This is my 4th or so watching of this wonderful film. Even though Vittoria is the central figure the film seems to be mostly about men and their passions. The passions of Love, Money and Heaven, the last portrayed brilliantly in the scene at the Aerodrome.
shareThis is not a love story, it's a film that questions the possibility of love existing in a modern world. Only strangers can truly love one another.
"All men are frauds. The only difference between them is that some admit it. I myself deny it."
Rayek,
While the film questions the possibility of love in the modern world, it is clear to me it does not categorically conclude the answer is no. Actually Blow-up is arguably more categorical in that regard. Vittoria leaves a relationship with Riccardo, considers one with Piero and apparently, but not clearly, does not pursue it, Blow-up is a more comprehensively skeptical work in that regard.
Having said that the viewer can choose to see Piero as either particular to himself, or more representational of a larger category of men. Such a man does seem to be a rather poor candidate for a lover for a woman such as Vittoria.