Marcello Mastroianni, as a lonely city transplant, and Maria Schell, as a sheltered girl haunted by a lover’s promise, meet by chance on a canal bridge and begin a tentative romance that quickly entangles them in a web of longing and self-delusion.
Luchino Visconti’s Le notti bianche, an exquisite adaptation of Dostoyevsky’s “White Nights,” translates this romantic, shattering tale of two restless souls into a ravishing black-and-white dream. —The Criterion Collection
Cast: Marcello Mastroianni, Maria Schell, Jean Marais, Clara Calamai, Marcella Rovena, Maria Zanoli, Elena Fancera, Lanfranco Ceccarelli, Angelo Galassi, Renato Terra, Corrado Pani, Dirk Sanders
Produced by: Franco Cristaldi, Jean-Paul Guibert, Giuseppe Maggi, Mario Maggi
Music by:Nino Rota Cinematography by: Giuseppe Rotunno Editing by: Mario Serandrei
The film received positive reviews from critics and audiences, and won the Silver Lion at the 18th Venice International Film Festival.
About this movie
Title: White Nights | Le notti bianche (1957)
Directed by: Luchino Visconti
Date of birth: 2 November 1906, Milan, Lombardy, Italy
Date of death: 17 March 1976, Rome, Italy
Writing credits: Luchino Visconti, Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Story)
Music: Nino Rota
Year: 1957
Country: Italy
Language: Italian
Color: Black & White
Runtime: 97 min.