La Notte

Madisen Stubbs | April 2019 - 2 min read

Michelangelo Antonioni’s La Notte is a spectacular piece of cinema. While La Notte is the second in a trilogy of films, it can be watched on its own.

The film starts out with our two main characters visiting a dying friend in the hospital. Seeing their friend in pain causes Lidia, played by Jeanne Moreau, to exit the building. Meanwhile, Lidia’s husband, Giovanni continues to visit with their friend. We find out Giovanni is a famous writer and has a book party later that night. As Giovanni goes to leave, he is stopped by a young woman in the hallway. But I won’t give away what happens next.

Giovanni and Lidia get in the car and drive to the book party. When they arrive at their place of residence, Giovanni is swarmed with people want his autograph in a copy of his book. This, along with many other things, is an issue for Lidia and she leaves without saying a word to anyone. For hours of the day she wanders through the city, breaking up fights between young men and watching them shoot off rockets into the sky.

Lidia’s character has a lot on her mind as she feels her husband is slipping away from her grasp. She tries to wear a new dress or go to a gentleman’s club with him in order to spark some sort of sex appeal.

A little bit more than halfway through the film, a brunette Monica Vitti shows up. Her character, Valentina, intrigues Giovanni. They play a game both literally and metaphorically. Soon, they are joined by a number of people to play this game. Meanwhile, Lidia is wandering around. Lost in thought, she thinks of their friend whom they visited in the hospital.

This film is referenced in Mad Men (my favorite television series of all time!) as being both a wonderful and sensual film. Michelangelo Antonioni’s films can be described as being sexy especially when Monica Vitti walks into a scene. Her natural beauty and longing gaze makes you forget that she is playing with another woman’s husband. I’ve talked with the gentleman who first introduced me to this film and we both agree: Monica Vitti is such a natural actress. From her eyes, to her breathing to the way she carries herself, it really makes you believe she is that character.

Without going into too much detail and spoiling the end to this film, one last time I just want to recommend that you watch it. La Notte really is a gorgeous piece of cinema. Luckily, this film is available (with subtitles [though I am not sure how they fair compared to Criterion’s version]) on YouTube for free.

Thank you and I hope this film got your attention enough to sit down and enjoy it.