"I have never drawn puppets or silhouettes but rather facades of houses and gates", said director Michelangelo Antonioni, "...one of my favourite games consisted of organising towns. Ignorant in architecture, I constructed buildings and streets crammed with little figures. I invented stories for them. These childhood happenings-I was eleven years old-were like little films". Its not hard to tell that the amiable auteur advanced his childhood pastime to a point where the screen became his canvas, and those facades & figures took shape in the form of petit bourgeois couples, bored socialites and industrial juggernauts. 'La Notte' ('The Night') is the second entry in Antonioni's series of films on emotional instability and alienation, often referred to by their dactylic sobriquet: 'The Incommunicability Trilogy'. Giovanni (Marcello Mastroianni) & Lydia's (Jeanne Moreau) marriage isn't so much on the rocks, as it is marooned at sea and slowly dying of thirst. Set over the course of twenty four hours, 'La Notte' resembles a three act play which begins as the couple visit their dying friend; Tommaso Garani in hospital, before going to a nightclub, and finally, attending a party in honour of Giovanni's success as an author. We soon learn that Lydia seems to tolerate Giovanni's casual infidelity, and in doing so, quietly considers their unfortunate friend blessed; in that Tommaso can just fade away, whereas Giovanni & Lydia's critically ill relationship is kept in intensive care, occasionally, and artificially, shocked backed to life by the defibrillators of social convention, and the need to keep up appearances. Modernity, capitalism and industrialisation wreak havoc once more: this time it's an annoying traffic jam (caused by shoppers), Giovanni in an apartment, the mere word; a sly linguistic nod to isolation whilst the line: "Every millionaire wants his intellectual" speaks volumes about Giovanni's upcoming party. An African couple in the nightclub are sexualised to the point where it borders on a racial stereotype, though this isn't Antonioni's intention; as the scene illustrates how their natural dynamic is admired, envied and loathed in equal measure, by the European couples in attendance (themes Antonioni explored in greater detail with 'L'Eclisse'). Monica Vitti is Valentina; beautiful daughter of the industrialist whose hosting Giovanni's soirée, her character radiates sexual energy in playful, sporadic bursts which complement or contradict, depending upon your point of view, her profound cynicism and quiet disillusion. Subtly alluding to Lydia's earlier restrained, but sardonic, juxtaposition of their marriage and Giovanni's work; suggesting that his next book be called 'The Living And The Dead'. Communication and medium is mentioned again at the party, when Valentina creates a game on the tiles, dismisses the loss of a jewel and plays back an incomprehensible recording of her voice. Marcello Mastroianni also puts in an excellent, multi layered performance as Giovanni; successfully counterbalancing his Marcello Rubini role in Fellini's 'La Dolce Vita' (1960). Some observers cite phallic symbolism during Lydia's long walk in much the same way as Ibsen's 'The Master Builder' was, according to Freud, all towers and skyward edifices. I don't particularly agree with that interpretation, after all: sometimes a cigar, is simply a cigar. For in this context; it's more to do with industrialism, production and commerce taking the place of genuine human interest and interaction. 'La Notte' requires some patience, but all who stick with it will be rewarded with an incredibly complex, well directed film that keeps on giving.