Red Desert review

Michelangelo Antonioni's first film in colour, dating from 1964, has his regular muse Monica Vitti as a mentally disturbed woman traipsing through a bleak industrial wasteland with young son in tow.

Lacking sympathy from her husband she embarks on a joyless affair with his associate (Richard Harris, uncomfortably cast).

Fans of Antonioni will appreciate his radical use of colour (he had whole sections of the landscape resprayed to fit his requirements), his long contemplative takes and his relentless gaze at urban alienation.

Non-fans may find it all a bit slow and pretentious.