The Vacation -la Vacanza- - Tinto Brass 1971 -s...

The film failed spectacularly at the box office. Critics called it “pretentious” and “moribund.” But decades later, film scholars have reclaimed it as a missing link between Antonioni’s L’Eclisse (1962) and Michael Haneke’s The Seventh Continent (1989).

More than half a century after its premiere, La Vacanza remains unjustly obscure. It has never received a proper home video release, and high-quality versions are exceedingly difficult to find. But for those who seek it out—through archival screenings, festival retrospectives, or the occasional torrent—the film offers a revelation: a Tinto Brass who was not yet the “master of erotica,” but rather a fierce, formally daring humanist who believed that cinema could change the world. The Vacation -La Vacanza- - Tinto Brass 1971 -S...

The story follows (Vanessa Redgrave) and Guglielmo (Jimmy Page), two restless, wealthy, and profoundly alienated lovers. They decide to escape the political chaos of urban Italy (the film was shot during actual student riots and factory strikes) by taking a trip into the countryside. They drive an open-top sports car, wear the height of 1970s fashion, and seem to embody the jet-set dream. The film failed spectacularly at the box office

In 1971, Tinto Brass was still very much an avant-garde provocateur. La Vacanza Non-linear editing: It has never received a proper home video