The Criterion Collection Blu-ray release of Michelangelo Antonioni's 1962 film L'eclisse is widely praised for its 1080p digital restoration, which enhances the film's stark, high-contrast cinematography. This release features comprehensive bonus materials, including a scholarly commentary, a documentary on Antonioni, and analytical featurettes. For a detailed breakdown of the release, read the Criterion Forum review. Criterion Collection: L'Eclisse | Blu-ray Review
Final Verdict: A
In an era of algorithmic dating, social media performance, and urban loneliness, L’Eclisse is more relevant than ever. Antonioni argued that the external environment—modern architecture, stock market chaos, impersonal city planning—does not just reflect our inner void; it creates it. The film’s famous final sequence is the most terrifying depiction of absence ever put on celluloid. L-Eclisse.1962.1080p.Criterion.Bluray.DTS.x264-...
If you are watching the Criterion 1080p x264 version, you are seeing the film in its best possible light: If you are watching the Criterion 1080p x264
DTS (Digital Theater Systems) is a lossless or high-bitrate audio codec. L'Eclisse relies heavily on Giovanni Fusco’s jazz-inflected score and the diegetic sounds of modernity—a ringing telephone, a helicopter overhead, the clack of a stock ticker. A standard AAC or MP3 audio track flattens the dynamic range. The DTS track preserves the jarring silence, allowing the sudden cacophony of the stock exchange to jolt the viewer. Starring Monica Vitti and Alain Delon
L'Eclisse (The Eclipse) is the final chapter of Antonioni's informal "Trilogy of Alienation," following L'Avventura (1960) and La Notte (1961). Starring Monica Vitti and Alain Delon, the story follows Vittoria (Vitti), a young woman who breaks off an engagement only to drift into a shallow affair with Piero (Delon), a restless, materialistic stockbroker. The film is renowned for its:
The Ending: The film concludes with a legendary seven-minute montage of empty streets and inanimate objects, reflecting the absence of the protagonists. This sequence remains one of the most debated and influential endings in cinema history. Critical Verdict