L' eclisse (1962)

Michelangelo Antonioni’s film charts the hot and cold relationship of a young couple in bustling Rome.

In charting the faltering progress of a new relationship between an ambitious young stockbroker (Alain Delon) and a translator (Monica Vitti) who’s just broken off with her lover, Michelangelo Antonioni evokes the fatal distractions of modern life with precise images of Rome and Verona; Gianni Di Venanzo’s black and white camerawork is wondrously elegant. The famous final montage sequence speaks volumes about apathy.

1962 Italy, France
Directed by
Michelangelo Antonioni
Produced by
Robert Hakim, Raymond Hakim, Robert Hakim, Raymond Hakim
Written by
Michelangelo Antonioni, Tonino Guerra
Featuring
Alain Delon, Monica Vitti, Francisco Rabal

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for L' eclisse

Critics

Vasco Baptista Marques
Portugal
Jennifer Lynde Barker
USA
Nemanja Becanovic
Montenegro
Ivo Blom
Netherlands
Jake Cole
USA
Elsa Fernández-Santos
Spain
Dimitris Kerkinos
Greece
Nino Kovačić
Croatia
Demetrios Matheou
UK
Ross McDonnell
Ireland
Dominique Nasta
Belgium
Andrei Plakhov
Russia
Caitlin Quinlan
UK
Adam Roberts
UK
Eduardo Stupía
Argentina

Directors

Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Turkey
Thomas Clay
UK
Ricky D'Ambrose
USA
Eugène Green
France
Jack Hazan
UK
Stephen Quay
USA
Ming Liang Tsai
Taiwan
Shengze Zhu
China/USA