La Notte

The second installment in Michelangelo Antonioni's “trilogy of alienation” (bookended by L'avventura and L'eclisse), La Notte stars Marcello Mastroianni as Giovanni Pontano, a celebrated novelist in Milan with nothing left to say, and Jeanne Moreau as his quietly unsettled wife, Lidia, who can't express all of the disappointment building up behind her unfazed expression. Their marriage is inert (at best), but both seem resigned to their fate. This 1961 film covers just under 24 hours, as the pair visit a dying friend in a hospital and later go to a couple of lavish parties populated by attractive guests inhabiting a world of sculpted landscapes and stark modern spaces filled with reflective surfaces. Amidst this elegant austerity Giovanni becomes fascinated by an enigmatic beauty named Valentina (Monica Vitti), a jaded-before-her-time young brunette who see-saws between childish playfulness and world-weary commentary. From these elements Mastroianni creates a portrait of disconnected lives that lack feeling or passion. Although less acclaimed than the two other films in the trilogy, La Notte has been celebrated as a modernist contemplation of abstracted lives (and also criticized as beautifully sculpted tedium). But while it is definitely heavy on the Antoni-ennui of the idle rich narcotizing themselves on small talk, cocktails, and sex, the film is also a defining artifact of 1960s European art cinema. Beautifully remastered for a DVD re-release and Blu-ray debut, extras include two original interview featurettes (one with film critic Adriano Aprà and film historian Carlo di Carlo; the other with Professor Giuliana Bruno discussing the role of architecture in the film) and a booklet with essays. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)