Michelangelo Antonioni's Masterpiece Blow Up Through the Eyes of Eisenstein, Bazin and Mulvey

I will be examining the 1966 film Blow Up, which was directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. I will discuss the film through the theoretical framework developed by the following film theorists: Eisenstein and Pudovkin, Bazin and Kracauer, Laura Mulvey and finally Nick Browne. This film was enjoyable to watch as it encompasses many styles and techniques of filmmaking.

To begin with I will start with the Russian film scholars. Throughout most of the story Antonioni uses invisible “Hollywood” style editing to carry the narrative forward. There is a sequence where the audience is focused on the photographs taken by the protagonist. After he assembles them, the narrative changes course. The audience understands that his apparently harmless photographs captured a murder. The Russian film scholars, particularly Pudovkin, would enjoy how the sequence operates. 

The series of shots are straight forward, they are cut together to reveal how the women was looking into the edge of the forest looking for the killer, a close-up of a man holding a gun, then shots of the dead body. This is a basic montage that creates meaning through the relationships perceived between the images. The pictures hanging up were blow-ups of the original prints. In the original prints, these small details would go over looked. 

Pudovkin would applaud the strict control of the ideal observer created by Antonioni. During this sequence, the audience has no where else to look. They are forced to engage the montage for two reasons: One, the director demands it of them and two, if they do not, the narrative’s continuation could be compromised.