A Night Full of Rain Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

A Night Full of Rain Blu-ray Movie Review

Two against nature.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III January 10, 2025

The first of four planned pictures for Warner Bros., Italian director Lina Wertmüller's A Night Full of Rain -- her first English-language film -- was so poorly received that the studio ended her contract early. This oddly compelling drama has strong arthouse sensibilities... which isn't surprising, given Wertmüller's previous films such as Seven Beauties and Swept Away. A stubbornly singular experience, A Night Full of Rain examines the tumultuous relationship between a progressive American feminist and a communist Italian writer, which itself ironically mirrors the film's own failure to connect with a wide audience: in both cases, both sides were unwilling to meet somewhere in the middle.

Want proof of this film's stubbornly excessive style? It's right there in the title, whose full version on-screen is The End of the World in Our Usual Bed in A Night Full of Rain and plays over a montage of black-and-white historical photos. It transitions into what we'll later learn is the apartment of Paolo (Giancarlo Giannini) and Lizzy (Candice Bergen), whose young daughter is shown briefly and then featured in only one scene later on. We then rewind to their first meeting in a small Italian village, where violence disrupts a Catholic processional in the streets and Lizzy comes to the victim's aid. Unaware of foreign customs, she's chased by an angry mob but escapes with Paolo, who flirted with her only minutes before. Successfully evading their attackers, Lizzy and Paolo spend the day exploring abandoned historical buildings and arguing over their very different viewpoints on life, love, and gender dynamics. Paolo's aggressive advances are received and then denied, turning what might have been a consensual fling into attempted rape.

From there, A Night Full of Rain gets a bit more free-form with its storytelling, presenting subsequent scenes in an occasionally staggered way and never clearly identifying when each one is taking place. This leads to a few interesting tonal shifts, but they might not be worth it: for example, juxtaposing Paolo's attempted rape of Lizzy with the reveal that they're now married with a daughter -- presumably at least a decade later -- will rub most viewers the wrong way. (As will the couple's frank treatment of nudity, which involves the girl asking to see her dad's pistolino.) Mercifully, the overall narrative is a bit smoother from here on out, mostly building to the titular stormy night when all hell breaks loose in their apartment. Several other past detours are explored as well, including their first reunion back in San Francisco (where he's shown to have followed her in a similarly aggressive manner) and similar flashbacks to crucial moments in their turbulent relationship. All the while, Paolo and Lizzy are watched intently by a noisy group of ten angels -- six female, four male -- who similarly debate their own views on life, love, and everything else.

So yeah, this one's not an easy watch, as its sporadically vague story is broken up with stylistic flourishes (like a few inspired juxtapositions between music and visuals) and self-indulgent arthouse touches, such as a firm and frivolous divide between what writer-director Lina Wertmüller deems the film's two "acts". Obviously given these two characters' opposite backgrounds, political discussion also enters the chat on numerous occasions... but it's often introduced in a slightly clumsy way. Nevertheless, A Night Full of Rain is essentially a two-person show and both Giancarlo Giannini (a frequent collaborator with Wertmüller) and Candice Bergen deliver committed performances, largely inhabiting their characters and their alternatingly attractive and repulsive characteristics. As a whole it's well worth watching, the kind of adventurous adult drama that's growing increasingly rare but still suffers from a few stubborn setbacks that stand in the way of an even better film. Given the end result and its chilly Stateside reception, I'd wager that Wertmüller got her way more than the studio did... but perhaps like its two main characters, they just weren't a good match.

Despite my occasional hang-ups, I found A Night Full of Rain to be a worthwhile experience and, going slightly against the critical grain here, anything but a misfire from the otherwise celebrated Wertmüller, who only one year earlier was the first female director to be nominated for an Oscar with Seven Beauties. If nothing else, then, A Night Full of Rain can at least be considered historically significant as her first and only attempt at an American crossover, which makes it a solid fit for inclusion into Warner Archive's ongoing release of deep catalog cuts. Featuring another of their solid A/V restorations, it's perhaps not the best blind buy but fans of the director will want to give this one a shot.

A Night Full of Rain Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sourced from a brand-new 4K scan of the original camera negative, A Night Full of Rain looks overwhelmingly good on this 1080p transfer from Warner Archive, who as usual keep things as purist-friendly as possible. It's unmistakable how much this looks like a 1970s production even apart from the fashion and technology, as Night's generally earthy color palette and coarse film grain limit fine detail, textures, and depth... yet there's not too much room for improvement here. My only reservation is with certain aspects of its encoding, as said grain levels occasionally overtake the image and intermittently devolve into chunky noise that looks more like mild artifacts; similarly, the deepest blacks sometimes dip into "crushed" territory. It's kind of surprising given that this is a dual-layered disc with less than two hours of total content, but in any case likely won't even be noticeable on small to mid-sized displays. In any case, I'd imagine it easily outperforms the boutique label's own 2010 DVD, so if nothing else die-hard fans will appreciate the upgrade.

A Night Full of Rain Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mono doesn't take as many risks as the visuals, often presented in a fairly narrow container that perfectly suits this overwhelmingly dialogue-driven production. It occasionally opens up in larger locales or group settings, including that fateful Catholic processional or of course those sporadic "angel" conversations, but otherwise the only real sonic surprises come in the form of its relatively crisp and dynamic music cues. