What do you think happened to Anna? - L'avventura (1961) Discussion

Antonioni told me that she got eaten by a shark.

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That was a lie there was no shark.

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The possibilty that she was eaten by a shark is open since we see one swimming in the water. I never liked the theory that she simply returned to the mainland without telling the others; it nullifies the mystery. I enjoy not knowing.

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[–] Forever_Young_at_72 16 years ago

I like the shark theory. She was the little girl who cried "shark!" and scared her friends. It makes perverse sense that she would be undone by a shark.

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[–] willywilly 11 years ago

We actually don't see a shark. It's a dolphin.

Interpret that how you like.

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[–] tseybert 10 years ago

She was eaten by a dolphin?

Janet! Donkeys!

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[–] Malickfan86 18 years ago

One of my ideas is that she never really existed.

Then why were there about fifty people on the island looking for her? Why were they on the island for so long, doing nothing but searching? There were others in addition to Claudia and Sandro there. Maybe its all a dream. But in that case, the film would lose all meaning. I don't think the idea is likely.

"We played with life and lost." - Jules et Jim, François Truffaut.

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[–] Devil_In_A_New_Dress 18 years ago

We don't know that they really existed either. Claudia might have just been imagining all of them. I know it doesn't make perfect logical sense, but it's a movie. I don't think it's exactly what happens in the movie, but through the point-of-view of Claudia. She lived a lifestyle based on money and instant gratification, but when confronted by something real like her "friend" disapearring, she at first tries to find her, then stops, failing to fully comprehend reality and just keep thinking about herself, but at the end she realizes her mistakes and reflects and leaves us with an optimistic idea of her future.

I haven't wacthed it in a while, so I will this weekend.

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[–] rock_bustin 18 years ago

Shortly after her last appearance a small boat can just barely be seen
leaving the island. The commentary on the Criterion DVD sugegsted that
could be her just up and leaving with whatever was at hand. I suppose
that meant she stole the skiff of the odd-"autralian" fisherman that
Sandro and Claudia meet. It's very brief, but is visible and at great
distance so the lone passenger cannot be made-out.

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[–] Malickfan86 18 years ago

That's too far-fetched. Let me know what you think after you watch it again.

To say, "It never really happened," or "It was all a dream," we could apply to any film. There are few cases when such claims are actually justified, and in the case of this film, I'll have to say it is not.

"We played with life and lost." - Jules et Jim, François Truffaut.

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[–] mountainguy 18 years ago

I remember reading, at the time of the initial release, that Lea Massari was to be the lead in this film but that she dropped out mid-production. (I see elsewhere that she had a heart attack). Antonioni supposedly used this event to change the "plot" of his film. Who knows what the plot would have been otherwise?

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] Steve-on-LI 16 years ago

let's face it, sandro wasnt exactly turning her on. god, that bored unresponsive look on her face when he is kissing her, jeez. like she is in pain. scary. like you are frowning during sex.

there is a country song called 'am i that easy to forget?' anna was at least halfway out the door on this guy and i guess that made it easier for sandro to move along to claudia. for sandro, the cold anna WAS easy to forget.

and while claudia later feels she is betraying her friend, she also knew her friend wasnt exactly thrilled w sandro, right?

i vaguely assumed anna killed herself and somehow her body was never found

they do send you on a few unfulfilled leads as the movie goes on

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[–] Mohsen-Qassemi 13 years ago

I think Anna never went for sweeming again because she would at least ask Claudia. So the hypothesis that she might be expired by a shark is nullified.

I am suspecting the oldman owning the shack. We hear the sound of a motor boat twice and we never see it. I guess she got away with the help of the oldman
. She finds out that Sandro doesn't actually love her. And I think a dark picture of MAN is presented here. Only 3 days after Anna's disappearance Claudio and Sandro are making love. They declare love!! What a love! IT's all matter of sex.
M.Q

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[–] Malickfan86 18 years ago

She looks way too healthy (hot) to have had a heart attack. I wouldn't believe it.

"We played with life and lost." - Jules et Jim, François Truffaut.

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[–] EmilioCacao 13 years ago

A love triangle between Anna, Claudia and Sandro. Anna could have been the girl he was kissing in the sofa towards the end.

Nice movie, I had a great time watching it.

Javier H. Moreno
www.cacaorock.com

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[–] Jes' Sayin' (5943) a year ago

No, the woman at the end was a prostitute.

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[–] a02949285 18 years ago

So does anyone know? I've seen it a second time and am even more curious as to her disappearence tne second time.

O
http://blog.ateava.com/

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[–] ovtchdv 17 years ago

The way I saw it is...she was fed up with sandro, she wanted to be left alone. She was bored (hence the shark prank she pulled so she could get some excitement going). So she just up and left. She seems like a character that does what she wants when she wants to, and leaving everyone behind because she was bored seems likely to me.

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[–] chatooga 17 years ago

I believe you can see her body in the rocks on the island. watch it again-33 min. into the movie. Claudia is in the right side of the screen on a rock outcropping yelling for Anna and the camera slowing pans to the lower left. I can see what looks like Anna's body is in the rocks on the lower left, down in a shadowy alcove. why the police didn't find it I have no idea. perhaps the next tide swept it out. Are my eyes playing tricks on me?

