Review of La Notte (1961) by Madhuri A — 14 Sep 2008

La Notte is the story of a night in a couple?s relationship - Giovanni & Lydia ? It is a night both in the physical and metaphorical sense of the word. A culmination of what perhaps was a shining relationship, into the dusk of coldness and indifference ? leading to the dark hour of perhaps eventual separation. Antonioni, in his typical style which says more through gestures than words, has taken the viewer though this painful sequence of distancing. It makes you wonder why two attractive people who have each other would seek the company and affections of others. In the beginning, this ?other?-ly interest is subtle. Giovanni?s interest in a nymphomaniac, Lydia?s glances towards streetwalkers. That they are no longer ?together? is highlighted by Lydia?s otherworldliness in the presence of her husband. The estrangement is mutual ? and it is because they both seemed to have married a concept rather than each other ? Giovanni a rich attractive girl desired by many, Lydia a talented writer adored by lot. They try to love the concepts, and are therefore disappointed, annoyed and jealous in the real persons that lives behind those ideas.

The movie has a terrific ending - if novelists don't know how to wind up their writing, I suppose they can pick up a cue from Antonioni. He knows how to do it in perfection.

Antonioni has done a remarkable work with this movie. It seems very real and un-dramatic. (Except for the scene with the nymphomaniac, which seemed a little out of place). I have really begun to like him quite a lot, though I think he can be (and IS) excruciatingly slow. thought I would hammer Jack Nicholson in ?The passenger? to make him move a little faster!