Though among the great films of its time, proof-positive of the Italian studio system’s genius, and a peak for both director Luchino Visconti and star Marcello Mastroianni, White Nights has never quite occupied the canonical position it so severely deserves. With Visconti’s take on Dostoevsky’s short story of the same name (later interpreted to exemplary effect in Robert Bresson’s Four Nights of a Dreamer and James Gray’s Two Lovers) receiving a 4K restoration by Cinecittà and stateside release from Janus Films (ahead of the inevitable Criterion upgrade), things might soon change. Ahead of a July 24 opening at Film Forum, there’s a new trailer.
Here’s Janus’ synopsis: “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 White Nights, an exquisite adaptation of Dostoyevsky’s novella, translates this romantic, shattering tale of two restless souls into a ravishing black-and-white dream.”
Find preview and poster below:
