Notice that the none of the characters in Luciano Visconti's Le Notti Bianche (White Nights) have last names. This is because essentially his film (based on a Dostoevsky short story) is a fairy tale. For a director who's usually referred to as a neo-realist, this film is about as non-neo-realist as you can get.
It's set in an unnamed Italian town and filmed on what looks like a darkly lit sound stage. The film is dialogue-heavy and there's little in the form of "action sequences." Instead we're treated to more of an acting tour de force by the principal protagonists played by the Austrian-Swiss actress Maria Schell and famed Italian heartthrob Marcelo Mastroianni.
Schell plays Maria, a young, lonely woman tied to her elderly, nearly blind grandmother, whom she basically takes care of. Mastroianni is Mario, a newcomer to town who is also quite lonely. When Mario runs into Maria on the street, he ends up making a play for her by rebuffing two macho guys on a motorcycle who seem to be harassing her. She agrees to see him the next evening but at the scheduled hour, she changes her mind and runs away. Mario sees her exiting quickly from the appointed meeting place, catches up with her and can't hide his anger over Maria's decision to cancel the rendezvous.
Eventually Mario continues to press Maria into going out with him but it's clear that she's reluctant to give him a positive response. Maria is a symbol of the side of womanhood that is all emotion. She doesn't look at things objectively and merely gives in to her desires for love. Meanwhile, Mario's initial intentions with Maria are a mixture of a physical interest and companionship. He's extremely hard pressed in understanding Maria's moodiness and uncompromising thirst for romantic love.
The plot thickens when Maria reveals to Mario (in a flashback) that she fell in love with a tall dark stranger who became a boarder in their apartment building. We really find out nothing about this mysterious man who's referred to merely as the "tenant" (Jean Marais) in the film credits. Maria promptly falls in love with this man without even knowing anything about him, and when he reveals that he must go away for a year after getting into some kind of (unknown) trouble, she agrees to wait for him.
Undeterred, Mario continues to press Maria to fall in love with him. Her innate kindness eventually turns him into the mirror image of her-passionate, with a burning desire for romantic love. Not only that, he becomes a better person in that he places her desires above his own and makes it clear that if she chooses the other man, he'll be happy for her.
It's Mario's idea for Maria to send a letter to the former tenant stranger she's been waiting for to find out where he stands after she's received word that he's returned to town. Meanwhile, Maria is growing more fond of Mario but in the back of her mind, she cannot give up on her commitment to the man to whom she pledged her love a year ago,
Two scenes foreshadow the emotional climax. First Maria and Mario dance together in a bar punctuated by the rock and roll music of Bill Haley and the Comets. The scene really goes on for too long but is designed to show how conflicted Maria is as she does indeed have more intense feelings for Mario. It's also designed to set us up for the bittersweet (tragic?) ending.
Then after Maria runs away to meet her beloved, Mario is tricked by a dubious woman he runs into on the street who brings him to a place where he's assaulted and robbed by the woman's confederates.
Maria returns to Mario indicating that her former tenant never showed up to meet her, which had been specified in the letter Mario was supposed to surreptitiously deliver. Mario then confesses he never delivered the letter and he had no intention of doing so, since he coveted Maria from the beginning of their first encounter.
The surprising climax has the love of Maria's life returning and she runs off with him, much to the chagrin of Mario, who was on the verge of making significant headway with Maria. I suppose you could say Maria led Mario on but by the same token, he always knew that she had never given up on the mysterious man to whom she had pledged her love.
It's the old story of "nice guys finish last." The woman is attracted to the "bad boy" (remember the stranger indicated that he had to leave a year ago because he was "in trouble"), leaving a poor schlub like Mario to perhaps wallow in self-pity. Or did he truly accept what happened? Despite Mario's claims to the contrary, you can't help but feel that he was extremely disappointed (and even devastated) by the events that transpired.
I guess one of the themes here is "you can't always get what you want" and there's always going to be disappointment in life when people's desires conflict. There's something about fairy tales that turn me off a bit-my tastes run more toward realism. Clearly the characters here are not fleshed out human beings but represent different types. Nonetheless, if you're willing to accept the parameters and limitations of the narrative, the acting by Schell and Mastroianni is of the highest quality, and you can't help but be impressed by Visconti's vision of romantic love and its complications.
