"I also cannot understand how can people interpret the last scene as a reconciliation. It felt so clear to me she didn't love him anymore, although I think she wished she could because it would have been easier."
I am not sure here how if Lidia loved Giovanni "it" would have been easier. What is the "it"?
As for the first scene I may have missed that someone sees the last scene as evidence of a reconciliation, meaning Lidia and Giovanni are being shown to reconcile in that scene. I agree that is NOT in the film.
But... I do think the ending is open ended at least in the sense that it is not clear the marriage is over. Why do I say that? I recognize there is a good deal of evidence that Lidia's love for him and feeling of belonging in her marriage is if not quite gone it is very near to that. What then might be a reason for saying this does not mean they are not quite finished, and may reconcile?
Let's remember that the whole film takes place over a less than 24 hour period, and that in this context what we see of their relationship has been "brewing" for quite some time, most probably. By that I mean Lidia did not wake up that day and only then begin wondering about their marriage, about her husband. She alludes for example in her response to his news of the wild woman in the hospital's encounter with him as if she knows he's had encounters with other women before. Later her ruminating on Tomaso's death, which in turn leads her to (again?) consider whether she was wrong to go with Giovanni earlier in life rather than Tomaso I don't think we are to understand as something that only occurred to her on hearing the news of his death.
The point being that despite her unhappiness, she is still with him on this day. Putting aside the "why" for the moment, what is it about this day that means it, finally, is the end?
To be clear I am not saying this out of an optimistic frame of reference. Antonioni's thematic construct of the world in which they live, as he explicitly has said, is one that undermines Eros and "true" relations between people including the romantic, here meaning the sociopolitical context of the modern world for lack of a more descriptive term. But I've never felt this leads him, or us, necessarily to what amounts to nihilism.
In short the fact (as Antonioni asserts is factual) that existential alienation and the anomie of social, economic relations tears at us, has not yet prevented Lidia and Giovanni from at least being with each other.
There are also the following considerations.
Giovanni. Is he an idiot, unaware of Lidia's situation? No. Does he want to get rid of her? No. Does he love her? I think the answer to that is yes, but how strong it is, how strong to overcome other if you will dynamics in his own life (including such things as his attraction to Valentina)is problematic. But as the film ends, has he at least gained any insight? I think there is at least the possibility.
Giovanni is certainly I think capable of seeing what we see about his life and about Lidia's situation. That does not mean he can take that awareness and immediately use it as a basis for a profound and beneficial change to his own life. And here I am reminded of Marcello's character in La Dolce Vita, who I think at film's end realizes precisely what his "problem" is even if at that moment he can't use that realization to change.
But maybe he can.
The Larger Context. Returning to the overall theme here of alienation, it is to be sure a problem, but does Antonioni believe so much of a problem that NO authentic relation between people can exist? I don't think he ever intends to take it so far, into in effect what would be a nihilism.
So in the end I think it is possible they continue, still wounded and still within the social context, but I think also some greater awareness of what they are up against and perhaps this in turn gives them a basis for going forward.
reply
share
gsc1828
8 years ago
Interesting post!
By "it" I meant life. I think that the fact that their love had faded meant that she would have to pursue other "projects" to find happiness. From what I gathered he had been her life (he had been enough to fulfill it), but he wasn't anymore.
I think that the last scene shows how degrading love can become when you try to hold on to it but it's no longer there. But this opinion is colored by my experiences, of course, and I don't know if it was the intention of the director.
I also think it's interesting that at some point even the most elated experiences and feelings of our lives (like the ones described in his letter) can become foreign to us, as if it had happened to another person.
reply
share
kenny-164
8 years ago
gsc,
Good insight into Lidia's view of her life, and yes her life would be easier following the film's end, going forward, IF she still loved her husband, or perhaps to be precise loved him enough to be able to find meaning in their marriage. As you imply the film up until the end has one scene after another where Lidia, of course with good reason, seems to understand what happens and what doesn't happen as proof, as verification, that it is becoming increasingly difficult to continue finding meaning. The relationship of that search for meaning is of course directly tied into love and the increasing lack of it.
As for your degrading point, I feel compelled to add that love can be degrading even if it IS still there. But yes, attempting to hold onto someone with whom love is departing can be devastating in its degrading way.
It is certainly possible despite whatever I said on the subject in my previous post to see Lidia after the film ends taking the view that she has reached the point where remaining in her marriage is just too degrading, even if Giovanni wished to have her stay. The film can be viewed as almost a legal case where evidence is introduced over the course of the nearly 24 hour period that argues that Lidia SHOULD reach that conclusion, or perhaps the more balanced view that she should at least consider whether such conclusion is the best one for her.
I still don't think, however, that as the film ends we have an indication that Lidia in fact has reached that conclusion, and I also still think it important to acknowledge that Lidia has not left Giovanni before the film, is with him and that such facts are significant (as well as what I said about Giovanni's character in my previous post).
reply
share