I watched the film many times and thought that the film has been shot at Venezia. Now I'm wathching the film again and saw some street names, like these : Scali delle pietre, Scali del Pesce etc. I began to search these names and found that the film location is not Venezia,but it is Livorno.If you pay attention the street names or place in the film, you could find same location in Livorno. There is very little changes after 60 years.

Le notti bianche (White Nights) is a loyal adaption, directed by a neo realist Luchino Visconti, of the short story by Fyodor Dostoevsky. The story is fascinating and Visconti wasn't the only one who adapted it; Robert Bresson and Ivan Pyrjev made films based on it as well. White Nights is about a lonely man who meets a lonely girl, but they're lonely for different reasons; the man is lonely because of social reasons, he's new in town, but the girl's loneliness comes from her isolation, because she has to live with her nearly blind grandmother. The short story by Dostoevsky is much more sentimental than Visconti's film, but they're both dreamy: "The notes of a dreamer." In the book the loneliness of Mario is a little exaggerated by showing that he has no social life at all. In the opening scene of the film we are clearly showed that Mario has had a night with a group of friends and is now heading back home. His loneliness is much more deeper; it's not about him not having social relations, but not really having true love nor happiness. The same night he sees a girl, Natalia crying on a bridge. He starts to fall in love with her, but unfortunately finds out that she is waiting for a man that is unlikely to come back. The man she met a year ago when he was a lodger of her grandmother. They promised to meet each other on the same bridge after a year - if she'd still love him they'd start a life together. It's hard for Mario to believe this and so he let's himself to fall in love with Natalia.The original story is set in St. Petersburg, but Visconti has moved it to Italy - still the neighborhood it takes place resembles the original story. The place is divided into two parts; the dreamy, fantasy world of Natalia and the sentimental, reality of Mario. In Natalia's own side she is a loyal lover, who waits for the man of her dreams and denies all the other relationships from her. But when she comes to Mario's reality side she is forced to see the facts and there she is able to fall in love again. Then when Mario follows Natalia over the bridge to her dreamy ideal world he has to take part in this 'fairy tale' and share the illusions of it.The book by Dostoevsky has two evocative subtitles: sentimental novel and the notes of a dreamer and the film clearly builds around these same issues. Dostoevsky gives us a lyric love story about loneliness, which is realism and an honest portrayal. But Visconti's version is much more ruthless - Dostoevsky still gives us hope, humor and optimism. Both of them are amazing, both the book and the film are the most moving stories I've ever heard.Le notti bianche is a film where ideal image is compared against reality. It's aesthetically gorgeous and the division to two sides is most certainly not just geographical. The contrast of ideal image and reality goes through the whole movie. The products of the reality are; the prostitute, her clients, the dancing, the teenagers and passers-by. But the ideal image cannot be separated into this concrete features, it's only the dreamy fantasy of Natalia. The dancing scene is brilliant and it reminds one of Federico Fellini's surrealism. The scene is very symbolic when it comes to the awkwardness of Mario and the uncomfortable relationship between him and Natalia. The scene is admirable, but also awkward, uncomfortable and maybe even unbearable.When the lonely Mario meets Natalia he can experience happiness; they both aren't lonely anymore - the loneliness is gone. But when the unbelievable happens and the man Natalia has been waiting for returns, Mario is left alone once again and is more lonely than ever. It's quite an interesting choice to give Natalia her victory. In the beginning the sympathy of the audience is given to Mario immediately and in the end every bit of empathy towards Natalia has disappeared. The final walk of the lonely Marcello Mastroianni is heartbreaking - something that will stay with me forever.

Luchino Visconti has created a film that tried to reflect reality as well as a dream. The premise is something right out of a dream, two people meet by chance on a bridge and then the man proceeds to try and court the women. In the beginning the film is set up with the man is a realist and the women is a dreamer. While this premise is quite interesting and has much potential it does fall short on the execution. This is mainly caused by huge tonal shifts that occur during the film. The story goes between reality and dream so suddenly and drastically that it becomes distracting. Many times it has aspects of dream and reality in the same scene and characters cycle through the dream vs reality banter many times. The narrative is consistently too melodramatic with characters overacting to situations. This becomes all the more distracting when the aesthetic of the film is both dream like and realistic. Le Notti Bianche has grand sets made replicating a whole section of a city that feels real. At the same time there is a background with clouds that never move and a full moon that never changes. While the film often has a hazy and washed out feeling it often will have a straight forward typical shot reverse shot or tracking shot as well. It just feels like an opportunity that was missed with an interesting premise with a clash between reality and dream that the narrative has problems synchronizing with the aesthetic. As always Marcello Mastroianni gives a wonderful and charismatic performance. Maria Schell as well shines in the film which is no easy task with such a one dimensional character but she makes it work and gives those looks into the camera that stops you in your tracks. Perhaps if you are more of a romantic you might be able to forgive some of the short comings a bit more since there are good performances and visuals in the film.

You know, I'm really surprised that I didn't like this movie. It's major theme about the difference in reality and fantasy, along with its stunningly beautiful black and white cinematography, is precisely the sort of thing I look for in film. And yet, I didn't ultimately find it very enjoyable.It's a very smart and well-written movie. The ways in which the character's aspirations and yearning mix with the reality of the situation is very precise and real, speaking both to the original writer of the short story, Dostoyevsky (whose writing resembles the quiet brooding of the male protagonist in many ways) and Visconti's own skill with directing and camera work. In fact, the very self-aware staging of the movie is what makes it easily a majestic cinematic experience, one that really shouldn't be missed. This movie could be watched and easily stay interesting just paying attention to the lighting of the shots and the composition of the frames.Indeed, for a film surrounded in all sorts of romance and yearning, it's very detached, often, from the characters. Close-ups are almost nonexistent and for the most part the camera seems most happy to stay far away, with faces barely recognizable within the mist.It's everything a film goer would love, which is why I find it odd that I didn't much care for the characters. The male protagonist I can understand, and even sympathize with, even as far as his attraction to the female. She, however, is too out of it, completely unreal, almost an idealized notion of something everybody's ideal would be to avoid. In short, I couldn't stand her, or watching her, or anything she did.There were two very strong moments in the film that, for me, made it worth the time spending to see. The first is the dancing scene, where Marcello Mastrianni lets go and changes from the shy but humble courter to one of those virile, energetic youngsters, showing off and mugging. The other is the very end... of which I won't describe for spoiler purposes, but which ultimately makes Mastrianni's character someone we can all relate to.Thus, I can honestly say that this film is magnificent, and that many people should go out and watch it. It's beautiful, contains strong acting and directing, has some very poignant scenes, and has a remarkable control over mise-en-scene. I just really don't like it.--PolarisDiB