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La Notte

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For other uses, see La Notte (disambiguation).
La Notte
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMichelangelo Antonioni
Written by
Produced byEmanuele Cassuto
Starring
CinematographyGianni Di Venanzo
Edited byEraldo Da Roma
Music byGiorgio Gaslini
Production
companies
  • Nepi Film
  • Sofitedip
  • Silver Film
Distributed by
Release dates
  • 24 January 1961 (1961-01-24) (Italy)
  • 24 February 1961 (1961-02-24) (France)
Running time
122 minutes
Countries
  • Italy
  • France
LanguageItalian
Box office₤470 million ($752,000)

La Notte ([la ˈnɔtte]; English: "The Night") is a 1961 drama film co-written and directed by Michelangelo Antonioni and starring Marcello Mastroianni, Jeanne Moreau and Monica Vitti. Filmed on location in Milan, the film depicts a single day and night in the lives of a disillusioned novelist (Mastroianni) and his alienated wife (Moreau) as they move through various social circles. The film continues Antonioni's technique of abandoning traditional storytelling in favor of visual composition, atmosphere, and mood.

Grossing 470 million lire and receiving acclaim for its exploration of modernist themes of isolation, La Notte received the Golden Bear at the 11th Berlin International Film Festival. The film also earned Antonioni the 1961 David di Donatello Award for Best Director. Although selected as the Italian entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 34th Academy Awards, it was not nominated. La Notte is considered the central film of a trilogy beginning with L'Avventura (1960) and ending with L'Eclisse (1962).[1][2][3] It was one of Stanley Kubrick's 10 favorite films and received 4 votes from critics and 6 votes from directors in the 2012 Sight & Sound greatest films poll.

Plot

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Writer Giovanni Pontano and his wife Lidia visit their seriously ill friend Tommaso Garani, a left-wing cultural critic, at a hospital in Milan. Giovanni's new book has just been published, and Tommaso praises his friend's work. Shaken by the sight of Tommaso in pain, Lidia leaves. Giovanni stays behind and as he leaves Tommaso's room, a sick and uninhibited young woman seduces him and they kiss. They are interrupted by the nurses, who slap the patient. Outside the hospital, Giovanni sees his wife crying but does not comfort her. As they drive off, he tells her about his "unpleasant" encounter with the sick woman and is confused when Lidia reacts with indifference.

Giovanni and Lidia attend his book launch, where he signs books while she looks on from a distance. Lidia leaves and wanders the streets of Milan, ending up in the neighborhood where she and Giovanni lived as newlyweds. She comes across a street fight which she tries to stop, and later watches rockets being set off in a field. She later calls Giovanni and he picks her up. That night, they go to a nightclub, where they watch a seductive performance by a female dancer and engage in small talk. Lidia tells Giovanni that she has something to tell him but cannot say it now, and suggests they leave the club to attend a party thrown by Mr. Gherardini, a millionaire industrialist, at his villa.

US theatrical advertisement, 1962

Giovanni socializes with the party guests while Lidia walks around in a state of boredom. Giovanni meets Valentina Gherardini, the host's young daughter. As they flirt, she slides her compact across the floor, and soon others gather to watch the two compete at this game and place bets before Giovanni bows out. Meanwhile, Lidia calls the hospital and learns that Tommaso has died, leaving her devastated. Shortly afterwards, Lidia watches from the upper floor as Giovanni kisses Valentina.

Mr. Gherardini meets privately with Giovanni and offers him an executive position with his company. Giovanni is reluctant to accept and leaves the offer open. While briefly reuniting with Lidia, Giovanni sees Valentina and follows her, leaving Lidia alone. A man named Roberto, who had been following Lidia, asks her to dance. A sudden rain shower sends the guests running for cover. As Lidia is about to jump into the pool from the diving board, Roberto takes her to his car and they drive off. She enjoys Roberto's company and their conversation but turns away from him as he tries to kiss her.

Back at the party, Giovanni searches through the crowd and finds Valentina alone. She tells him to spend the rest of the evening with his wife. She plays him a tape recording of something she has written; Giovanni praises it, but she dismisses it and erases the tape. Giovanni states that he is going through a "crisis" common among writers, but in his case, it is affecting his whole life. They return to the party just as Lidia and Roberto return from their drive. Valentina invites Lidia to dry off in her room, where Lidia confronts her directly about her husband, but they soon engage in friendly conversation. As the women chat, Giovanni overhears his wife tell Valentina that she wants to die. Noticing Giovanni, Lidia declares that she feels no jealousy towards Valentina. Giovanni and Lidia leave the party at dawn.

As Giovanni and Lidia walk away across Mr. Gherardini's private golf course, Lidia informs Giovanni of Tommaso's death. She recounts how Tommaso used to support her and offer his affections to her, but she eventually chose to be with Giovanni because she loved him. She then explains that she feels like dying because she no longer loves Giovanni. He acknowledges the failure of their marriage but reaffirms his love for her. Lidia takes out a love letter Giovanni wrote to her before they married and reads it aloud. Giovanni embraces and kisses her, but she resists, insisting that they no longer love each other. Giovanni continues to kiss and fondle Lidia in a bunker on the golf course.

