
Well at least it looks like the shape of a body. Because we zoomed in the picture so much it now looks like a collection of dots, blurring our vision.

In fact it's not a photograph any more, it's become an abstract painting and, as such, subject to multiple interpretations.
The same question over and over again: can you trust your eyes?

More on Blow-Up here. And an interesting in-depth analysis there.
Plus some more reflections from this blog about the eye-witness subject here.

The prey

That scene.
That famous scene from Antonioni's "Blow-Up". Even if you haven't seen the film, you know about it: Thomas (David Hemmings), a fashion photographer, has a shooting session with Verushka, one of the 60's most famous models.

Watch it again. Listen to Herbie Hancock's laidback jazz. It sounds really cool. It looks very glamourous. Yes it almost feels like Thomas is making love to Verushka as they dance a sensual ballet together while he's taking pictures of her.

But look closer: isn't Verushka surrendering? Isn't Thomas taking over her in a very eager way? Hasn't she become his prey?
In this scene, Thomas shows his true colors. He is a predator. He is annihilating Verushka as he's forcing her onto the floor and stealing her very image.

It is not a love scene, it is a highly aesthetical crime scene.


More on Blow-Up, one of Giallo's greatest sources of influence, here.
If you have not seen this chef-d'oeuvre, then rush there. And find the soundtrack here.

The camera is the weapon.

Forget one minute about the classic Giallo formula: black gloves, shining blades and blood-dripping.
Keep in mind the giallo's underlying themes: the eye-witness, violent seduction relationships between men and women, the pre-eminence of an aesthetical point of view...

When you look at it through this angle, then Blow-Up (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1966) can be considered a giallo masterpiece. One which would have been completely re-shaped by Antonioni's minimalist eye, but featuring the very same ingredients.

Not to mention Herbie Hancock's score, which is an American musical view on Swingin' London, filmed by an Italian - Distanciation also is part of the Giallo.

In 1966, Antonioni probably laid out in Blow Up the key ideas that would become the genetic code of Giallo in the late 60s and early 70s.