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Continuing the "alienation trilogy" that began with L'Avventura and ended with L'Eclisse, Michelangelo Antonioni's La Notte is a visually arresting, emotionally numbing exercise in chronic ennui. The film's anesthetizing effect is entirely intentional; Antonioni's central couple (Marcello Mastroianni as a self-absorbed novelist, Jeanne Moreau as his bored and wealthy wife) wallow in their own emotional desolation, constantly drifting--and in Moreau's case, literally drifting--from one disaffected scene to the next. Antonioni's pained study of modern detachment is richly supported by his visuals, often placing his isolated characters in a harsh landscape of empty glamor and even emptier emotions. Driving the point home is Monica Vitti as Marcello's would-be mistress; in their aimless lassitude, neither can muster the necessary passion. It's all too superficial to register with any lasting dramatic impact, but La Notte remains the fascinating work of a master, redefining how movies reflect the many facets of humanity. --Jeff Shannon
 Customer Reviews 
This is how falling out of love looks
Rating: 4
The DVD offers few frills, but the film is a superb study of the death of love. As in the best of Antonioni's films, we are asked to understand and empathize with characters we'd prefer to castigate or dismiss. The slow pace invites thinking -- of all things!
Another gem from Antonioni
Rating: 4
La Notte is an apt title for the second film in Michelangelo Antonioni's trilogy, with L'Avventura being the first and L'Eclisse the last. All that symbolizes the night--darkness, melancholy, and particularly sleep and death, are referred to throughout the movie. Our difficulty communicating with one another and subsequent sense of alienation are, of course, addressed in La Notte just as they are in the other two films. The story here centers around a married couple, Giovanni (Marcello Mastroianni) and Lidia (Jeanne Moreau). From the moment we first see these two we sense a disconnect, a kind of sickness, even a death of sorts. Lidia's demeanor is zombie-like, as though she were sleepwalking. Without giving too much away, the opening scene, which Giovanni and Lidia are not in, subtly sets the tone for the film. A hospital patient is given morphine, which renders him half-awake and half-asleep. This state of being will take many forms and appear again and again in La Notte.
Lidia seems to be the only character in the movie with any depth of feeling, which is precisely why she has gone numb. Her pain overwhelms her. She suddenly leaves a party given for her husband, a writer who has just released a new book, to wander the streets of Milan. She is dwarfed and seemingly trapped by the skyscrapers surrounding her, and further alienated by the male passers-by who turn their heads to check her out. At one point she takes a taxi out of town to a more open area where, unlike Milan, not much has changed. But even here, shortly after stepping out of the taxi, she happens upon two street toughs engaged in a brawl which she fearlessly stops. It seems Lidia is searching for a paradise, an escape to salve her wounds, but there isn't one. Evening is falling now, streetlights gradually come on, and she returns home. Later that night, at another party she attends with her husband, she will do the same thing; wander around, alone and in pain.
It is at this party, which takes place at night and will last into the wee hours, where the problems between Lidia and Giovanni rise to the surface. And this is also where those symbols of the night mentioned earlier come at you one after the other. Antonioni is clever in how he portrays these symbols. One of the most interesting is a cat staring at a statue as if waiting for it to wake up and respond. Trying to catch all these metaphors is part of the enjoyment of this party segment.
One of the similarities between L'Avventura and La Notte is the men's handling of their troubled relationships versus the women's. Giovanni, as well as Sandro in L'Avventura, takes advantage of every opportunity to lose himself in the arms of another woman in order to fill the void. Lidia, on the other hand, has the chance to be with another man whom she meets at the party, but decides not to go through with it. She seems to know that the pleasure is fleeting and no cure for her marriage problems.
In the conclusion of the film the couple finally address what is happening between them, and it is heart-wrenching to watch. The truth hurts as they say. This ending differs from L'Avventura's in that more is said between the man and woman involved. We have a better idea of the outcome for Lidia and Giovanni, but we're still not quite sure of it even though they have verbalized their feelings. In L'Avventura, Claudia and Sandro do not say a word to each other and we are left with the same uncertainty. So one can derive that in the end we are alone no matter how hard we try to connect with another human being.
Jeanne Moreau, Marcello Mastroianni, and Monica Vitti are amazing. In this film, as in all of Antonioni's films, so much relies on facial expressions, gestures, and choreography, and these actors make it all look easy. However, even though La Notte is a great film, L'Avventura and L'Eclisse are better as they have a complexity and quiet beauty that is missing here. It is also a shame that La Notte is not in the Criterion Collection because there are no extras, no commentaries, interviews with the actors, etc. The bonus discs included in the other movies of the trilogy are a delight for the film buff. There is no doubt, despite these criticisms, that La Notte should be on everyone's list of movies to watch.
WOW!
Rating: 5
Please note that before I begin that this review is for the MOVIE, not the DVD. In Australia the movie is available through umbrella entertainment, fully restored and in wide screen. I can only asume that at some point in the near future this version will be distributed in America.
O.K. Now that that is out of the way, on with the review!
La Notte is the third Antonion movie I have seen (The first being "Blow-Up", the second being "The Passenger") and it is the third time I have been blown away by him. His sense of aesthetic balance and composition are totally beyond reproach.
One of the reasons I love the work of Antonioni (showcased perfectly in this film), is that I am able to grasp the central ideas without the need to be overly analytical. La Notte, at it's surface, is about the break-down of a marriage. Digging deeper, it is about the hopelessness of life and our struggles to make meaning of the world around us.
Whenever our protagonists are on-screen, Antonioni's camera is either looking down on them, or framing them as an aside to the world they are in (many shots seemingly focus more on the city around the characters).
I highly recommend the work of this incredible talent to anyone who enjoys cinema at its purest.
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