After the success of L'avventurra (1960), Michelangelo Antonioni made the second entry in his trilogy on "modernity and its discontents" - La notte (1961). The film concerns Giovanni and Lidia Pontano, a bourgeois couple who realize their marriage has lost its spark over the span of a night. Improving on l'avventurra, La Notte is an affecting cinematic poem about alienation in modern times.
The film concerns Giovanni Pontano (Marcello Mastroianni), a writer who's recently penned a best-selling novel, and his wife Lidia (Jeanne Moreau). Amidst a background of technology, futuristic skyscrapers, and industry, they go through the motions of their marriage - the romantic fervor which once defined it now a distant memory. The Pontano's are eventually invited to an upper class party, where Giovanni runs off with the host's daughter Valentina (Monica Vitti). When Lidia learns of Giovanni's infidelity, the two must ultimately confront the truth of what their marriage has become in the picture's poetic climax.
Mastroianni, Moreau, and Vitti all give fine performances. The cinematography of Antonioni and DOP Gianni Di Venozo perfectly illustrates the film's themes, placing characters against their highly modern milieus and articulating what Adorno described as the alienating effect of technology on the modern consciousness. Meanwhile, the screenplay by Antonioni and Tonino Guerra is La notte's driving force, it has the power of a highly affecting novel, every minute hurtling towards the film's inevitable conclusion.
In summary, La Notte elaborates on themes present in L'avventurra, in my humble opinion improving on its predecessor film. An all-time favorite of both Stanley Kubrick and Ingmar Bergman, those looking for a film experience that is thought-provoking, emotional, and artful would do well to seek it out.
The film concerns Giovanni Pontano (Marcello Mastroianni), a writer who's recently penned a best-selling novel, and his wife Lidia (Jeanne Moreau). Amidst a background of technology, futuristic skyscrapers, and industry, they go through the motions of their marriage - the romantic fervor which once defined it now a distant memory. The Pontano's are eventually invited to an upper class party, where Giovanni runs off with the host's daughter Valentina (Monica Vitti). When Lidia learns of Giovanni's infidelity, the two must ultimately confront the truth of what their marriage has become in the picture's poetic climax.
Mastroianni, Moreau, and Vitti all give fine performances. The cinematography of Antonioni and DOP Gianni Di Venozo perfectly illustrates the film's themes, placing characters against their highly modern milieus and articulating what Adorno described as the alienating effect of technology on the modern consciousness. Meanwhile, the screenplay by Antonioni and Tonino Guerra is La notte's driving force, it has the power of a highly affecting novel, every minute hurtling towards the film's inevitable conclusion.
In summary, La Notte elaborates on themes present in L'avventurra, in my humble opinion improving on its predecessor film. An all-time favorite of both Stanley Kubrick and Ingmar Bergman, those looking for a film experience that is thought-provoking, emotional, and artful would do well to seek it out.