Blow-Up
Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni • 1966 • United Kingdom
Starring Vanessa Redgrave, David Hemmings, Sarah Miles
In 1966, Michelangelo Antonioni transplanted his existentialist ennui to the streets of swinging London for this international sensation, the Italian filmmaker’s first English-language feature. A countercultural masterpiece about the act of seeing and the art of image making, BLOW-UP takes the form of a psychological mystery, starring David Hemmings as a fashion photographer who unknowingly captures a death on film after following two lovers in a park. Antonioni’s meticulous aesthetic control and intoxicating color palette breathe life into every frame, and the jazzy sounds of Herbie Hancock, a beautifully evasive performance by Vanessa Redgrave, and a cameo by the Yardbirds make the film a transporting time capsule from a bygone era. BLOW-UP is a seductive immersion into creative passion, and a brilliant film by one of cinema’s greatest artists.
Extras
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Blow Up of "Blow Up"
Directed by Valentina Agostinis • 2016 •
This 2016 documentary, directed by Valentina Agostinis on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of BLOW-UP, features the film's dialogue assistant, Piers Haggard, model Jill Kennington, former Yardbirds manager Simon Napier-Bell, photographer David Mo...
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Michelangelo Antonioni on BLOW-UP
In 1967, director Michelangelo Antonioni received the Palme d'Or for BLOW-UP. This brief excerpt from MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI: THE EYE THAT CHANGED CINEMA (2001) includes footage from the award ceremony, along with the director discussing his approach to shooting in London and plans for an upcomin...
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David Hemmings on BLOW-UP, 1968
Featured is an excerpt from an interview with David Hemmings, who plays Thomas in BLOW-UP. The interview, from 1968, was conducted while the actor was on the set of ONLY WHEN I LARF, a film directed by Basil Dearden.
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David Hemmings on "City Lights"
Featured here is an excerpt from a conversation between David Hemmings and host Brian Linehan that took place on the program City Lights on April 26, 1977.
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Vanessa Redgrave on BLOW-UP
In celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of BLOW-UP, photoraphy historian Philippe Garner sat down with actor Vanessa Redgrave, who in the film portrays Jane, a woman photographed against her wishes while on an outing in London's Maryon Park. The two discuss director Michelangelo Antonioni's ap...
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Jane Birkin on BLOW-UP
In this excerpt from an interview with Jane Birkin from 1989, the actor recalls her audition for Michelangelo Antonioni's BLOW-UP, the director's approach to filming, and the work of her costars David Hemmings and Vanessa Redgrave.
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Antonioni's Hypnotic Vision: Modernism
This piece features David Alan Mellor, curator and art historian at the University of Sussex. Mellor explores director Michelangelo Antonioni's engagement with modernism in BLOW-UP.
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Antonioni's Hypnotic Vision: Photography
This piece features historian Philippe Garner and Walter Moser, head of the photographic collection at the Albertina museum in Vienna. Garner and Moser discuss his complex investigation of photography.
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BLOW-UP Teaser
