BLOW-UP | SARA MILES, DAVID HEMMINGS (1966) UK photo

[London: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1966]. Vintage original 8 x 10″ (20 x 25 cm.) black-and-white glossy silver gelatin photo. Near fine.

Michelangelo Antonioni’s exploration of the vapid mid-1960s mod scene in the London fashion business is also a murder mystery. Photographer Thomas (David Hemmings) engages in a number of sex relationships with models, including Patricia (Sara Miles). Though top-billed with Hemmings and Vanessa Redgrave, Miles had far less screen time.

To this day, people wonder about the philosophy of the film. Sean Connery turned it down as he had no idea what Antonioni was trying to say. Vanessa Redgrave offered her take on the film in her autobiography. “Blow-Up was about the unity and difference of essence and phenomena, the conflict between what is, objectively, and what is seen, heard, or grasped by the individual.”

Photo is coded BU-B5.