Michelangelo Antonioni wrote and directed The Eclipse, an existential romantic drama, starring Alain Delon and Monica Vitti at the peak of their respective careers.
Grade: A- (**** out of *****)
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Theatrical release poster
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Filmed on location in Rome and Verona, the story follows a young woman (Vitti) who pursues an affair with confident young stockbroker (Delon).
Antonioni attributed his inspiration for L’Eclisse to the time in which he filmed a solar eclipse in Florence.
The film is considered the last part of a trilogy and is preceded by L’Avventura (1960) and La Notte (1961).
L’Eclisse won the Special Jury Prize at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Palme d’Or.
On a Monday of July 1961, at dawn, Vittoria, a young literary translator, ends her relationship with Riccardo after a long night of endless disputes. Riccardo tries to persuade her to stay, but she claims she is no longer loves him.
As she walks the deserted early-morning streets past the EUR water tower, Riccardo joins her through a wooded area to her apartment, where they bid final adieu.
Vittoria visits her mother at the frantic Rome Stock Exchange, which is very busy. A young stockbroker, Piero, overhears an inside tip, rushes to purchase the stocks, and then sells them at a large profit. He introduces himself to Vittoria; he is her mother’s stockbroker.
Following the announcement of colleague’s fatal heart attack and moment of silence, the room erupts back into frenzied activity.
Outside the building, Vittoria and her mother walk to an open market. Vittoria attempts to discuss her own recent breakup, but her mother is preoccupied with her profits.
Vittoria’s neighbor Anita (Rosanna Rory) visits and they discuss the breakup, which has left Vittoria depressed, disgusted, confused.
Another neighbor, Marta, talks about the farm she and her husband have in Kenya. For a game, Vittoria dresses up as African dancer with dark makeup, and dances around the apartment. Marta, unamused, asks her to stop. The conversation turns sour as Marta, a colonialist, worries about “monkeys” arming themselves and threatening the minority whites. Vittoria and Anita dismiss such talk.
Vittoria and Anita fly to Verona in a small airplane, and Vittoria is fascinated by the clouds and airplanes taking off and landing with childlike wonder.
Back at the Rome Stock Exchange, Piero is busy making trades. Vittoria learns that her mother lost about 10 million lire, and another man lost 50 million.
Piero drives her to her mother’s apartment in his Alfa Romeo Giulietta sportscar. She shows him framed family photos and her room while growing up. Piero tries to kiss her, but she avoids his pass. Piero drives back to his office, forced to break the bad news to investors.
Piero meets with a call girl he previously arranged to meet, but is disappointed that she recently changed her hair color from blonde to brunette. Deciding not to go with her, Piero drives to Vittoria’s apartment and stands outside her window.
While they are talking, a drunk man steals Piero’s sportscar. The next morning, Piero and Vittoria arrive at the site where the drunk drove the car into a lake. Vittoria watches as they pull the car with the body. Piero is more concerned about the dents and the motor rather than the dead man.
Vittoria tries to call Piero, but his phone is busy. When she finally reaches him, she thinks it’s a prank call, yells into the phone and slams down.
The next day, Piero arrives with a new BMW to replace his Alfa Romeo. Piero takes her to his parents’ apartment, filled with works of art and sculpture. As they talk, she seems nervous and unwilling to open up to him: “Two people shouldn’t know each other too well if they want to fall in love. But then maybe they shouldn’t fall in love at all.” They converse playfully, and then kiss passionately.
After he accidentally tears her dress, she looks at the old family pictures. Piero comes to the bedroom, and they make love.
Piero, lying in bed, says “I feel like I’m in a foreign country.” She feels the same around him. He gets upset, failing to understand her feeling. She says “I wish I didn’t love you or that I loved you much more.”
Vittoria and Piero kiss playfully, even wrestling on the floor like children. They agree to meet that evening at the “usual place” near her apartment. That Sunday evening, September 10, 1961, neither shows up at the appointed meeting place.
Cast
Alain Delon as Piero
Monica Vitti as Vittoria
Francisco Rabal as Riccardo
Louis Seigner as Ercoli
Lilla Brignone as Vittoria’s Mother (Antonioni)
Rossana Rory as Anita
Mirella Ricciardi as Marta
The movie was shot on location at th Rome Stock Exchange, Rome, Lazio, Verona, and Veneto.
While Antonioni’s L’Avventura had been derided upon its 1960 premiere, it was quickly reevaluated to the extent that L’Eclisse became “the most eagerly awaited film of the 1962 Cannes Film Festival.” Critics believed that Antonioni’s approach “was perhaps one way forward for an artform that was in danger of endlessly repeating itself”.
It is today considered one of Antonioni’s more important and innovative works, manifest in formal playfulness, with its open form offering different ways of watching and projecting onto the characters
The overall atmosphere of ennui and existential dismay is nicely constructed.
Described by Scorsese as the boldest film in the trilogy, it is one of the director’s more acclaimed works. For him, the film “felt less like a story and more like a poem”. He adds that the ending is “a frightening way to end a film…but at the time it also felt liberating. The final seven minutes of Eclipse suggested to us that the possibilities in cinema were absolutely limitless.”
In the 2012 Sight & Sound polls conducted by the British Film Institute, L’Eclisse was voted in both the critics’ and directors’ polls as one of the 100 greatest films of all time.
Other critics, like Robin Wood, complained that Antonioni’s films after L’Avventura were too “self-indulgent” and “defeatist,” representing “retreat into a fundamentally complacent despair.”
At present, Antonioni’s works are “out of vogue with movie goers captivated by postmodern irony and fast-paced editing.” His work reflected not only a major change in Italian society but also a profound shift in film culture. His visually driven style and provocative approach to narrative raised the bar of storytelling.
The film was included in BBC’s 2018 list of the 100 greatest foreign language films, ranked by 209 film critics from 43 countries.
In France, the film had 470,764 admissions.
Credits:
Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni
Written by Antonioni, Tonino Guerra, Elio Bartolini, Ottiero Ottieri
Produced by Robert and Raymond Hakim
Cinematograph: Gianni Di Venanzo
Edited by Eraldo Da Roma
Music by Giovanni Fusco
Distributed by Cineriz
Release date: April 12, 1962
