is it not boring?

Try reading James Monaco "How to read a film"! Helped me a lot - though years ago!

http://www.amazon.de/s/ref=nb_ss_w?__mk_de_DE=%C5M%C5Z%D5%D1&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=how+to+read+a+film&x=0&y=0

I try to see "La Notte" whenever possible in a theatre - since the seventies!

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A good response, the above. What I pick up from this thread is that inexperienced viewers can follow the narrative line of L'Avventura but not that of La Notte -- hence they are turned off by it. The obvious suggestion: take care to see more good films and think critically about them. Certainly we react on a visceral level to film; but Antonioni (and frankly, I think all good film) demands much more than the gut response of "I followed this film, I understood it" or "I enjoyed what was happening in this film because I was able to understand it." Film is closest to music: any one moment in it must be considered against all moments put together, and none can be isolated.

Besides this: the broken flow of the narrative in La Notte is intended to mirror the breaking up of Giovanni's and Lydia's relationship, like the game of chess at the end of the film, or the swimming pool scene. The film is decidedly not about how sad it is that a couple breaks up, or how tortured are the lives of these two people. The film is their destruction, it is their impassivity. There is very little of sympathetic understanding in La Notte: a primitive state of anxious, unfulfilled, ever-present eroticism is closer to it.

View more of A's films for the verification of this.

First of all anyone who would rate this film as a 1 out of 10 is a troll and a philistine.

As for Ore's assessment, I tend to share it. La Notte is not the same level of experimental movie that the other 3 in Antonioni's pre-Blow-up films, all with Monica Vitti, are. but for many this will not be seen as a negative.

The narrative is rather straightforward, focusing on the increasing anomie in the marriage of the central couple's, with an added dash of flirtation/distraction from Vitti's character. But with a heavy dose of existentialist angst and perspective included. I will say it is not a perfect film, despite my giving it a 10 (perhaps a 9.5 would have been more accurate), since there are two or three shots where even someone not suffering from ADD would find the camera lingers for too long.

But more than making up for it is the engrossing way the film brings us into the urban world of the then modernizing and cosmopolitan Milan, to me one of Italy and Europe's more interesting cities, given its Northern Italian mix of Italian culture with a more Euro urban feel than say Rome. Antonioni's great talent for examining the characters in this setting is definitely here.

The cast is also great, with Antonioni's use of the great Marcello Mastroianni providing a useful comparator especially to Fellini's La Dolce Vita (another great film). And Ms. Vitti is as always extraordinary. Her closing line about being worn out is priceless and an example of her essentially unique and impressive talent.

But this film for me is really Jeanne Moreau's. Her emotional range here is fantastic, but always in keeping with the requirements of the narrative. To be sure some might feel she is excessively morose, even depressed, at times, too many times. But she leavens those moments with other expressions, making you treasure her smiles and lighter moments. The net result is we see the events largely through her character, and it is a revealing experience. One of the great actresses of the 20th Century, this is one of her awesome efforts.

It should also be mentioned that the party included in the last half is a great set piece. The direction here is a true marvel. There is a naturalism, not something Antonioni is much known for, with keen observations of those present, but also with some surreal elements, such as the jazz band literally playing all night.

I do somewhat admire L'Avventura and L'Eclisse more, L'Avventura for its radical and subversive narrative course, and L'Eclisse for its depth and detail. But La Notte is one of the great films, to be sure, and I highly recommend it.