Disclaimer: these are notes from a recent viewing of Visconti’s hopeless romance ‘La notti Bianche’ (1957), not a full fledged review
La notti Bianche notes:
– beautiful wide shot compositions with Marcello at the bottom of frame
– ruinous Italian streets, narrow, jagged, decrepit, water damage, metal bridges, echo plaster walls, big wooden doors
– plenty of fog to keep the city shrouded in darkness and murky.
– Mysterious women, cries alone at night and hangs outside a bar for curious reasons
– Marcello’s characters obviously a unserious person, sleeps in, stays out all hours of the night, shady characters that’s hard to read intentions – good or bad.
– love the mise-en-scene, so much is happening in the location with paintings, scenery, and alignment of production elements
– the canal shots are gorgeous and really add atmosphere to the film
– The juxtaposition of run down buildings with dirt, bricks, and old doors next to extravagant signage
– off-kilter romance about two shy people who feel as if they have nothing to offer
– damned romance between a former lover in a flashback (Jean Marais) and her current interest (Marcello Mastroianni). Lonely people trying to fix themselves
– a film about rotating lonely people that barely miss their connections and live shrouded in sadness
– immaculate blocking, many through doors, with the subjects in the background of shots while the foreground is occupied. Phenomenal worldbuilding and setting
– the desperation of the lonely, acting rashly, projecting hopes onto other people and leaving dissaponted when they don’t follow suit. For a film about love, it’s mired in loneliness and pain rather than love or comfort
– partially, this serves as the reason it’s so dour, foggy, indiscriminate in the images
– Marcello’s so vulnerable here, not playing into type, almost counters it with his incessant loneliness and charlatan behaviors.
– “what’s the difference between today and yesterday” speaking to the meaninglessness of life, relationships and hope
– “I’m such an ordinary, insignificant man”
– she constantly veers away from his glance, looking for a something else, while asking for Marcello’s patience and commitment
– it’s starts snowing as the two enter the gondola, signifying new love or a new arrival of sorts
– the ending is incredibly heartbreaking. The fear of loneliness is only trumped by the pain of denial. A denial of hope and a new life, but Marcello only finds emptiness in a muddled, white snow world
Weird Cinema 