MovieChat Forums > Blow-Up (1967) Discussion > WHEN HE'S WATCHING VANESSA ACROSS THE ST...

WHEN HE'S WATCHING VANESSA ACROSS THE STREET..........

posted 12 years ago by BG43214
5 replies | jump to latest

About 1:35 mins into the movie, Hemmings is sitting in his car and sees Redgrave across the street, in front of a shop window.....soon others are walking by, in both directions......then, SHE DISAPPEARS!!!!

I have watched this countless times in freeze-frame, and for the life of me cannot understand how this was done.......It's not an edit of any kind, as there is no cut at ALL.

So just HOW IN THE HECK did Antonioni do this??

Looking forward to any help on this one!!!!!!!!

Only vague clue I have is that she may have ducked into the street next to the building, but when Hemmings goes after her, you lose the 'sense' of just which bldg. she was near.

What a huge mystery to me.......Hope I'm not the only one who's intrigued by this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So ANYONE have any ideas?????????????

[–] Robby_net 12 years ago

I went and checked a few times myself after I saw your post. Fascinating stuff.
The clues is in the fact that she is obstructed from view by just the right people and just the right time, when she would have time to hide.

I'm not sure if I'm seeing things, but if you follow her legs and shoes, I think you can see a glimpse of her ducking or moving towards the side of the building. It might just be the other woman turning, but even so the other woman seems to go out of her way to cover her.

Can anybdoy confirm or deny if it was the other woman's legs?

!No IMDB idiot may respond to this.!

[–] mangeder 11 years ago

This unappreciated scene is great filmmaking and shows absolutely perfect timing!
I guess it must have been rehearsed fifty times, because if only one of the 11 involved extras is a tenth of a second too late, the whole scene doesn't work.

Even if you watch it frame by frame it's hard to figure out, but you can see how it's done: First she goes without ostentation with the crowd and when the sight is blocked she quickly disappears in the left corner behind the "PERMUTIT"-Shop. You can see her shadow in a fraction of a second when she turns the corner. Actually it's not really her shadow, it's herself - but as there is no light, you cannot recognise her or her clothes (which made it so hard to figure it out in the first place). Just apply the exclusion principle: Since every other person is still there, the "shadow" must be her!

In the next scene when Thomas is looking for her you can see the corner where she disappeard from the other side. Seen from this angle there is plenty of room for someone to hide. Of course now she is gone because there was a cut.

After that Thomas goes a few steps further and we can see a sign "Heddon House" on the building. So this scene must have been filmed at the corner of Regent Street/Heddon Street.

BTW: Here I found a site with scene description and screen captures:
www.idyllopuspress.com/idyllopus/film/bu_4.htm
Maybe the text overinterprets the movie, but it's an interesting site nevertheless.

Another nice blog about the movie from a guy who was the photographer’s assistant at the location supposed to be the studio of the character of David Hemmings:
http://johnhootonphotography.wordpress.com/2010/06/20/blow-up/

And of course the letter from Ronan O'Casey (the actor who played the dead man)
http://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/corpse-from-blow-up-speaks
and the article from 1967 in "Der Spiegel" he is refering to:
http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-46251853.html

According to this they didn't shot about a quarter of the planned scenes, above all the scenes where the actual murder is explained. Actor Dyson Lovell was supposed to play the killer (we see him only in one scene where he sneaks up on the Rolls-Royce and looks inside the restaurant - and of course this scene alone wihout the background doesn't make sense for the viewer and is very mysterious). Lovell's character (the killer) was supposed to be the new young lover of Vanessa Redgrave's character - and the brother of Sarah Miles's character!

[–] BG43214 11 years ago

OMG .......you are brilliant......I ALMOST figured it out, as far as the timing of the extras having to be so perfect, etc. but just never 'got' it about her going around that corner....I knew it had to be something like that, but after what seemed like hundreds of viewings of that scene, I never 'got it' as you did.......

all I knew was that at a cut was involved, but nowhere near the way you stated it......

so give yourself a HUGE pat on the back.....and tnanks for clearing up a mystery that for me, has lasted since the 1960's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[–] skep8 10 years ago

The choreography and timing in this shot is unbelievable. As Vanessa moves slowly toward screen left, first she is obscured by a man facing us walking in front of her toward screen right; then another man facing away from us walking toward screen left continues to obscure her as she continues to move left toward the edge/corner of the building. But how was she made to appear as a "shadow" (actually a completely black figure) as she briefly disappears around the corner of the building, since nothing else in this shot is unlit or black? On the DVD that I watched, this occurs at 1:32 (92 minutes) into the movie.

[–] jd-276 10 years ago

Yep; fantastic film making and a real feature for me.