“GODARD—The dialogue [in Red Desert] is simper, more funtional than that of your previous films; isn’t their traditional role of “commentary” taken by the color?

ANTONIONI—Yes, I believe that is true. Let us say that, here, the dialogue is reduced to an indispensable minimum and that, in this sense, it is linked to the color. For example, I would never have done the scene in the shack where they talk about drugs, aphrodisiacs, without using red. I would never have done it in black and white. The red puts the spectator in a state of mind that permits him to accept this dialogue. The color is correct for the characters (who are justified by it) and also for the spectator.”

—Michelangelo Antonioni, interviewed by Jean-Luc Godard, 1964. From Interviews with Film Directors, by Andrew Sarris, 1967.