It's set in an unnamed Italian town and filmed on what looks like a darkly lit sound stage. The film is dialogue-heavy and there's little in the form of "action sequences." Instead we're treated to more of an acting tour de force by the principal protagonists played by the Austrian-Swiss actress Maria Schell and famed Italian heartthrob Marcelo Mastroianni.
Schell plays Maria, a young, lonely woman tied to her elderly, nearly blind grandmother, whom she basically takes care of. Mastroianni is Mario, a newcomer to town who is also quite lonely. When Mario runs into Maria on the street, he ends up making a play for her by rebuffing two macho guys on a motorcycle who seem to be harassing her. She agrees to see him the next evening but at the scheduled hour, she changes her mind and runs away. Mario sees her exiting quickly from the appointed meeting place, catches up with her and can't hide his anger over Maria's decision to cancel the rendezvous.
Eventually Mario continues to press Maria into going out with him but it's clear that she's reluctant to give him a positive response. Maria is a symbol of the side of womanhood that is all emotion. She doesn't look at things objectively and merely gives in to her desires for love. Meanwhile, Mario's initial intentions with Maria are a mixture of a physical interest and companionship. He's extremely hard pressed in understanding Maria's moodiness and uncompromising thirst for romantic love.
The plot thickens when Maria reveals to Mario (in a flashback) that she fell in love with a tall dark stranger who became a boarder in their apartment building. We really find out nothing about this mysterious man who's referred to merely as the "tenant" (Jean Marais) in the film credits. Maria promptly falls in love with this man without even knowing anything about him, and when he reveals that he must go away for a year after getting into some kind of (unknown) trouble, she agrees to wait for him.
Undeterred, Mario continues to press Maria to fall in love with him. Her innate kindness eventually turns him into the mirror image of her-passionate, with a burning desire for romantic love. Not only that, he becomes a better person in that he places her desires above his own and makes it clear that if she chooses the other man, he'll be happy for her.
It's Mario's idea for Maria to send a letter to the former tenant stranger she's been waiting for to find out where he stands after she's received word that he's returned to town. Meanwhile, Maria is growing more fond of Mario but in the back of her mind, she cannot give up on her commitment to the man to whom she pledged her love a year ago,
Two scenes foreshadow the emotional climax. First Maria and Mario dance together in a bar punctuated by the rock and roll music of Bill Haley and the Comets. The scene really goes on for too long but is designed to show how conflicted Maria is as she does indeed have more intense feelings for Mario. It's also designed to set us up for the bittersweet (tragic?) ending.
Then after Maria runs away to meet her beloved, Mario is tricked by a dubious woman he runs into on the street who brings him to a place where he's assaulted and robbed by the woman's confederates.
Maria returns to Mario indicating that her former tenant never showed up to meet her, which had been specified in the letter Mario was supposed to surreptitiously deliver. Mario then confesses he never delivered the letter and he had no intention of doing so, since he coveted Maria from the beginning of their first encounter.
The surprising climax has the love of Maria's life returning and she runs off with him, much to the chagrin of Mario, who was on the verge of making significant headway with Maria. I suppose you could say Maria led Mario on but by the same token, he always knew that she had never given up on the mysterious man to whom she had pledged her love.
It's the old story of "nice guys finish last." The woman is attracted to the "bad boy" (remember the stranger indicated that he had to leave a year ago because he was "in trouble"), leaving a poor schlub like Mario to perhaps wallow in self-pity. Or did he truly accept what happened? Despite Mario's claims to the contrary, you can't help but feel that he was extremely disappointed (and even devastated) by the events that transpired.
I guess one of the themes here is "you can't always get what you want" and there's always going to be disappointment in life when people's desires conflict. There's something about fairy tales that turn me off a bit-my tastes run more toward realism. Clearly the characters here are not fleshed out human beings but represent different types. Nonetheless, if you're willing to accept the parameters and limitations of the narrative, the acting by Schell and Mastroianni is of the highest quality, and you can't help but be impressed by Visconti's vision of romantic love and its complications.