"Enlarge" is actually a work facing a turning point in Antonioni's creation. Compared with the previous "Eclipse" and "Adventures", the director has largely weakened the constant exploration of the alienation theme that is incommunicable between people. As well as the description of the loneliness that is not in the middle class, the usual empty shots and long shots are also missing in the use of images and lenses. Instead, An's care for the entire human society and culture in the 1960s , And interpret modern life with brisk visual advancement. This film has become An's only commercial success. If the English dialogue factor is omitted, it is not difficult to find the true portrayal of the entire era in the film.
As far as the theme of the film is concerned, it is not so much a realistic agnostic philosophical proposition, but it is better to regard it as another pessimistic questioning of modern civilization after the trilogy and "Red Desert". The background of the film is set in London in the 1960s. In order to get the material, Thomas did not hesitate to get into the slums. In his own studio, he seemed to be an arrogant conductor, entangled in many beauties, and he did not tire of it. Incapable of getting out again, Antonioni patiently recorded Thomas's words and deeds, and revealed an empty typical character without showing up. As a photographer, Thomas tried to use modern technology to conquer everything, claiming that the things he pursued were real, and indeed he had achieved certain success, including in terms of sex and career. However, in the process of imaging Enlarge again and again, Thomas gradually lost himself in the illusory world he created. When he realized that he was unable to change the world, the end result was that he picked up the unnecessarily tennis ball and accepted the world’s treatment to him. Change. Coupled with the constantly appearing students wandering around in the film, crazy and fierce rock music, models who are famous at all costs, and publishers addicted to drugs, Antonioni extracted many aspects of the 1960s and criticized the various superficial aspects of society at that time. Fanaticism, the loss of faith, and the powerlessness of the people in it.
At first, the hippie students wandering around under the towering buildings, the typical modern city image under the lens of An's. In the closed studio, Thomas is the God who rules everything. There is only command and no communication with the model. The glass front model divided into pieces has become a modern installation in Thomas's eyes. The relaxed jazz music played on the phonograph is a kind of emptiness behind fashion. In the dimly lit room is an illusory world created by Thomas. The empty park gives people the same cold feeling as before. The secrets on the surface here are unknown transactions or even more terrible murders. In Antonioni’s eyes, the rock music performance that is characteristic of the times has become an expressionless audience and a guitarist. The broken guitar that was robbed at the performance site turned out to be unattended garbage in the blink of an eye on the street corner. Antonioni watched with cold eyes. A fashion game blinded by fanaticism.
