Yes, the title has many meanings I think. In one interview Antonioni said: 'Everyone can read into it what they like. "Desert" perhaps because there are few oases left; "red" because it’s blood. The living, bleeding desert, full of the flesh of men.' I discuss this on the blog, starting in Part 2.

I also love this moment a few seconds earlier: like Laura in Brief Encounter, Lidia seems exhilarated by the train that has rushed by, but as she turns back to Roberto she realises what a clichéd scenario they are playing out. A speeding train, a brief encounter, a rainstorm...who cares?

The following year, Soraya repeated Giuliana's gesture in Il Provino, vandalising her own reflection.

Giuliana had complained that 'Everyone talks to me about me.’ Both women want to reject the representational reality they are inserted into, the decorous reflections they are expected to cast.

Red Desert is full of memorable split-second images like this: Giuliana runs down a dark Ravenna street, past a red light that evokes a warning, an emergency, or an open, bloody wound. She turns in mid-flight, her half-visible face expressing her state of mind, although we cannot hear what she says.

Touchscreen keypads are good for Freudian slips, unless autocorrect jumps in and censors them.

Washington Square is one of my favourites, as is The Heiress. Given the timelines (1850, 1880, 1905) I guess you could have Lily making friends with a 40-something Isabel (single again after Gilbert's mysterious death) and a 70-something Catherine (happily drinking from Morris's skull).

That's a brilliant idea, I love Portrait of a Lady. Add Olive and Verena from The Bostonians and the first couple of seasons write themselves...

Agreed, although it's getting a theatrical re-release and BFI blu-ray now, so hopefully more people will discover it! I love the novel too - Davies does an incredible job of adapting it, simplifying where necessary but retaining all the emotional impact.