Noches blancas

This film is very good indeed. Visconti confirms what everybody knows: he is a master! The plot is based on a Dostoievski tale, where a love triangle is explored in the minimum psychological details. Actually, it shows the impact of a powerful passion on human behavior, it tries to explore the incredible power that love has on people's behavior, mainly when passion and irresistible attraction are present. The author tries to show that we are capable of believing anything as well as having childish attitudes when we are confronted with passion. Moreover Visconti is very elegant when dealing with all the elements, combining them with great precision.

Also it is fine to see Maria Schell and Mastroianni acting.

This film is very good adaptation of the short novel of Fyodor Dostoevsky.Some days ago he saw "Lo Straniero" (the Stranger) adapted from the novel of Albert Camus.It seems that Luchino Visconti is fond of dramatic stories with complicated characters. In this story we have all moments of feelings: sadness of Maria waiting on the bridge, joy when they go for dancind or when the snow is falling, anger when there was misunderstanding between them. Other important thing: the photography is extraordinary: in this time Fellini, Visconti,Antonioni had the best cameramen of Italy !! Finally the performances of Marcello Mastroianni and Maria Schell are excellent: they give strength to the film.

Not so much a neo realist film but rather a dreamlike adaptation of a Dostoyevsky short story, this one is a beautiful story of a fairy tale romance and disappointment.

Mastroianni gives a wonderful performance as the third wheel on this love triangle. As he is the point of identification for the viewer, it is really difficult to say whether this one has a happy end or not...

Highly recommended especially for the ingenious combination of neo realist imagery and old world romantic storytelling.

A wonderful, very touching rendition of Dostoevsky's 1848 short story "White Nights."

A lonely young man (Marcello Mastroianni) meets and instantly falls for a young woman (Maria Schell) in the street one night, but finds out she is waiting for a man who she fell in love with a year ago, and who promised to return (Jean Marais). As Mastroianni makes headway with Schell in the other man's absence and she tells him honestly that it would take time for her devotion to change, we see that it's a dual story of needing the patience to wait for love to come around, which may have one outcome or another.

Director Luchino Visconti gives us a dreamy atmosphere in the streets at night with beautiful framing, lights, and fog. The scenes in the rain and snow were memorable, and I loved how tightly he told this story, including the use of the flashback. It's a romantic tale full of the emotions from the heart, but he avoids it from being cloying, and includes a wonderfully long dance scene, including the energy and passion of strangers dancing, as well as the couple's awkward attempts (Mastroianni is pretty funny).

Another amusing scene is when Mastroianni promises to help Schell write a letter to the other man, and after they begin, she gently guides him. "Dear Sir," he begins, and she says no, "Kind Sir." He goes on with "Excuse me for writing to you, but you must forgive..." and she interjects with "Forgive my impatience but..." He admits that sounds all right and continues "For a whole year I've been waiting," and she interrupts with "I've been sustained by a joyous hope..." It's a lovely scene between the two, and shows us the Mastroianni's conflicted emotions and Schell's sweetness.

Mastroianni turns in an excellent performance, and the scene under the bridge is fantastic. I think Schell was probably a little less successful in her role, as she seemed to lack depth and smiled too often, but at the critical moments she delivered. The rest of the cast are in much smaller parts, some of which worked (the grandma is adorable), and some of which seemed a little off (Marais, playing the other guy, seems way too old, though I found the difference in ages wasn't as big as I would have guessed; Maris 44 and Schell 31).

The film gets better as it goes along and finishes strong, with a powerful ending that's brilliantly shot by Visconti.

My favorite quote from the film is from that fantastic scene under the bridge, with Schell in Mastroianni's arms, and he says to her: "I wish I could make you fall asleep like the character in the fairy tale, who'll only wake up on the day she is to find happiness. It'll be like that for you too. One day you'll wake up and find that it's a lovely day. The sun will be shining, and everything will be fresh and clean. What once seemed impossible will seem simple and natural."

I watched the film many times and thought that the film has been shot at Venezia. Now I'm wathching the film again and saw some street names, like these : Scali delle pietre, Scali del Pesce etc. I began to search these names and found that the film location is not Venezia,but it is Livorno.

If you pay attention the street names or place in the film, you could find same location in Livorno. There is very little changes after 60 years.