This movie has Mario (Marcello Mastroianni) by chance meeting Natalia (Maria Schell) on a bridge one night. Mario is shy and lonely and is moved to try to comfort the sobbing Natalia. Natalia is waiting for L'inquilino, a lover who has been away for a year and has promised to return. L'inquilino is later seen to be tall and handsome and a man of few words. I could not see L'inquilino falling for the flighty Natalia, who is literally often tethered to her grandmother. I suppose there are people like Natalia who live in a state of yearning for a man whom she has hardly known. Such a person must be more in love with an imagined fantasy than with an actual person. Natalia might appeal to a younger, romantically idealistic audience, but an older audience will likely not have much patience with her.
The relationship between Natalia and Mario was more acceptable to me, both being driven by a deep seated insecurity and loneliness. Since the relationships all developed in such a short time the characters seemed to be more symbolic than real to me, with Mario representing realty and Natalia fantasy. Mario lives on one side of the bridge and Natalia the other, Mario is a realist and Natalia a fantasist, and so forth.
The production is little more than a filmed stage play, complete with fake snow. Most of the movie is talk with there being little action. A break was provided by an extended scene in a bar that has a well choreographed dance group dancing to a Bill Haley record. As enjoyable as that scene was, given the amount of time devoted to it I had to believe that it was supposed to be pivotal, but I failed to see that level of importance.
The black and white photography is impressive with effective camera angles and movements. Much of the movie is filmed at night, often creating a dream like atmosphere for the dream like story.
Nino Rota's score is a big disappointment, it is representative of the generic scores for Hollywood movies of the 1950s, rather than the creative work he is known for.
This character study never engaged me enough to feel invested at the emotional level that I think was intended.
The relationship between Natalia and Mario was more acceptable to me, both being driven by a deep seated insecurity and loneliness. Since the relationships all developed in such a short time the characters seemed to be more symbolic than real to me, with Mario representing realty and Natalia fantasy. Mario lives on one side of the bridge and Natalia the other, Mario is a realist and Natalia a fantasist, and so forth.
The production is little more than a filmed stage play, complete with fake snow. Most of the movie is talk with there being little action. A break was provided by an extended scene in a bar that has a well choreographed dance group dancing to a Bill Haley record. As enjoyable as that scene was, given the amount of time devoted to it I had to believe that it was supposed to be pivotal, but I failed to see that level of importance.
The black and white photography is impressive with effective camera angles and movements. Much of the movie is filmed at night, often creating a dream like atmosphere for the dream like story.
Nino Rota's score is a big disappointment, it is representative of the generic scores for Hollywood movies of the 1950s, rather than the creative work he is known for.
This character study never engaged me enough to feel invested at the emotional level that I think was intended.