Overview
A tale of passion and betrayal unfolds in a world of jealousy and desire.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- melancholic
- austere
- intense
- quiet evening
- classic cinema night
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as a visually remarkable, emotionally rigorous transformation of a conventional noir premise into existential European art cinema.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The private investigation, illicit affair, and murder plot are rendered as an introspective study of desire and alienation.
Antonioni's visual art emphasizes photographed spaces and opaque behavior, elevating the lovers' interior lives through mise-en-scène.
Paola and Guido's resurrected passion is tested by the possibility that being together may diminish the force of their longing.
Paola's protected marriage to a wealthy factory owner provides comfort without fulfillment and fuels the film's critique of social stasis.
Films like Story of a Love Affair, and why
La Notte
shared adulterous romance, moral ambiguity, and psychologically intense classic European drama
L'Avventura
shared Antonioni focus on emotional alienation, desire, and modernist visual observation
Ossessione
shared noir-inflected romantic fatalism, doomed passion, and atmospheric postwar drama
Movie Details
- Director
- Michelangelo Antonioni
- Release Date
- 1950-11-03
- Runtime
- 98 min
- Rating
- 6.7 / 10 (117)
Cast
- Massimo Girotti
- Lucia Bosè
- Gino Rossi
- Marika Rowsky
- Ferdinando Sarmi
- Rubi D'Alma
- Anita Farra
- Carlo Gazzabini
- Nardo Rimediotti
- Renato Burrini
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Amazon Video
- Buy
- Amazon Video
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Story of a Love Affair about?
- A guarded industrialist's investigation reunites his wife with her former lover, turning an illicit passion into an austere meditation on desire, jealousy, and emotional decay.
- What is Story of a Love Affair like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Story of a Love Affair as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Story of a Love Affair violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Story of a Love Affair as mild.
- What did critics think of Story of a Love Affair?
- Critics broadly regard the film as a visually remarkable, emotionally rigorous transformation of a conventional noir premise into existential European art cinema.
- Which films are like Story of a Love Affair?
- Films with a similar feel include La Notte, L'Avventura, and Ossessione.
- How long is Story of a Love Affair?
- Story of a Love Affair runs 98 minutes.
- Where can I watch Story of a Love Affair?
- In United States, Story of a Love Affair is available to rent or buy from Amazon Video.
