Il mare (1962) Online

This truly is an undiscovered Italian masterpiece.For anyone who really appreciates L'Avventura, this is as evocative and deeply understated in similar ways. The relationship between the three main players, all lonely and distant,hints at possibilities that are subtle and multi layered. Set in Capri, which itself is really one of the most beautiful spots on our planet,it is even more interesting because it is set in off season Capri,when all tourists have vacated the island,which makes it even more hauntingly beautiful.The cinematography and is really quiet beautiful with much thought obviously been given to camera angles. As the previous reviewer has stated such a shame when so many mediocre movies are released ,its truly amazing this gem has not been released on DVD or Blu Ray.....but one lives in hope, over the years many of my favourites seem to eventually come out, so lets see.

This is one of the lost masterpieces of Italian cinema. But where can you see it? I'm not going to give away the plot, but anyone who liked L'Avventura would surely enjoy this.

Derek Jarman once told me it was his favourite film. It has all the elements of Antonioni and much, much more. It is definitely ripe for rediscovery. Maybe some enterprising film distributor (Mr Bongo?) will read this and take note!

It doesn't make sense that so many 3rd rate Italian comedies of this period are available in various countries, but this serious film is completely unknown.

The program booklet for the 1963 New York Film Festival (first one ever) shows that "Il mare" was scheduled for one screening on September 17 at 6:30. The blurb made reference to the Venice Film Festival showing where the movie had been "greeted by one of those sessions of prolonged booing, hissing, and cat-calls that, at festivals, generally herald a masterpiece." Later the film received non-theatrical distribution in 16mm by Audio Brandon Films. I do not believe it was shown commercially anywhere in the U.S., though it may have had minor runs and was shown by film societies on college campuses and elsewhere before the prints were withdrawn from distribution. I first saw it in Providence in April 1980 when the local Italian American Cultural Society sponsored one showing at the Cable Car Cinema.

I recently saw it again on an unsubtitled DVD from a private source. What I remembered of the film, its stark atmosphere and the special beauty of off-season Capri, superbly photographed, still held true for me. Also holding true was the stunning pretentiousness and Antoniennui (to borrow Andrew Sarris' clever coinage)of the whole piece, like a directorial wet-dream inspired by the island sequences of "L'Avventura." It has fine photogenic actors speaking some impossible dialog. It is a synthesis and time-capsule and reductio-ad-absurdum of early 1960s art house cinema, beautiful yet unbearable, requiring multiple cups of the free espresso the art cinemas of that epoch used to supply their patrons to kick-start them back into the world of the living.