Review of La Notte (1961) by Devin R — 07 Jun 2009

The imminent death of a friend hovers over a married couple, causing them to examine over the course of one night (eye roll) their relationship and how much meaning their lives have and will have. Had the film not restricted itself to this play-like time frame, there could have been some more meat to the story.

But after the first 25 minutes, we go into the bored bourgeois and their boring encounters with other boring people. Occasionally we break to see some emotion, some vestige slipping away, but the fact that these people are so pent up, either by their station or by the requirements of the screenplay, causes an enormous lack of association with their dilemmas.

It's all the more frustrating that when one does connect, it works pretty well.