LA NOTTE, one of of a trilogy of films by Michaelangelo Antonioni that also includes L'AVVENTURA and L'ECLISSE, is a stand-out classic in the New Wave genre. Exploring the ennui of the Italian aristocracy, through a story of failing marriage and the rise of industrialization, LA NOTTE draws a parallel between the growing absence of architectural aesthetics and the lack of human emotion in our modern, industrialized world.
Wandering through dilapidated streets of Milan, stopping and staring aimlessly out at the world, seemingly in deep thought, is strikingly beautiful Lydia (Jeanne Moreau). Her husband, Giovanni (Marcello Mastroianni), is a handsome man and a popular author whose newest publication is being celebrated with a signing. Later that night, when Lydia finally decides to come home, she is unresponsive to Giovanni, and acts bored and aloof. Some of the friction between the couple is attributed to concern for their dear friend, Tomasso, who they visit in the hospital where he is dying, but it's unclear what he signifies to either of them. Giovanni takes Lydia out on the town--to a nightclub where they watch african dancers perform acrobatic cabaret acts with full wine glasses--but still she is bored, so he takes her on to a friend's elegant cocktail party, where they both stay all night, drifting from one flirtation to the next, uninterested in each other. An emotional and inconclusive conversation between the couple ends out the night as the sun rises, leaving viewers with a strange, vacant, longing feeling.
