Booed at Cannes (where it still won the Special Jury Prize) and branded immoral by the American National League of Decency, Michelangelo Antonioni's masterpiece is a mystery without a solution. This adventure in cinematic technique is a brilliant and troubling study of alienation, privileged indolence and psychological sterility, in which the search for a missing woman gradually becomes irrelevant as her lover and best friend are drawn into an unsatisfying relationship of their own. Antonioni coaxes memorable performances from Monica Vitti and Gabriele Ferzetti, while he uses cinematographer Aldo Scavarda's exceptional views of both island and mainland landscapes to reveal his characters' fraught emotional states. Timeless genius.

Claudia and Anna join Anna's lover, Sandro, on a boat trip to a remote volcanic island. When Anna goes missing, a search is launched. In the meantime, Sandro and Claudia become involved in a romance despite Anna's disappearance, though the relationship suffers from guilt and tension.