Review of L'Eclisse (1962) by Todd J — 20 Aug 2007

L'Eclisse: From the opening shots of L'Eclisse, the viewer can instantly place the film as being in the same time, place, and theme as Antonioni's prior masterpiece, L'Avventura. But don't let that statement fool you because L'Eclisse is a different machine altogether, coming right out of the gate to weave its story rather than slowly pacing it out (although neither approach is necessarily better than the other).

Here, Monica Vitti returns at Vittoria, a recently divorced young woman trying to get life back to normal. In this manner, the film almost seems like a sequel to L'Avventura. Antonioni's great eye for camera movement and telling mise en scene is back as well.

Here, Antonioni develops a wonderful system of shots for Vittoria in which she's constantly entering or exiting a scene, and, generally, these shots are used to emphasize how fleeting her attachments are to those around her.

As can be expected, Vitti is wonderful, weaving her performance with just the right combination of sad beauty and realistic expression. Also great is French-favorite Alain Delon who plays a fast young man in pursuit of Vittoria.

Here, he doesn't do his silent cool that he would perfect in Melville's crime masterpieces but perfectly captures the up-and-coming Piero in a way that defies stereotyping or glossing or artifice.

This kind of emotional and tonal authenticity is really what marks Antonioni's best work, even moreso than his technical and subtextual brilliance. What really pushes this film over the top though is the ending, a five minute long series of shots that have nothing to do with the main characters but tells more about them and their mindsets than any other conclusion could.

It also manages to tell us quite a bit about the time and maybe even suggests (through something as simple as a man reading a newspaper) why contemporary behavior is as it's depicted in the film. ***** out've *****.