Review of White Nights

Lucino Visconti's "White Nights" (1957) - is an engaging, uplifting, and compelling screen adaptation of Dostoyevsky's short story. I applaud to Visconti's masterful and elegant direction - everything is exquisite in his masterpiece. The settings came from a fairy tale – he moved his heroes to the dream like city that looked very much like Venice – with its canals and bridges. Original story took place in 19th century St. Petersburg – which always has been nicknamed "The Northern Venice". The film is set in the modern time. I was curious to see how Visconti would play the title. "White Nights" is the period of time in the beginning of June when the nights in St. Petersburg are very short. Alexander Pushkin described this time in one of his poems -"The morning rushes to catch the evening only giving darkness two short hours". Visconti's film takes place in the beginning of winter and during the last meeting between the heroes, the snow began to fall, giving the title and to the two final scenes new, deep, and very moving meaning. Is the ending happy or the sad one? I still don't know but what is certain that it is unforgettable. I also want to mention three lead actors who made this story so real, tender, sad, and poetic: Maria Shell as a desperate woman awaiting the return of her fairy tale prince - Jean Cocteau's leading man Jean Marais and lonely, shy clerk Marcello Mastroianni who was happy once if only for a few short minutes.