Blu-ray Review: Antonioni’s ‘La Notte’ Joins Criterion Collection

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CHICAGO – 1961’s “La Notte” helped build Michelango Antonioni’s international reputation after the success of “L’avventura” and lifted stars Marcello Mastroianni and Jeanne Moreau to an arthouse plateau. The film hasn’t aged as well as some of Antonioni’s best, in my opinion, although the 4K restoration on the new Criterion Blu-ray certainly helps one appreciate the visual compositions of its incredibly influential director. The release is a bit slight on supplemental material but fans of the filmmaker or star will simply be happy to have one of his more notable works in HD.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

More of a moody examination of the disintegration of a relationship than the films of the recently-released Cassavetes set, “La Notte” is an atmospheric piece that captures a certain time and place and makes its human story feel universal at the same time. The supplements are thinner than usual here when it comes to Criterion releases but the two interview pieces provided are still very insightful. Criterion never offers filler, giving fans special features that enhance their appreciation of the film instead of just taking time. This one may less universally adored than many of their recent and upcoming releases but it’s still a solid release for an important film.

La Notte was released on Blu-ray on October 29, 2013
Photo credit: Courtesy of the Criterion Collection

Synopsis:
This psychologically acute, visually striking modernist work was director Michelangelo Antonioni’s follow-up to the epochal L’avventura. Marcello Mastroianni (Divorce Italian Style) and Jeanne Moreau (Jules and Jim) star as a novelist and his frustrated wife who, over the course of one night, confront their alienation from each other and the achingly empty bourgeois Milan circles in which they travel. Antonioni’s muse Monica Vitti (Red Desert) smolders as an industrialist’s tempting daughter. Moodily sensual cinematography and subtly expressive performances make La Notte an indelible illustration of romantic and social deterioration.

Special Features:
o New Interview With Film Critic Adriano Apra and Film Historian Carlo Di Carlo
o New Interview With Professor Giuliana Bruno On The Role Of Architecture In La Notte
o Trailer
o Booklet Featuring An Essay By Critic Richard Brody and a 1961 Article By Director Michelangelo Antonioni

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com