Surprisingly watchable for a film about boredom.

Author: aemmering from United States
7 December 2007
Which is indeed what "La Notte" is. Antonioni is at his best here, when dealing with interpersonal relationships, rather than wallowing in his supposedly "new revelations" about left wing politics, as he did in Zabriskie Point, a vastly inferior film. Antonioni was probably the best director ever when it came to depicting the modern European spirit of ennui and alienation in personal and sexual relationships. Contrast his sensitive handling here of Moreau and Mastroianni, as a bored married couple, with the heavy handed misuse of the stereotyped characters in "Eva", an art house entry by Joseph Losey, an expatriate American director who was working in Europe at the same time. The failure of Eva had nothing to do with Losey's nationality; slow moving characterizations of failed, dull relationships just aren't every auteur's strong point. Tellingly, "La Notte" works well with the sound off--the director's midrange shots of Moreau posed against dead, empty walls speak much louder than any words could.