It Was High Time I Saw A Luchino Visconti Film!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                               Of course, I have always wanted to see his deliciously decadent 1969 film, "The Dammed," and I expect to in the near future.  But yesterday David and I saw his 1957 film "White Nights," which was tender and lyrical.

                                We saw it at the Film Forum.  Now, here is the thing about this place.  There are huge stretches of time when we never go there.  Then there are others when it seems as though we go there all the time.  We are in the latter phase right now.

                                  The film begins with a beautiful shot of the Venice set on which it was filmed.  A young woman, Natalia, is standing, crying, over a bridge, and one immediately fears she is going to jump. She is spotted by Mario (Marcello Matrionni) who thinks the same thing, and in the course of things strikes up not only a potential conversation, but a possible relationship.

                                    Natalia is played by Maria Schell, who has the kind of young freshness that reminded me of Eva Marie Saint as Edie Doyle in "On The Waterfront."  It is hard at first to determine if she is genuinely naive or a manipulator. As she reveals her story--a former wealthy Slavic family reduced to poverty and making rugs due to the Nazis, not to mention being literally and psychologically tethered to her grandmother and abandoned by her parents-- it is clear Natalia has no life experience but desperately wants it.  Alas, a year ago she met a man, L'inquilno, played by Jean Marais, whom she has promised to wait for a year.  What is he?  A criminal?  And why did he disappear to a year out of necessity?  Despite the mutual attraction between Mario and Natalia, she chooses the other.  Is she making the right choice?  The film allows the audience to make up their mind, as, snow falling, Mario walks off alone, accompanied by a stray dog, who will become his companion.  Sometimes dogs are better!

                                        I was sometimes reminded of "Brief Encounter."  But "White Nights" has a lyrical earthiness, with lights and shadows placed on buildings to suggest the emotional calibration of the characters.  Visconti is skilled at camera placement and eliciting marvelous performances from his lead trio, as well as the supporting cast, including grandma.  The boat ride Mario and Natalia take is shot beautifully, suggesting a kind of postwar hopefulness, while the climactic snowfall is as lyrical as needs to be for the climax.  For those inclined to shed tears, like me, this film will do it for you.

                                      Not familiar with Visconti's work, it surprised me he could make such a romantic and lyrical film.  I thought harshness and decadence were characteristic of his work, and in some cases, they might be, but "White Nights" shows him to be capable of romantic, poetic lyricism.

                                        I urge you to go, girls.  What could be more fulfilling on a hot summer afternoon than a gorgeous romantic story?

                                          See "White Nights," now, while it is still at the Film Forum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!