Blow Up – A Review

This is a film by Michelangelo Antonioni in the year 1966.

This film centres on a Mod photographer Thomas. He belongs to the 60’s generation, where fashion is a cultural statement and profoundly spectacular. Though Thomas is trendy, he is not radical. He is an individual armed with a camera, through which he tends to gain control over the pro-filmic space and represent the perceived as reality. He is critical of his friend Bill’s paintings. For Bill reality is ambiguous and it takes shape as active viewer interprets it. To Thomas his perception gives him the hubristic power over the perceived. Nothing is beyond his comprehension as nothing is beyond his vision. This arrogant approach comes crushing down on him when he had to interpret a real situation from the insignificant clues in his photographs. He realises that photograph is merely a representative medium which disseminates information but does not record reality. Befuddled, he watches a mimed tennis match, is drawn into it, picks up the imaginary ball and throws it back to the two players.