Michelangelo Antonioni's tetralogy of alienation on cinema screens in the People's Republic of Poland: A study of the critical reception.

This article examines the critical reception of Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni's "tetralogy of alienation"—comprising *L'avventura* (The Adventure), *La notte* (The Night), *L'eclisse* (The Eclipse), and *Deserto Rosso* (Red Desert)—in the People's Republic of Poland during the 1960s and 1970s. Despite Poland's restrictive cultural policy limiting access to capitalist countries' films, Antonioni's works were among the few Italian films widely screened, reflecting the Communist government's selective endorsement of Western art cinema critical of capitalist society. Polish critics engaged with Antonioni's portrayal of alienation, consumerism, and moral decay in Western societies, often contrasting these themes with the socialist realities of Poland, while also acknowledging the director's modernist style and philosophical depth. The article highlights how Antonioni's films were interpreted through sociopolitical and existential lenses, serving both as cultural critique and as a tool within Poland's ideological framework until his auteur status was solidified by the mid-1970s.