While exploring a volcanic island on a yachting expedition, a woman named Anna disappears, leaving her lover, Sandro (Gabriele Ferzetti), and close friend Claudia (Vitti) to search in vain—and fall in love. L’avventura unfolds against Anna’s very palpable absence, a love story in a void. As always, landscape is the screen onto which Michelangelo Antonioni projects human emotions. L’avventura is rich in Antonioni’s visual architecture, wicked humor, and, finally, youth: a shot of Vitti, hair blowing in the wind while village bells answer one another, may be unmatched in Antonioni's films for its spirit of hope.