L'Eclisse DVD, 1962

Vittoria (Monica Vitti) abandons a difficult relationship yet the emotional wounds of separation leave her with feelings that she doesn't fully understand and is incap... more >

Vittoria (Monica Vitti) abandons a difficult relationship yet the emotional wounds of separation leave her with feelings that she doesn't fully understand and is incapable of communicating. Aimlessly she wanders throught the cold modernist architecture of Rome and has a brief affair with an insensitive stock broker (Alain Delon). Like 'Le Notte' and 'Il Deserto Rosso', 'L'Eclisse' was made at a time of great uncertainty in Antonioni's life, a point where he doubted all forms of communication, subsequently the films investigation of love veers into abstraction and pictorialism and away from character. 'L'Eclisse' is not one of his best, it feels lost and rambling and has a suicidal tone that can be wearing, but it does contain some extraordinary sequences - the African dance, Delon and Vitti in the park, and the final where the enduring progression of the city washes over the human story. It's half masterpiece, half depressing but essential viewing none-the -less. < less