Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Christophe Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

lasttimeisaw Visconti's cinematic adaptation of Dostoevsky's short story WHITE NIGHTS, LE NOTTI BIANCHE, transposed in an unspecified Venice-emulating town, but shot entirely inside the Cinecitta studio, signposts an emphatic deviance from his neorealism root, and emerges as a swooning melodrama centers on a bizarre love triangle.A johnny-come-lately to the town, the lonesome young man Mario (Mastroianni), alights on a similarly lonely young woman Natalia (Schell), who is waiting for the promised return of her lover (Marais), every night in the same place after their one-year separation. Mario is smitten with her in the first sight, and his good-natured persona slowly makes a reluctant Natalia relent, he is safe in her friend's zone, together she tells him how she falls head over heels for her beau, and every day she is tormented by the trepidation over the pending rapture or disillusion (an outcome totally out of her control), Mario's presence brings a ray of hope in her, and perhaps, she is able to reciprocate his affection, one day, when she will finally get over the man who deserts her.In this nocturnal fable, Visconti palpably husbands its stagey setting into a mist of yearning, melancholia and ambiguity, and on that vast canvas, Schell and Mastroianni enterprisingly emanate their characters' emotional gamut to the fore, an poignantly expressive Schell reifies the purest form of love's irrational wavelength, submerges herself into an almost trance-like whirlpool from which no one else but that man of her desire can extricate her; whereas an assiduous Mastroianni, outstandingly animates the diametrical switcheroo from delight to disenchantment of a man bewitched by an unrequited love, who bookends the film with a heart-rending resignation of the kismet as someone's second best. To rationalize Natalia's out-and-out capitulation to her crush (and to resist an impeccably appealing Mastroianni), Visconti bestow a chiseled Marais a pall of mystique that is at once dangerous and scintillating, shorn of any contextual information (no name is referred), he is the emblem of a man's immanent appeal to the opposite sex; meantime, Clara Calamai's supporting turn as a desperate streetwalker is counterpoised as a biting undertow aiming at the gender and age discrimination in the milieu. Aesthetically, the infectious dancing-in-the-bar spectacle potently tempers the story's innate mawkish overtone and points up Visconti's ambidexterity in construction of both action and mood, a stylishly romanticized dissection of that senseless little thing called love.

MartinHafer In some ways, "Le Notti Bianche" is a strange film for me. On one hand, it has some of the best cinematography you'll ever see in a black & white film. The composition, the lighting, the mist--it all is so perfect. Yet, on the other hand, the story itself is so slight that I felt very unfulfilled at its conclusion.The film begins with a lonely man wandering about the waterfront late at night. Although you'd think a guy that looks like Marcello Mastroianni would not have trouble finding a relationship, but in this film he is quite alone. By chance, he meets a very strange woman (Maria Schell). She is VERY shy--and behaves a bit oddly. However, despite this, he vows to stop by the same place they met and see her, if she wants, the following night. From this very inauspicious beginning, two lonely people meet and form a friendship....and perhaps more. Eventually, you understand some of her weird behaviors--she's actually waiting for another man (Jean Marais)--a man who you assume will never come.There really is NOT a lot more to the film than my description. It isn't a bad film but I wanted more. I liked Mastroianni's character (though he was a sad fellow) but found Schell's perplexing and hard to believe. I also thought their relationship a bit hard to believe as well--going from total strangers to talking about marriage WAY too fast. In fact, the story itself was only okay--but the film earns a 7 simply for its look. Not a particularly enjoyable or engaging film for me--and it receives a very, very mild recommendation from me.

Bob Taylor I had a great deal of pleasure in watching this film; early-period Visconti is very satisfying for me, ever since watching The Earth Trembles at a university film club back in the 1970's, followed by Rocco and His Brothers and Sandra. I don't care if Saint Petersburg doesn't look like a set at Cinecitta, or that Jean Marais's voice is dubbed, or that Maria Schell had to learn Italian very quickly in order to play Natalia and her accent is suspect (she's referred to as a "foreigner"). I don't care that Clara Calamai's (uninteresting) part is added to the story, probably so Visconti could repay a favour to one of his leading ladies. I don't worry about any of these things because a master film director is making a picture that he cares about, and his passion is shared by me, the viewer.Maria Schell, who made so many memorable films in the Fifties--Gervaise for Rene Clement and The Brothers Karamazov for Richard Brooks come to mind--is terrific as the lovelorn girl. Mastroianni is a real revelation: no world-weary sybarite as he was for Fellini, but a white-collar worker with limited prospects who is capable of sudden passion for the girl. It's a treat to see him gyrating in the cafe to Bill Haley's Thirteen Women.

HeadleyLamarr Mario (Marcello Mastroianni) is a introverted young man who is new in town (a fantastical Livorno created just for the film). He encounters a young woman Natalya (Maria Schell) who appears to be waiting on a bridge. He saves her from some hoodlums and they become acquaintances. Over the next 4 nights we hear the stories of Mario and Natalya and come to learn why Natalya waits day after day at the bridge. Mario falls completely in love with Natalya and (in a departure from the Dostoyevsky story) throws away the letter she asks him to deliver to her returned lover. Will Natalya reciprocate Mario's feelings for her or will she forever pine for her lost love? The familiar tale unfolds beautifully in Visconti's version and the combination of sets, haunting use of lighting and fog, the river, the rain and snow, the narrow streets makes this a treat for the senses.The lead pair acted very well - Marcello was a heart-throb and Maria was beautifully vulnerable. Jean Marais as the tenant was a complete contrast to Mario the dreamer. He was earthy and big and solid.The movie had many beautiful moments but I MUST mention the night club scene - Marcello's dance was an inspired mix of gauche and genius. This is a beautiful film, well worth a watch and a few repeats. The DVD has some great insights into the period and what went into making the film.