Reception
- Critical response
Beyond the Clouds received mixed reviews with the general consensus being that fans of Antonioni's work would welcome and appreciate this one of the director's last films; others would be less embracing of his distinctive cinematic style.
In his review in The New York Times, Stephen Holden wrote, "There are moments of such astounding visual power in Michelangelo Antonioni's film Beyond the Clouds that you are all but transported through the screen to a place where the physical and emotional weather fuse into a palpable sadness. ... More than just a great director's autumnal musings, Beyond the Clouds is a long goodbye to an idea of cinema as a high art, one that can flourish only as long as there are directors of Mr. Antonioni's vision to dream it into being."
In his review in the San Francisco Chronicle, Edward Guthmann gave the film a qualified positive review, writing, "For Antonioni lovers, who don't mind the moody silences and labyrinths of an Antonioni film and will recognize the echoes of earlier films, Beyond the Clouds won't be disappointing. A less partial audience, I'd guess, will find it slow, labored and self-conscious." Guthman sees as the dominant theme of the film "the ways in which desire distorts perception and leaves us betrayed when our wishes and reality prove incompatible. ... It's that compelling sense of mystery, of the endless search and its undercurrent of loneliness, that sets this great filmmaker apart."
In his review in the Chicago Reader, Jonathan Rosenbaum wrote, "There are a lot of beautiful things in Beyond the Clouds: the style, the settings, the bodies of young men and women-many of them beautiful in the vaguely blank way that models are."
On the aggregate reviewer web site Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a 65% positive rating from top film critics based on 20 reviews, and a 68% positive audience rating based on 3,618 reviews.
- Box office
The film earned $3,252,000 in gross revenue in Italy, and $31,738 in the United States. As of February 1996, the film had 230,924 admissions in France, and as of August 1996, the film had 24,951 admissions in Portugal.
- Awards
- 1995 Venice Film Festival FIPRESCI Prize (Michelangelo Antonioni, Wim Wenders) Won
- 1995 Valladolid International Film Festival Golden Spike Nomination (Michelangelo Antonioni, Wim Wenders)
- 1996 Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists Silver Ribbon for Best Score (Lucio Dalla) Won
- 1996 Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists Silver Ribbon Nomination for Best Director (Michelangelo Antonioni)
- 1996 David di Donatello Award for Best Cinematography (Alfio Contini) Won
Read more about this topic: Beyond The Clouds (1995 Film)
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