Michelangelo Antonioni
La Notte

The cinema of master Antonioni is a cinema that has always required from the viewer a profound sensitivity and a certain commitment to deeply understand highly philosophical content, often not immediately comprehensible. It can be said that Michelangelo Antonioni was a director whose films relied mainly on two extremely important elements. The first pillar is time; Antonioni placed extreme importance on time and historical events. The second pillar of Antonioni's cinema was naturally the philosophical aspect. One only needs to watch films like "Blow Up" or "Zabriskie Point" to realize that the director, through significant historical periods marked by the "Power Flower" and the "counterculture," infused his characters with poetic sensitivity and highly philosophical reflections. The film we are discussing now, "La Notte," is yet another demonstration of how philosophy, united with a certain historical period, was important for Antonioni. With the then-sex symbol Mastroianni and the always brilliant Monica Vitti, Antonioni in 1961 directed a beautiful film that, as I said, does not aim at entertainment but is targeted towards a mature and intellectual audience. It should be noted that "La Notte" is part of a trilogy, the "existential or incommunicability trilogy," naturally always signed by the same Antonioni.

We are at the beginning of the sixties, so Antonioni transports us into the full economic boom, where the old workers look with wide eyes at what they had been dreaming of for years: prosperity, millions and millions of lire, luxurious parties lasting entire nights, expensive champagne, beautiful women, baths in massive pools under the rain. Yet in this stretch of apparent happiness, boredom reigns, an unknown depression that overwhelms souls, this sense of discontent manages to touch the souls of everyone, from the sick to writers who are about to become famous like our protagonist (Mastroianni), from wives to "daddy's girls" who never have to worry about anything given the wealth they possess. There is visible, blatant well-being everywhere, but it is what is invisible that causes pain, it is what people feel inside that prevents living a life that from the outside promises happiness, carefreeness, and well-being...and yet...none of this.

A certain incommunicability reigns supreme among people; they strive to talk, to play, to betray, to love, but inevitably they fall back into boredom, that cursed boredom that men and women cannot rid themselves of, and the strange thing is that this malaise involves everyone, even those who can have everything. Consequently, Antonioni's question, at least from my point of view, is simple...why? If the question is simple, the answer is extremely difficult.

Perhaps we should investigate why what we could define as "intellectual bourgeoisie" was created and why there is an urgent need to live by posing infinite questions and almost never being able to find the slightest answer. Paranoias and fears that do nothing but damage the harmony that should exist in any life, in any man, and in any woman.

Undoubtedly, Antonioni's cinema is "cerebral" cinema; in fact, it has almost never gained the favor of the public, but on the other hand, it has always received praise and recognition from critics worldwide and from writers and intellectuals of no small significance. Just think that Pasolini devoted many words to this film and conducted an in-depth analysis of Antonioni's thoughts on the bourgeoisie and the sense of incommunicability. An Antonioni who, moreover, will be an example not only to American and English directors but even directors coming from the East will study Antonioni's cinema a great deal. For instance, look at Hirokazu Koreda's and Kim Ki Duk's cinema...it's quite evident that these great Eastern directors have seriously and decisively studied and deepened their understanding of Antonioni's cinema, and watching their films makes it quite clear.

All this is to say, among other things, that it is not true that our cinema, Italian cinema, is the last wheel of the wagon...perhaps it is today...but in the past...our cinema was the best by far; we had masters who taught school to English and American directors; Antonioni, Visconti, Rossellini, De Sica, Fellini, Pasolini...these were directors who handed immortal works to Italian cinema that are envied worldwide. The fact that here in Italy, we have a cinematic culture that is, frankly, awful, and that you have to wait until four in the morning to see an Antonioni film...that is a sad subject. Pasolini, for example...is in school books, everyone says great poet, great writer, great intellectual, but then when do they air a Pasolini film on TV in prime or at least in second time? Never ever...why? Because Pasolini is scandalous, Pasolini is uncomfortable; with directors like Antonioni, Fellini, Pasolini (especially Pasolini), I understood how Italy contradicts itself when it speaks well of these figures, they praise them to show off and make themselves heard...but then you never see a Pasolini film on TV!

I can understand that Antonioni's cinema is not easy and not accessible to everyone. However, I still invite people to see his films, first and foremost because it is right to recommend a film directed by an artist like Antonioni, also because there might always be someone, perhaps a young person, who is open to experiencing a type of cinema where philosophy, sensitivity, and intellect prevail and thus Antonioni's cinema is super highly recommended.

Beautifully shot, extraordinary actors, the director's style is as always unmistakable and easily recognizable. It is a slow film but capable of transporting you into a day (the one the protagonists of the film live) which it will be up to the viewer to define; if it has been understood, or if it has been totally incomprehensible. A wonderful film not to be missed.

VinnySparrow