La Notte (1961)

A day in the life of an unfaithful married couple and their steadily deteriorating relationship.

Director:

Michelangelo Antonioni

Writers:

Michelangelo Antonioni (story), Ennio Flaiano (story)

Stars:

Jeanne Moreau, Marcello Mastroianni, Monica Vitti

6 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Marcello Mastroianni	...	Giovanni Pontano
Jeanne Moreau	...	Lidia Pontano
Monica Vitti	...	Valentina Gherardini
Bernhard Wicki	...	Tommaso Garani
Rosy Mazzacurati	...	Rosy
Maria Pia Luzi	...	Un'invitata
Guido A. Marsan	...	Fanti (as Guido Ajmone Marsan)
Vittorio Bertolini
Vincenzo Corbella	...	Mr. Gherardini
Ugo Fortunati	...	Cesarino
Gitt Magrini	...	Signora Gherardini
Giorgio Negro	...	Roberto
Roberta Speroni	...	Beatrice

Storyline

In Milan, after visiting dear friend Tommaso Garani that is terminal in a hospital, the writer Giovanni Pontano goes to a party for the release of his last book, and his wife Lidia Pontano visits the place where she lived many years ago. In the night, they go to a night-club, and later to a party in the mansion of the tycoon Mr. Gherardini. Along the night, Giovanni flirts with Valentina Gherardini, the daughter of the host, and then he receives a proposal to work for him in the area of communication and write the history of his company. Meanwhile, Lidia flirts with the playboy Roberto.

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Plot Keywords:

party | writer | marriage | husband wife relationship | socialite | 

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Taglines:

A new genre of motion picture... to make you think and feel.

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Italy France

Language:

Italian English French

Release Date:

19 February 1962 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Night

Filming Locations:

Milan, Lombardia, Italy

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$10,547, 16 September 2016, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$39,236, 16 December 2016

Company Credits

Production Co:

Nepi Film, Sofitedip, Silver Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

At approximately 108 minutes in, after Lidia has dried-off in Valentina's room, discussing vices as she takes her first sip of whisky, Lidia asks Valentina, "How old are you?". "Diciotto e molti, molti mesi", answers Valentina ("Eighteen and many, many months"). The subtitles say "Twenty-two".

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Goofs

Boom visible in shadow form as Giovanni leaves Tomasso's hospital room and walks down the corridor at 16mins or so into the film.

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Quotes

Mr. Gherardini: So as I was saying, my friend, it's absurd to speak of wealth now. No one's wealthy anymore. But should anyone still think of becoming rich, my only advice would be, "Don't worry about the money." I've always looked upon my businesses as works of art. Whatever profit I earned was of practically no concern to me. The important thing is to create something solid; something to be remembered. What sustains a writer - you for instance - is certainly not the idea of profit but a sense of necessity. ...
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in Chacun son cinéma ou Ce petit coup au coeur quand la lumière s'éteint et que le film commence (2007)

User Reviews

Distant, beautiful, difficult and absorbing

Challenging and emotionally muted on 1st viewing, I still found this largely a very interesting portrait of a bourgeois marriage crumbling, observed during one afternoon and night.

The couple visit a seemingly dying friend in the hospital, attend a book signing for the husband's new novel, stop at a nightclub where they barely even react to an erotic floor show, and then head to a party for a rich industrialist who is celebrating the first win by his new racehorse, Both Marcello Mastroianni and Jeanne Moreau do terrific work as the deadened and estranged couple. He no longer even identifies with his own writing, feeling it's just a product, like that made by the industrialist. He's even lost his sense of lust. She no longer feels love for him, and seems locked in loneliness and depression. It's a tough movie to take, grim, humorless, almost as dead feeling as its leads, but that would seem to be the point.

My only problem, as I've occasionally had with Antonioni, is that well before the end I felt I had gotten these themes clearly and powerfully, and there was, after that, a certain sense of hammering home ideas that had already been expressed beautifully with a lighter touch (there's a key reveal near the end that I saw coming a mile off). But the images (of course) are striking and memorable, as are the performances, and the sad gloom that hovers over this world of people who seem to have it all, and yet feel so little.