White Nights (1957 film)

White Nights (Italian: Le notti bianche) is a 1957 Italian film directed by Italian neorealist Luchino Visconti.[2] The movie takes its title and basic plot from Fyodor Dostoevsky’s 1848 short story White Nights.

Le notti bianche
Directed byLuchino Visconti
Produced byFranco Cristaldi
Screenplay bySuso Cecchi d'Amico
Luchino Visconti
Based onWhite Nights
by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
StarringMaria Schell
Marcello Mastroianni
Jean Marais
Music byNino Rota
CinematographyGiuseppe Rotunno
Edited byMario Serandrei
Distributed byUnited Motion Pictures Organization
Release date
6 September 1957
Running time
102 min
CountryItaly, France
LanguageItalian
Box office511,922 admissions (France)[1]

Plot

A lonely young man, Mario, meets a lonely young woman, Natalia. Mario (Marcello Mastroianni) is lonely for social reasons; he is a stranger and a newcomer to town. Natalia (Maria Schell) is lonely because she has always lived in isolation, even in the heart of the city. Her loneliness is intensified because she is in love with a man (Jean Marais) who may not ever return to her, but who continues to occupy her heart to the exclusion of any other possible relationship.

In turning the Dostoevsky story into a film, Visconti eliminated the first-person narration and made Natalia less of an innocent, and at times something of a hysteric and a tease. For his part, Mario rejects obvious offers of romantic attention from other women in the story, holding on to a fruitless obsession.

Mario thanks the young woman for the moment of happiness she has brought him. However, he is left alone at the end of the film, befriending the same stray dog he met at the beginning. He is back at square one, and has put more energy into pursuing the fantasy of an obsession rather than any prospect of real love.

Cast

Remake

Two Lovers, a 2009 movie by James Gray, is loosely based on the 1957 movie.

References
  1. "Box Office Figures for Jean Marais films". Box Office Story.
  2. "NY Times: White Nights". NY Times.com. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
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