Red Desert
1964 · Movie · NR · 117 min · ★ 7.3 · 92% critics
Set in an industrializing Italian town, a married woman becomes mentally unsettled after a traffic accident and struggles to adjust to her daily life. As her sense of reality fractures, she drifts into an affair with a friend of her husband, drawn to escape even as her world feels harsher and more alien.
Also known as The Red Desert
Where to watch
Streaming on HBO Max, Kanopy and The Criterion Channel.
2 hours to watch.
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Details
- Original title
- Il deserto rosso
- Years
- 1964
- Release date
- 1964-09-04
- Language
- Italian
- Rated
- NR
- Runtime
- 117 min
- Critic score
- 92/100
- TMDB rating
- 7.3/10 (507 votes)
About
You’ll likely enjoy Red Desert if you like artful, unsettling dramas about alienation and feeling trapped in a bleak modern world, but Not for you if you want a fast, satisfying story—try L'Eclisse or The Passenger instead.
Pros: moving color-filled industrial look; haunting atmosphere; standout lead performance | Cons: very slow pacing; thin narrative; emotionally demanding viewing
Themes
- adultery
- depression
- factory
- husband wife relationship
- italy
- fog
- loneliness
- mother son relationship
Awards & recognition
- Golden Lion · 1964
Cast & crew
Monica Vitti
as Giuliana
Richard Harris
as Corrado Zeller
- CC
Carlo Chionetti
as Ugo
Xenia Valderi
as Linda
Rita Renoir
as Emilia
- LR
Lili Rheims
as Telescope Operator's Wife
- AG
Aldo Grotti
as Max
- VB
Valerio Bartoleschi
as Valerio
- EC
Emanuela Pala Carboni
as Girl in Fable
- GM
Giuliano Missirini
as Radio Telescope Operator
Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni