Antonioni was one of the first directors in Italian cinema to exploit the soundtrack in all of its complexity, significantly reducing the presence of actual music in favour of synthetic sounds and, above all, noise. He drew a distinction between what he termed ‘poetic noise’ – created specifically by the artist – and ‘ineffable sounds’, emanating from the natural soundscape. In the first case, the noises are created and reproduced with the moving images, and subsequently defined during the post–synchronisation process; the second case involves an instinctive search which is far more fascinating, as the director realised from his observations during the preparatory phases of his films. This two–pronged approach helped Antonioni to build a depth and breadth in the soundtracks that, even today, represent an experimental model which remains unparalleled in contemporary Italian cinema. This article illustrates the complexity of Antonioni's soundscape by means of the analysis of L'eclisse (The Eclipse), Il deserto rosso (Red Desert) and Professione: reporter (The Passenger), films that can be considered as being ideally representative of the director's poetic ability and sensitivity.
