Blow-Up” is my first Antonioni film and I didn´t know what to expect. It´s a mesmerizing and enigmatic film that is as confusing and challenging as it is fascinating and rewarding. On the surface, not much is going on. “Blow-Up” is slow, meandering, and weirdly structured, and the plot has strong B-movie vibes, yet the film is greatly elevated by the impeccable direction, strong lead performance, hypnotic, mysterious atmosphere, and enormous thematical and symbolic depth. The movie can also be seen as an insightful time capsule, as it is an immersive portrait of the 1960s zeitgeist.

From a technical perspective, cinematography, staging, and framing are the standout aspects. The whole movie is visually enthralling and almost every shot feels like it was thoughtfully constructed and overflows with hidden meaning. Yet the ultimate meaning of the story remains elusive. The mystery is more important than the solution and Antonioni leaves it to the viewers to draw their own conclusions.

If you look beneath the surface, “Blow-Up” is a subtle, nuanced, and thought-provoking meditation on themes such as the relationship between perception, perspective, and reality, ambiguity, meaning (is there intrinsic meaning or is it always created?), illusion, uncertainty, obsession, and humans´ need for control. Furthermore, the film explores the protagonist´s feelings of ennui, emptiness, monotony, disorientation, and alienation, as well as his fruitless search for happiness, purpose, and fulfillment, and associates his existential dread with the materialism of modernity. Last but not least, the movie can be seen as a meta-commentary on cinema. Similar to “Rear Window” or “Peeping Tom”, “Blow-Up” links making as well as watching movies to voyeurism, but it also explores a different aspect of the relationship between artist and art. The protagonist films something with his camera he didn´t know was there. The art is not completely under the control of the artist and can convey meaning he didn´t intend or even think about. This is true for photographers just as it is for directors, writers, painters, or any other kind of artist. Can there even be any kind of objective universal meaning in art (or other aspects of life)? Antonioni explores how we look at images, how we construct meaning, and how this tells us more about ourselves than about reality. He doesn´t offer clear answers but he asks intriguing questions.

“Blow-Up” is mystery thriller, social commentary, character study, cautionary tale, and elusive art film all in one. It´s not light and easy entertainment. It requires your full attention and the willingness to put in some effort to get the most out of it, and even then, you probably need several rewatches to discover and appreciate all the different layers. This is definitely a candidate for an even higher rating, but I need to see it again to be sure. In any case, the film has a quiet power that makes it linger in my mind.