theairburns, cheers for your thoughts. i agree with the bulk of your interpretation with respect to alienation and isolation. as peter brunette made clear in his book on antonioni, it is too obvious to read L'Avventura and the other films of the trilogy + Red Desert as purely investigating that thematic. of particular importance to brunette, for example, is that antonioni seemed to be responding to the context of economic boom in italy (a financial growth that leads to upper middle-class citizens such as Sandro to indulge in frivolous lifestyle). also, remember his speech at cannes in 1960 where he stated his feelings about the inability of human morality to evolve. the isolation reading is but one of many and this is what makes antonioni's work constantly studied. aronofsky's work does not have such layers. (god, it's not a crime! but given a choice between the two. . .i just wouldn't want to over-appreciate aronofsky for what amounts to a loud, melodramatic, unsympathetic film.)