Adapted from Fyodor Dostoyevsky's original novel, Luchino Visconti's film 'Le Notti Bianche' has a weirdly poetic tone to it. Having seen 'Ossessione', 'La Terra Trema' and 'Bellissima' prior to this, this is the first of his films that I have seen which is completely disconnected from Italian Neorealism, although he did venture outside the boundaries of neorealism in 'Senso' already but I haven't seen it yet. Nino Rota's beautifully haunting score complements the tone for the film. The cinematography is almost noir-ish with the shadows and the black patches are prominently darkened. The timeline is not specified which adds to the poetry of the tone. Visconti uses symbolism, metaphors and dramatic Hollywood-esque romantic storytelling. The film works very well for the most part, but I found the screenplay to be a bit uneven during the 2nd half of the film. There are a few scenes that are a bit clumsily strung together and it somewhat dragged the film down in my eyes. Marcello Mastroianni is great as the dreamy and introverted Mario. Maria Schell is a little exaggerated with her expressions, but it works with the tone set by Visconti for the film.
Out of the Visconti films that I have seen, 'Le Notti Bianche' is probably my 3rd favourite. I didn't like it anywhere near as much as 'Ossessione' or 'La Terra Trema'. However the visual artistry on show in 'Le Notti Bianche' is undeniable and even though the 2nd half is plagued by a bit of unevenness in the screenplay, the film still deserves a recommendation.
Out of the Visconti films that I have seen, 'Le Notti Bianche' is probably my 3rd favourite. I didn't like it anywhere near as much as 'Ossessione' or 'La Terra Trema'. However the visual artistry on show in 'Le Notti Bianche' is undeniable and even though the 2nd half is plagued by a bit of unevenness in the screenplay, the film still deserves a recommendation.