Movie Review: L'Eclisse (The Eclipse), Starring Monica Vitti and Alain Delon, Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni (1962)

Original poster for L'Eclisse, starring Monica Vitti and Alain Delon, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, 1962.

Monica Vitti and Alain Delon make a gorgeous couple in L'Eclisse, 1962.

The 1962 Italian film L’Eclisse, (The Eclipse in English) is a fascinating film. Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, it’s considered the last in a trilogy, with the other films being L’Avventura and La Notte. L’Eclisse stars the beautiful Monica Vitti and the beautiful Alain Delon.  

As with many European films of the 1960’s, to sum up the plot of L’Eclisse would be superfluous. The movie is not about the plot, it’s about the feeling that the movie gives you, the emotions it evokes. And from the very beginning, L’Eclisse puts the viewer in a specific emotional state. The first few minutes of the movie are a great example of how little a film has to do to evoke a certain mood. Without music or flashy editing, Antonioni perfectly evokes the stagnant atmosphere of a study/living room as Riccardo (Spanish actor Francisco Rabal) and Vittoria (Monica Vitti) wordlessly pondering their situation. We don’t need dialogue to tell us what is happening, we can see it all on the faces of Rabal and Vitti. Vittoria leaves Riccardo, and walks from his apartment (or house? I’m not sure) to her apartment building. The architecture of Rome and the EUR district plays a huge supporting role in this movie.  

Vittoria’s mother (Lilla Brignone) is often at the stock exchange, where her investments are handled by Piero, a handsome young stockbroker (Alain Delon). Unfortunately for Delon fans, his voice was dubbed in Italian. The actor who dubbed Delon has a harsher cadence and a lower tone than Delon’s speaking voice, which is too bad. The dubbed voice makes Piero come off as more arrogant. But I can offer no critique of Delon’s appearance in L’Eclisse, as he looks super handsome, as always.  

Piero makes a pass at Vittoria, but she dodges his kiss. She says at one point that she’s “bored and depressed,” which makes sense, given that she’s just coming out of her relationship with Riccardo. But many viewers will probably question her sanity as she avoids kisses from 1962 Alain Delon. Eventually, Vittoria and Piero kiss, after first kissing through a glass several times.  

The movie ends with Vittoria and Piero both promising to show up the following evening for another date. Then there’s a seven-minute-long montage as night falls, and we see that they both fail to show up at the meeting spot.  

What does it all mean? L’Eclisse is definitely a study of loneliness, and the film takes an existential view of modern life. I think part of the point of L’Eclisse is to show how difficult it is to maintain a relationship, romantic or otherwise, in modern life, something that has only accentuated in the 62 years since L’Eclisse was released. With new relationships, it’s almost always easier to say “no” than to say “yes.” It’s easy to find reasons why you shouldn’t do something, it’s more difficult to find reasons why you should do something. To have a relationship begin, both people need to be willing to say “yes.” To have two people say “yes” at the same time is a rare and special thing that shouldn’t be taken for granted.  

L’Eclisse is a film that will stick with you long after you watch it.