Vinti, I

I Vinti is an early Antonioni film made up of three separate stories set variously in France, Italy and England and addressing the decadence of self-centred post-war European youth (originally shot in the languages of the three stories, it only survived in an all-Italian version).

Although interesting sociologically (there seems to be little essential difference between youth then and now, both arguably sharing a preoccupation with easy money and glamour) and the stories are well-constructed, it is a slow-moving film with no surprises in reaching its moral destination and the programmatic commitment to demonstrating the squalid consequences of self-indulgence along with the generally clumsy acting make this monotonous stuff something not helped by the fact that the cast particularly in the final episode set in England and starring Peter Reynolds and Fay Compton, all seem too old for the roles they are playing.

The film will be of some interest to Antonioni completists but that's all.

 

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