Reviews and Discussions of Cinema from Astoria, NYC

The 1961 Italian classic La Notte is a beautiful and somber piece of filmmaking on waning love and alienation. Director Michelangelo Antonioni is a master with the camera; he surrounds his characters with empty space, shoots them from odd original angles, and creates revealing situations and locations for them.

The two main characters are Giovanni (Marcello Mastroianni), a well-known writer, and his wife Lidia (Jeanne Moreau) who live in Milan. The first part of the film (the day), they spend visiting a dying friend in the hospital, and then going separate ways–Lidia wanders an old neighborhood where they used to live, and he lounges about in their apartment wondering where she is. The second half of the film (la notte) they spend going out together to a nightclub and then to a party at a villa. At the party, they both again get separated and entertain the idea of infidelity with attractive strangers, Giovanni’s stranger being the beautiful and alluring Valentina (Monica Vitti).

The film is just gorgeous to behold; it’s one perfectly set-up and aligned shot after another, the camera attentively framing the characters with buildings, car windows, and each other. Much attention is given to Lidia, so that the viewer sympathizes more with her than Giovanni, and we also understand more of how she feels, especially in the last scene where she voices her changed feelings towards Giovanni. It is meditation on love, old and new, and how love can change and disappear, although it was once incredibly strong. Giovanni seems to have too much love; he still has love for Lidia, but becomes quickly enamored with Valentina. Lidia is alienated from the people around her; she observes and interacts, even tries to have some fun during the party, but is ultimately quite melancholy and has lost her love for her husband. Valentina serves as a contrast to them both as a young free spirit, with an negative view on life and love –“Love restricts a person. It creates misunderstanding all around,” she states. The three characters create a compelling and thought-provoking narrative, although there is not much plot per se. It’s an exploration of emotions and interactions, as much European cinema is, but with the Antonioni touch of striking yet often empty and lonely shots.

The film also gives an intriguing illustration of Italian society in the early 60s, as the films of Fellini does; it gives a tour of the streets, nightclubs (with amazing and odd dancers) and cultured rich people of Milan. But of course, Antonioni is much more focused on conversation and personal feelings than Fellini, and is much more somber and quiet in his execution. The two directors must go hand in hand, however, when studying Italian cinema, and indeed, classic cinema in general.