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La Notte
La notte
1961 122 min Italy, France 16+
★8.0
Drama, Romance
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Trailers
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Description
A day in the life of an unfaithful married couple and their steadily deteriorating relationship in Milan.
US Gross:
$39,236
Starring
Jeanne Moreau
Actor
Marcello Mastroianni
Actor
Monica Vitti
Actor
Awards
Berlin International Film Festival 1961
— Golden Bear
Key opinion
La Notte is widely regarded as a masterful exploration of existential emptiness and marital disintegration, praised for its meticulous visual language and atmospheric depth. While some viewers find its deliberate pace and lack of conventional narrative resolution frustrating, most critics and audiences identify it as a landmark of 1960s cinema.
| Cinematography | The film’s precise, stark black-and-white cinematography and framing effectively mirror the internal states and crumbling bond of the protagonists. | |
| Acting | Jeanne Moreau and Marcello Mastroianni deliver nuanced, impactful performances that capture the subtle, non-verbal dimensions of a decaying marriage. | |
| Theme | The film functions as a sophisticated, meditative portrait of intellectual alienation and the failure of communication among the elite. | |
| Pacing | The contemplative, slow-moving pace rewards viewers willing to engage with its atmospheric rhythm, while others find the lack of traditional narrative progression and dialogue-heavy scenes to be tedious or boring. | |
| Screenplay | Opinions on the screenplay are polarized; some find the focus on existential malaise and lack of incident to be profound, while others perceive it as superficial, derivative of contemporary works, or lacking in development. |