Films/DVD Asylum

Adult film time: Visconti's La Notte Bianchi with Marcello and Maria Schell.

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What happens when two people meet and are desperately in love--- but one of them loves another? Certainly, in the hands of most directors, this would be melodrama at its best, or worst.
But Visconti is a master of illusion: The sets in this film are almost surreal, as if theatre sets had been moved and filmed outdoors, as claustrophobic and mysterious as the emotions of the characters. The score by Nino complements the mood, alternately dashing and elevating our hopes.
Antonioni and Fellini covered the same ground, that of disaffection and a sense of purposelessness in post-war Italy and the seeming impossibility of love after such a shock to the human soul, but in starkly different ways.
Visconti shows hope is indestructible and that, corny as it sounds to moderns, love is eternal.
(For the action afficionatti, all is not lost: there is a realistic fight scene...).
Do not neglect this film if you enjoy Italian cinema.

Follow Ups:

I looked hard... there was no King Kong in your post to be found... you must be lost then - Victor Khomenko 10:41:25 12/18/05 (4)
Haven't seen that one.
- If you've seen the trilogy of Antonioni, La Dolce of Fellini--- this is a must. Also, - tinear 11:56:30 12/18/05 (3)
  the world weariness of Marcello is a nice counterpart to those other protagonists.
  You may even compare this film to the French post-War film you recently posted about, That Night at Maud's.
  - Le Notti bianche - Victor Khomenko 12:18:29 12/18/05 (2)
    Turns out my wife remembered us seeing it... must be my advanced age. She even remembered the Dostoyevsky's novel. As she put it - "Dostoyevschina" - not a complimentary word. Now I seem to vaguelly remember it too. I corrected your slight miss-spelling for those wishing to search for it.
    - I don't know how night is masculine in It. and feminine in Sp. and Port. nt - tinear 15:47:46 12/18/05 (1)
      as
      - Cultural subtleties. It is also feminine in Russian. - Victor Khomenko 17:17:25 12/18/05 (0)
        
        In Reply to: I don't know how night is masculine in It. and feminine in Sp. and Port. nt posted by tinear on December 18, 2005 at 15:47:46:
        
        But since I do not speak Italian (nor Spanish or Portuguese) I simply copied the title from imdb.
        I believe it is also masculine in German... so go figure.

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