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[–] elocin73-1 17 years ago

I just watched it this afternoon and did not see that...but the long shots of those deep cracks and coves made me believe that she jumped or fell to her death (Goodbye cruel world!)until they kept the boat sounds going. I don't believe she was ever in that little town though...
the more I think of it the more I agree that she simply took off because she felt suffocated by her "boring" life and the trap of marrying Sandro. There was nothing he could give that would ever have been enough for her.

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[–] dirringblob 17 years ago

When they are at the bar, in the end, you can see somebody that really looks like Anna.

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[–] nickrogers1969 17 years ago

the relationship between Anna and Sandro was bad already at the beginning of the film. They had been separated for a month. Sandro was the one who wanted to get together again. Anna keeps wanting to break it off.

I think she left the island somehow because she´d had enough and couldn´t face the group of friends with her. She seemed depressed. She got a ride with another boat. Maybe with some man and ran away with him.

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[–] hsemhsem 17 years ago

The thought that occurred to me was something sinister like if you don't really care about anything (as a result of being too wealthy or whatever) then this either puts you in danger of or is even the same as literally disappearing.

Another complex idea is that maybe (Lynch-style) Claudia and Anna are the same person, and that the film starts where it ends, and that this point is near the end of the relationship.

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[–] Goofy_Elfman 16 years ago

The mystery surrounding it is what makes Anna a great character. Her escape from the world, or at least from what we know, makes me think she achieved something that a lot of us cannot seem to. Either way, she's the one who succeeds in this film.

"I don't like so much freedom down there. It makes me tingle in my giblets."

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[–] dreamonforever1 16 years ago

does it matter "what happened to anna." that's a rhetorical question, b.t.w.

this film is partly about the characters' spiritual destitution. the later in the film it gets, the more anna's disappearance becomes an afterthought.
so, does it matter...
anna may or may not be the most destitute of them all (if she does, in fact, exist); but - to me - by the conclusion, she certainly represents their collective vacuity.

what makes "l'avventura" a quality film, for me, is how well antonioni (and his cinematographer) are able to show these barren people, in a landscape filled with so much artistic and natural riches.

gregory 031108

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] genedorneylaw 16 years ago

That was a dolphin, not a shark that you see from the boat early on.
The boat leaving in the distance after our last shot of Anna is a real boat. You can hear it's motor and one of the characters, Guilia I think, comments on it.

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[–] fightyourradio 15 years ago

am I the only one who doesnt seem to care? she was quite an annoying character :p

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[–] A_Fistful_of_Pennies 15 years ago

She was bored and simply left, she "got lost" on purpose. She wanted to escape the fate that eventually befalls Claudia. I think it is up to your interpretation, and that is mine.

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[–] Emunah 15 years ago

No offense to anybody here, but if Antonioni were still alive and reading this thread, he'd probably have a stroke.

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[–] Evil_Bob 15 years ago

How come nobody is paying attention to something that has been pointed out at least twice on this thread: You can see a boat leaving the island in the shot immediately following the last shot that Anna is in. It fades from her to a shot of a cliff from which a small motor boat appears from. You can hear its engine too.
We then cut to one of he other characters waking from a nap indicating that some time has passed between the last time we see Anna and that moment. Plenty of time for her to find the boat and take it or find whoever owns the boat and convince them to take her off the island.

Also she wasn't lying about the shark. You can see it in one of the earlier shots of the boat.

I wish my hair was Emo so that it would cut itself

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[–] TinaKimo 8 years ago

She was bored and simply left, she "got lost" on purpose. She wanted to escape the fate that eventually befalls Claudia. I think it is up to your interpretation, and that is mine.

This is how I saw it. Anna knew Sandro wasn't shyte. She knew he would break her heart (or already) and wanted out. We see how he quickly latched onto Claudia and then ended up in the arms of a hooker @ the end of the film. I enjoyed the shame on his face when Claudia found him. He obviously had more problems than anyone in the film, hence his crying @ the end.

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[–] Mr-You 15 years ago

I don't buy into the escape idea. Maybe it's because my favorite mysteries are those based on something utterly mundane. Thus, my favorite solution would be that she simply fell between some of the island's cracks and died.

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[–] yipman_sifu 14 years ago

Anna's disappearance was a metaphoric physical phase which epitomized the weakness and the insecurity within human characterization. Antonioni presented it as Claudia and Sandro going through the "adventure" search for Anna. What happened to her is not important as long as our two pratagonists have their own problems to be involved with, perhaps a more sophisticated adventure than finding their missing friend.

"I told you to keep away from that radio. If that battery is dead it'll have company." Cody Jarrett

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[–] Jes' Sayin' (5943) a year ago

In Italian L'avventura means "romantic adventure" or "fling".

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[–] L0GAN5 12 years ago

The most likely explanation is that the grubby looking fisherman who turns up at the shack halfway through the night grabbed her, raped her, and dumped her body down a crevice. Considering he turned up out of nowhere and was the obvious suspect in the event she was murdered, I can't believe they didn't haul his ass in for questioning.

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[–] coolbrett 11 years ago

I think the answer is so obvious. Remember the shot of the caves on the island with the violent ocean crashing between it? Well I think it was on purpose, to show how easily someone could fall over into it and knock their head and be swept out to sea. If it was a tourist attraction there would be all sorts of safety precautions to prevent it from happening because it really looks dangerous. So yeah I think she tripped and hit her head, and then drowned. Once that happened with no witnesses, that's it. Disappeared without a trace.

No expectations, no disappointments.

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