L'Eclisse (1962)

A young woman meets a vital young man, but their love affair is doomed because of the man's materialistic nature.

Director:

Michelangelo Antonioni

Writers:

Michelangelo Antonioni (scenario and dialogue), Tonino Guerra (scenario and dialogue)

Stars:

Monica Vitti, Alain Delon, Francisco Rabal

1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Alain Delon	...	Piero
Monica Vitti	...	Vittoria
Francisco Rabal	...	Riccardo
Lilla Brignone	...	Vittoria's Mother
Rossana Rory	...	Anita
Mirella Ricciardi	...	Marta
Louis Seigner	...	Ercoli

Storyline

In the suburbs of Rome, the translator Vittoria breaks her engagement with her boyfriend, the writer Ricardo, after a troubled night. Vittoria goes downtown to meet her mother, who is addicted to the stock market, and she meets the broker Piero on a day of crash. The materialist Piero and the absent Vittoria begin a monosyllabic relationship.

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Plot Keywords:

italy | insomnia | sports car | reference to zeus | obsession | 

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Taglines:

... the ache and ecstasy of love...

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Italy France

Language:

Italian English

Release Date:

20 December 1962 (USA)

Also Known As:

L'Eclisse

Filming Locations:

EUR, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cineriz,Interopa Film,Paris Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

126 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (International Recording-Westrex)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Final part of the unofficial "Incommunicability Trilogy" also including L'Avventura (1960) and La Notte (1961).

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Goofs

At 1:28:30 into the film, Vittoria and Piero get wet from a sprinkler. The right side of Piero's jacket is clearly wet. A minute later when they are listening to the piano player, the back of Vittoria's blouse is still wet, but Piero's jacket is dry.

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Quotes

Piero: What are you writing?
Vittoria: I'm translating some Spanish.
Piero: How do you say "I want to come up" in Spanish?
Vittoria: You say, "You can't". Tough language, isn't it?

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Connections

Referenced in Il Sorpasso (1962)

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Soundtracks

L'eclisse Twist
Written by Giovanni Fusco
Performed by Mina

User Reviews

L'Eclisse is about emptiness, meaningless capitalism and the nuclear threat.

Antonioni's 'L'Eclisse' depicts the emptiness and and meaningless of life in the post-Second World War world under the shadow of the nuclear threat. This is represented by the mushroom shaped water-tower looming outside the window in the film's early sequences, and is referred to again in newspaper headlines towards the end of the film. This film was made in 1962, a year after the Berlin crisis, and in the year of the Cuba crisis when we came very close to nuclear war between the USA and the USSR.

The film also depicts the greed of capitalism, as shown in the mad, chaotic scenes in the Rome Stock Exchange and the obsessive gambling of the mother character.

The location, with distant shots of Benito Mussolini's EUR buildings on the outskirts of Rome, also suggest a meaningless, empty, soulless Brave New World all overshadowed by the nuclear threat, where people suffer loneliness and depression and feel unable to make long-term commitments.