This romantic drama by Michelangelo Antonioni follows the love life of Vittoria, a beautiful literary translator living in Rome. After splitting from her writer boyfriend, Riccardo, Vittoria meets Piero, a lively stockbroker, on the hectic floor of the Roman stock exchange. Though Vittoria and Piero begin a relationship, it is not one without difficulties, and their commitment to one another is tested during an eclipse.
Anyone disenchanted with the vacuity of later Antonioni will find the seeds of their dissatisfaction well-rooted in the mannerism and facile anguish evident here.
– ,
Time Out,
26 Jan 2006
fresh:
The conclusion of Michelangelo Antonioni's loose trilogy (preceded by L'Avventura and La Notte), this 1961 film is conceivably the best in Antonioni's career, but significantly it has the least consequential plot.
– Jonathan Rosenbaum,
Chicago Reader,
1 Jan 2000
fresh:
...sit back, suppress the subtitles so they don't distract you from the images and let the 125-minute movie suspend and substitute your consciousness like the moon passing in front the sun.
– Douglas Pratt,
Hollywood Reporter,
21 Apr 2005
rotten:
All there is to the drama -- a prolonged detailed illustration of the moody surrender of the woman to a rare and elusive love. This takes, for its full illumination, a few minutes over two hours.
– Bosley Crowther,
New York Times,
10 May 2005
fresh:
Vitti once again proves an ideal performer for Antonioni's thematics in what is probably her best role to date.