Vittoria, still bored, decides to visit her mother (Lilla Brignone), who spends her days anxiously speculating at the Rome stock exchange. There, she meets Piero (Alain Delon), a handsome young hotshot stock trader who works for obese Ercoli (Louis Seigner).
Because it is a movie, the workaholic Piero drops everything to court Vittorio, who likes him and teases him but plays hard to get. After several days effort he finally manages to make out with her. They agree to continue to see each other. We then have five minutes of placid and tedious Rome street scenes, including a tracking shot of a minor stream from a leaking water barrel.
How others will see it. The Eclipse is today regarded as part of a "miscommunication" trilogy starring Monica Vitti, along with L'avventura (1960) and La notte (1961). The trilogy acknowledges the attraction between the sexes but expresses doubt that true love is sustainable. Or, at least, true love is uncinematic, so its alternative is explored instead.
L'avventura was the first and most celebrated of the three movies, receiving nominations from outside of Italy at BAFTA. La notte benefits from A-list stars Marcello Mastroianni and Jeanne Moreau. The Eclipse has its adherents as well, though director Antonioni is best known for Blow-Up (1966), a fascinating movie that starred the charismatic David Hemmings.
The Eclipse fared best at Cannes, where it won a special jury prize and was nominated for the Golden Palm. Today at imdb.com, the movie has a reasonable 6600 user votes and a fairly high user rating of 7.7 out of 10. However, there is a decline in grades with advancing age of the viewer. Those under 30 give it an 8.2, those under 45 a 7.8, and those over 45 only a 6.2. Women over 45, my favorite demographic due to its independence, give it a stinker grade of 4.1. A whopping 60% of that demographic grade it 1 out of 10.
So, The Eclipse is seen differently by young men and older women. Both groups watch a cool romance between Vittoria and Piero and reach different conclusions. Are the would-be lovers hip or disappointing?
How I felt about it. Vittoria doesn't really know what she wants. Having just left a boring longterm relationship, she's not looking to fall in love immediately with someone else. But life interferes, and presents her with good looking and high income Piero.
Although his character is secondary to Vittoria, it is Piero who transitions. When we first see him, his work dominates his life. He wants to please his boss, please his clients, and make money for everyone, including himself. But the market crashes, disillusioning him, and along comes Vittoria, who hasn't a lira invested and could not care less.
Suddenly, seducing Vittoria becomes more interesting than his job. He puts that on hold to pursue Vittoria, who alternately pushes him away and pulls him closer, like any femme fatale worth her salt. The turning point for them occurs when a drunk (Cyrus Elias) steals and deep sixes Piero's costly convertible. This disaster humanizes him to her, but there is still no guarantee that the relationship will last.
The film is accessible but the romance is not especially interesting. The scenes at the stock exchange are more memorable than Vittoria's relationships. One expects that Piero will lose his job chasing the fickle Vittoria, only to lose her as well.