L'Eclisse (1962)
Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni

Film Review

With its emphasis on inward reflection and stark, ambiguious photography, L'Eclisse is not a particularly accessible film.  Like many of Antonioni's films, it makes great demands of the spectator.  Despite that, the film offers many pleasures. Monica Vitti is spell-binding as the wraith-like Vittoria, a tragic heroine figure looking for an unattainable fulfilment in a barren universe.  The film is perfectly constructed around her performance, to the extent that the spectator shares every minute of her angst, frustration and uncertainty.  Her French co-star Alain Delon is nearly as alluring, embodying a chilling blend of god-like beauty and sordid human  materialism.

Despite its lack of conventional drama, this is a stirring and almost tragic film.  Human existence has been all but subjugated to modern technology, leaving little of genuine value and meaning.  The film's final sequence, when Vittoria realises her fate, is both haunting and intensely disturbing, painting a shockingly believable picture of a future world which has no soul, individuality or purpose.

Film Synopsis

In Rome, Vittoria has grown tired of her tepid love affair with Ricardo, a strait-laced ambassadorial aide, and suddenly decides to end the affair after three years of living together.  She is collecting her mother from the stock exchange when her gaze is suddenly drawn to a dishy young stockbroker named Peiro.  They get to know one another and immediately discover a strong mutual attraction.  For the first time in her life, Vittoria feels that she has found true love.  But what promises to be the great affair of her life proves to be just another terrible disappointment.  Peiro's love of money and cynicism jar with Vittoria's longing for fulfilment of a more spiritual and abstract nature.  Realising that Peiro is not for her, the unfortunate young woman finds herself cast adrift in a tawdry and superficial world where she feels unable to connect with anyone...