White Nights (1957)

 Luchino Visconti's "White Nights"

With his 1957 film "White Nights," Italian filmmaker Luchino Visconti took Fyodor Dostoyevsky's 1848 short story of the same name and adapted it to the film screen. Starring Marcello Mastroianni and Maria Schell as a man and woman who meet one winter night, the film details their continued meetings and the woman's pining over a man she's been waiting on a bridge for. What is most notable about this film is the dreamlike quality it possesses. The dreamlike quality of the film can partially be attributed to the constructed street set that possessed this nighttime atmosphere. 

Although there appears to be quite acclaim regarding the film, both contemporary acclaim and acclaim at the time of the film's release, I wasn't as struck by it as most. That being said, I still enjoyed the film. What I took most out of it was the desperation and loneliness of every character, even smaller, more insignificant characters. This desperation and loneliness creates the scenario for these characters to cling to one another. It is a fill full of quiet sadness about people needing human connection and love. My favorite part about the film was its ending, very Dostoyevsky indeed.