Visconti continued to make his own adaptations of already existing works throughout his career, and he freely changed the works to fit his own vision.  Le Notti Bianche is no exception to this notion, as Visconti tailored Fyodor Dostoyevsky's White Nights to fit his idea.  Both stories deal with a lonely man and lonely woman, but the differences emerge through Visconti's cinematic illustrations.  The film takes place during the winter unlike the book, which is staged in the spring.  Despite the free adaptation, the Italian filmmaker succeeds in creating an astonishing story that keeps the audience compelled to experience the agonized love of lost and yearning spirits.

The film opens one late night when Mario (Marcello Mastroianni) wanders the town where he is a stranger.  He has recently relocated due to work, and finds himself restless and lonely.  During Mario's nightly walk he encounters a weeping young woman on a bridge.  He later learns her name, Natalia (Maria Schell), a woman equally lonely, which is also the reason she is weeping.  Briefly before Mario introduces himself to Natalia, he defends her reputation against two young men who give her sexually suggestive insinuations.  Superficially, Mario is a modern man with values influenced by the modern society, as he subtly frowns upon old traditions and values.  Yet, he secretively respects the old traditions when it favors him, which leaves him in emotional twilight that at times confuses him.  

After Mario and Natalia have introduced themselves to each other, they plan a rendezvous the following evening on the bridge where they first met even though Natalia is hesitant about the idea.  The three following evenings Mario learns more about Natalia, as they meet on equal terms on the bridge where they first bumped into each other.  She is a woman that has been raised by her grandmother who strongly holds on traditional values.  At first, Mario frowns at how she has been raised, but becomes more enthralled by her naive and childlike persona.  He also learns that she has been waiting for her beloved on the bridge for year, which has left her in a loneliness that has had an emotionally draining affect on her.

The canal over which the bridge divides the two worlds that they come from in the old-fashion and modern.  Mario coming from the modern world to which he attempts to attract her away from her fantasy world where she dreams of her knight in shining armor.  Each night Mario attempts to lure Natalia into his side of the canal where the bars, neon signs, and other attractions exert a pull on her.  Slowly she begins to cross the canal over the bridge more frequently, which has strong symbolical meaning in the sense of decision making while the canal serves as metaphorical divider for moral values.  Thus, in retrospect, speechlessness renders the viewer in the first scene where Mario crosses the bridge upon which Natalia is crying, as profound symbolism in regards to choices and ideals.

Le Notti Bianche is entirely shot in a studio, which is obvious.  However, the removal of the authenticity of shooting at location enhances the fantasy within the story.  In addition, several scenes include fog and this increases the uncertainty within the audience.  These cinematic elements generate an atmosphere where the audience questions Natalia's unyielding belief in her high idealistic view of love.  It also favors the realistic approach, which Mario presents to Natalia.  The realism is present, yet Visconti plays with the imagination of a higher ideals through displaying the agony of loneliness and the desire of being desired and loved.  Le Notti Bianche is a remarkably clever tale that depicts how two different, yet the same, ideals converge through both the real and the imaginary. 

DIRECTED BY

COUNTRY

Italy / France

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