A talented but callow novelist (Marcello Mastroianni) enjoys the acclaim afforded his just-published novel, while his marriage to a well-to-do Milanese woman (Jeanne Moreau) deteriorates. As she grieves for a dying friend she once loved, he is both bemused by and attracted to the advances of other women, particularly the ravishing daughter (Monica Vitti) of a potential new benefactor. An empty evening of visiting decrepit neighbourhoods, exotic nightclubs, and a swanky villa party leads to a final confrontation, which reveals the somber truth that love does not always conquer all.
The second film in a famous trilogy by the legendary director Michelangelo Antonioni (“L’Avventura”, “L’Eclisse”), “La Notte” captures the intoxicating glamour and amorality of Italy’s post-war nuovi ricchi, now even more sumptuous in a new restoration from a 4K scan of a 35mm fine-grain.
