Le Notti Bianche (2018)

What makes it different from others?

Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

This is How Movies Should Be Made

I really don't get the hype.

Visconti's cinematic adaptation of Dostoevsky's short story WHITE NIGHTS, LE NOTTI BIANCHE, transposed in an unspecified Venice-emulating town, but shot entirely inside the Cinecitta studio, signposts an emphatic deviance from his neorealism root, and emerges as a swooning melodrama centers on a bizarre love triangle.A johnny-come-lately to the town, the lonesome young man Mario (Mastroianni), alights on a similarly lonely young woman Natalia (Schell), who is waiting for the promised return of her lover (Marais), every night in the same place after their one-year separation. Mario is smitten with her in the first sight, and his good-natured persona slowly makes a reluctant Natalia relent, he is safe in her friend's zone, together she tells him how she falls head over heels for her beau, and every day she is tormented by the trepidation over the pending rapture or disillusion (an outcome totally out of her control), Mario's presence brings a ray of hope in her, and perhaps, she is able to reciprocate his affection, one day, when she will finally get over the man who deserts her.In this nocturnal fable, Visconti palpably husbands its stagey setting into a mist of yearning, melancholia and ambiguity, and on that vast canvas, Schell and Mastroianni enterprisingly emanate their characters' emotional gamut to the fore, an poignantly expressive Schell reifies the purest form of love's irrational wavelength, submerges herself into an almost trance-like whirlpool from which no one else but that man of her desire can extricate her; whereas an assiduous Mastroianni, outstandingly animates the diametrical switcheroo from delight to disenchantment of a man bewitched by an unrequited love, who bookends the film with a heart-rending resignation of the kismet as someone's second best. To rationalize Natalia's out-and-out capitulation to her crush (and to resist an impeccably appealing Mastroianni), Visconti bestow a chiseled Marais a pall of mystique that is at once dangerous and scintillating, shorn of any contextual information (no name is referred), he is the emblem of a man's immanent appeal to the opposite sex; meantime, Clara Calamai's supporting turn as a desperate streetwalker is counterpoised as a biting undertow aiming at the gender and age discrimination in the milieu. Aesthetically, the infectious dancing-in-the-bar spectacle potently tempers the story's innate mawkish overtone and points up Visconti's ambidexterity in construction of both action and mood, a stylishly romanticized dissection of that senseless little thing called love.

An exquisitely told story of the "silhouette" nature of love -- I love you, and you're drawn to someone else.Director Lucchino Visconti has assembled a perfect cast for this Livorno, Italy-set version of the Dostoyefsky short story: Marcello Mastroianni as a lonely clerk, Maria Schell as the innocent homebody he falls for, and Jean Marais as the unnamed tenant with whom Natalia falls in love.The story is set in a magical-looking streetscape of dusky bars, lazy canals, and quaint little bridges. We share the perspective of the ready-for-love Mario as he roams the town, eager to connect. Anyone can follow a streetwalker but Mario is looking for something deep and authentic. Mastroianni is perfect in the role of a simple man on a heartfelt quest.Ms. Schell could not be more believable as a young woman so sheltered that her blind grandmother would keep their skirts pinned together. Natalia fell in love at first sight with the studly tenant, unwavering in her devotion -- despite the fact that he confides he must go away for a year -- no explanation possible. (My own theory is that he is serving a jail sentence. Yet Natalia is ready to wait, no questions asked.) What woman can't identify with this sort of hypomanic infatuation? What man or woman can't also empathize with Mario, who appreciates Natalia with every cell in his body, yet must accept she'll never return his ardor? Visconti expertly captures these poignancies."God bless you for the moment of happiness you gave me," Mario tells Natalia in the end, in an amazing bit of out-of-the-box thinking.We can't all win at love in every attempt at finding it. But we can be grateful for the richness of our experience along the way!

Masterly directed by Luchino Visconti this film should be watched by everyone. Le Notti Bianche di Luchino Visconti (White Nights) is an extraordinary contribution to cinematic history. A film you never forget. A mixture of romance, surrealism and madness. Really good movies are so rare that they're worth watching several times. Young actors should watch and study this film. Young directors should discover what film making is. Maria Schell quite simply, wonderful. Marcello Mastroianni is as always exceptionally brilliant. Nino Rota's music capable of conveying a mood and atmosphere. Notice how movies now a day sucks? Is anyone out there who still understand what a good movie is? If so, watch White Nights, a masterpiece.

He's not a director I'm overly enthusiastic about, but he's good. This is a simple love story, based on Dostoyevsky. Marcello Mastroianni plays a man who meets a beautiful young girl (Maria Schell). He falls for her instantly, but finds she is awaiting an older man (Jean Marais) with whom she fell in love the previous year. He is supposed to be coming back for her. Mastroianni attempts to prevent the reunion. This reminds me more of Fellini than Visconti. There's a dance sequence in a night club that almost escapes from the movie. It's like a centerpiece, and like a small masterpiece existing within an otherwise excellent film.