Cast

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Production

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Filming locations

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  • 4 Via Lanzone, Milan (the hospital)
  • 20 Via Gustavo Fara, Milan (Giovanni and Lidia's apartment)
  • Barlassina Country Club (Gherardini villa)
  • Sesto San Giovanni, Lombardy[4]

Release

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Censorship

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When La Notte was first released in Italy in 1960, the Committee for the Theatrical Review of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities rated it as VM16: not suitable for children under 16. In addition, the committee made the following censorship recommendations: 1) the scene at the hospital with Mastroianni and the young lady must end at the moment when the two start to kiss each other; 2) the scene in the dressing room in which it is possible to see the naked breasts of Moreau; 3) the word "whore", said by one of the two ladies walking in the park, must be removed; 4) the final scene in which Mastroianni and Moreau hug each other and start rolling down the grass, the scene can resume when the panning shot shows the landscape without displaying the two actors.[5] Document N° 33395 was signed on 2 November 1960[5] by Minister Renzo Helfer.

Reception

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Box office

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La Notte grossed 470 million lire ($752,000) in Italy during its initial release in Italy.[6]

Critical response

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On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 84% based on 31 reviews, with an average rating of 7.6/10.[7]

In his review in The New York Times, Bosley Crowther wrote: "As in L'Avventura, it is not the situation so much as it is the intimations of personal feelings, doubts and moods that are the substance of the film".[8] Crowther praises Antonioni's ability to develop his drama "with a skill that is excitingly fertile, subtle and awesomely intuitive".[8]

Too sensitive and subtle for apt description are his pictorial fashionings of a social atmosphere, a rarefied intellectual climate, a psychologically stultifying milieu—and his haunting evocations within them of individual symbolisms and displays of mental and emotional aberrations. Even boredom is made interesting by him. There is, for instance, a sequence in which a sudden downpour turns a listless garden party into a riot of foolish revelry, exposing the lack of stimulation before nature takes a flagellating hand. Or there's a shot of the crumpled wife leaning against a glass wall looking out into the rain that tells in a flash of all her ennui, desolation and despair.[8]

Stanley Kubrick listed La Notte as one of his top 10 favorite films.[9]

Accolades

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La Notte was selected as the Italian entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 34th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.[10]

Award Year Category Recipient(s) Result
Berlin International Film Festival[11] 1961 Golden Bear Michelangelo Antonioni Won
David di Donatello[12] Best Director Won
Jussi Awards 1962 Foreign Actress Jeanne Moreau Won
Nastro d'Argento[13] Best Director Michelangelo Antonioni Won
Best Supporting Actress Monica Vitti Won
Best Score Giorgio Gaslini Won

Cultural references

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Actually Gaetano "Tanino" Negroni, a Roman eye surgeon

References

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  1. ^ Gazetas, Aristides (2008). An Introduction to World Cinema (2nd ed.). McFarland & Company. p. 246. ISBN 978-0-7864-3907-2.
  2. ^ Wakeman, John, ed. (1988). World Film Directors: Volume Two, 1945–1985. New York: H. W. Wilson Company. p. 64. ISBN 978-0-8242-0763-2.
  3. ^ Cameron, Ian Alexander; Wood, Robin (1971). Antonioni. London: Praeger. p. 105. ISBN 9780275571207.
  4. ^ "Locations for La Notte". Internet Movie Database. Archived from the original on 10 January 2020. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  5. ^ a b "Italia Taglia". Archived from the original on 29 June 2018. Database of the documents produced by the Committee for the Theatrical Review of The Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, from 1944 to 2000.
  6. ^ Nicoli 2016, p. 198.
  7. ^ "La Notte". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  8. ^ a b c Crowther, Bosley (20 February 1962). "Screen: Antonioni Offers 'The Night': Story of a Lost Union". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  9. ^ Ciment, Michel. "Kubrick: Biographical Notes". Visual Memory. Archived from the original on 20 December 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  10. ^ "Margaret Herrick Library". Academy Awards. Archived from the original on 5 May 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  11. ^ "Prizes & Honours 1961". Berlin International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 22 March 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  12. ^ "Motore di ricerca" (in Italian). David di Donatello. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  13. ^ "Tre premi per ciascuno' ai film di Antonioni e di Germi". La Stampa (in Italian). Vol. 94, no. 76. 30 March 1962. p. 8.
  14. ^ Jones, Terry (director) (17 August 1979). Monty Python's Life of Brian (motion picture). Event occurs at minute 93.31–38.
  15. ^ Murray, Noel (24 August 2008). "Mad Men: "The New Girl"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  16. ^ "Ketil Bjørnstad – La notte". ECM Records. Archived from the original on 15 February 2015.

Bibliography

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