How a cinematic trick of tulle created a misty Italian night
In short: In Luchino Visconti’s 1957 melodrama, the fog of a winter night in Livorno wasn't created by weather or camera filters. Instead, filmmakers used massive rolls of fabric to manipulate light, crafting a visual atmosphere that helped the film win the Silver Lion at Venice.
Directed by Luchino Visconti, *White Nights* (Italian: *Le notti bianche*) is a romantic melodrama based on Fyodor Dostoevsky’s 1848 short story. While the story follows a young man and a woman named Natalia waiting for a lost lover, Visconti’s adaptation introduces significant shifts in tone and character. According to scholar Geoffrey Nowell-Smith, the film removes the original first-person narration and portrays Natalia with more complexity, at times as a 'hysteric and a tease.' The film's conclusion is also notably bleaker; whereas the story offers a small coda of gratitude, the film leaves the protagonist, Mario, alone with only a stray dog for company.
The film's striking visual atmosphere was achieved through ingenious practical effects on a soundstage at Cinecittà Studios in Rome. Giuseppe Rotunno and Visconti suspended massive sheets of tulle from above to the floor to mimic Livorno's canals and roads without using lens filters. By placing street lamps behind this translucent fabric, they produced a misty, nighttime glow that remained clear enough to capture the actors' performances.
The production also featured notable linguistic and casting details. While it was standard practice in Italian cinema to dub foreign actors, Visconti allowed Maria Schell to loop her own dialogue because she had learned it in Italian. Giorgio Albertazzi provided the dubbed voice for the French performer Jean Marais, though. With an 88% Rotten Tomatoes score, the movie stays critically acclaimed and acted as an artistic inspiration for 2008's American production, *Two Lovers*.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: White Nights (1957 film)
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