NIGHT FULL OF RAIN (1977)
aka THE END OF THE WORLD IN OUR USUAL BED IN A NIGHT FULL OF RAIN
Label: Warner Archive
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: R
Duration: 104 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA English 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Lina Wertmuller
Cast: Candice Bergen, Giancarlo Giannini
In Lina Wertmuller's Night Full of Rain aka The End of the World in Our Usual Bed in a Night Full of Rain (1978) Lizzy (Candice Bergen, T.R. Baskin), a liberal, feminist American photographer, falls for Italian-communist and conservative journalist Paolo (Giancarlo Giannini, Black Belly of the Tarantula), who rescues her from an altercation at a Catholic procession in a small Italian village, whisking her away to safety an abandoned church building. He attempts to seduce her with poetry and sweet nothings, and it seems to be working quite well, but she runs away when he reveals himself to be quite insincere. He later encounters her while she is on a journalistic assignment, only to be remembered and rebuffed accordingly, but he then stalker-ishly follows her to San Francisco tracking her to her home and later voyeuristically watching her with another man at a nightclub. We then move ahead a few years and they are now married with a young child, living in the luxurious apartment of his elderly Aunt in Italy. It quite clear that both sides of this idealistic feminist/communist coupling are not enamored with their current lives, and of the domesticity of married life in particular, often quarrelling incessantly about politics and gender roles, trying to break away from each other, but always drawn back together, each having become used to the ways of the other, but worn down, and unsatisfied by their union. The performances from Bergen and Giannini are strong, their fierce verbal sparring and later physical combat keep this emotional potboiler always just on the edge of boiling over, but occasionally the dialogue seems a bit forced, and worse, often dull. Even still, it's quite and interesting journey with some tasty dialogue exchanges, with Bergen saying of Giancarlo's aunt's apartment, “This house is just like Italy, it’s gorgeous and there’s no money to run it”, but for every banger there are also a leaden pseudo-highbrow ponderances like "Do you think about love as sentiment or eroticism?”, oof. This is the first Lina Wertmuller flick I have seen, she has long been one of cinema-sins as a director's whose work I have been told I "should" see, only reading about her feminist arthouse repertoire through the years. Now I can now say I have at least seen one, and while I didn't love it, I am quite intrigued by it, even though it failed to personally connect with me. The story of a relationship strained to the breaking point, one that probably should never have been in the first place, but the formerly idealistic couples are too entrenched to leave one another should be fertile ground ripe with possibility, but the melodrama seems too contrived to really strike a chord, at least for me. On the plus side, it's a gorgeous film, shot by cinematographer Guisppe Rotunno who worked with Italian filmmakers like Vittorio De Sica (Bicycle Thieves), Federico Fellini (Fellini;s Casanova), and Dario Argento (The Stendhal Syndrome). His lensing is moody and atmospheric, perhaps a few too many close-ups for my tastes, though, and the score by Roberto De Simone was quite striking, particularly the song that plays over the opening credits. I also liked the semi-experimental editing style, and the Greek chorus of floating-head friends that sorts that pop-up was quite interesting.
Audio/Video: Night Full of Rain (1978) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Warner Archive, presented in 1080p HD framed in 1.85:1 widescreen. and it looks terrific. Colors are well saturated, black are deep and inky, and depth and clarity are pleasing throughout. Grain looks filmic and un-molested, and fine detail in the close-ups was quite pleasing. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2l0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles. The track is clean and well balanced, this is largely a dialogue driven film, but atmospherics and the score have an impressive showing in the mix.
No extras, not even a trailer, just a static menu with subtitle options. The Blu-ray arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original movie poster artwork.
Special Features:
- None
Screenshots from the Warner Archive Blu-ray:
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