Night Sun [Il Sole anche di Notte] **** (1990, Julian Sands, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Nastassja Kinski, Rüdiger Vogler, Patricia Millardet, Massimo Bonetti) – Classic Movie Review 10,463

Writers-directors Paolo Taviani and Vittorio Taviani’s 1990 Italian art cinema drama Night Sun [Il Sole anche di Notte] stars Julian Sands, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Nastassja Kinski.

[Spoiler alert] In 18th-century Italy, young nobleman Baron Sergio Giuramondo (Sands) leaves Naples and becomes a monk when he discovers his fiancée Cristina (Kinski) was the king’s mistress. But women bet they can seduce him, and he succumbs to Matilda (Gainsbourg), after which he tries to commit suicide and ends up a beggar.

The Taviani Brothers’ beautiful poetic film version of a Leo Tolstoy tale is gorgeously filmed, with glorious work on cinematography by Giuseppe Lanci, Production Design by Gianni Sbarra, and Costume Design by Lina Nerli Taviani, tackling the theme of spirituality in conflict with carnality.

Night Sun [Il Sole anche di Notte] is not easy viewing but it is very rewarding, and, though dubbed in Italian, Sands is superb.

Also in the cast are Rüdiger Vogler, Patricia Millardet, Massimo Bonetti and Margarita Lozano.

RIP Vittorio Taviani (1929–2018).

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,463

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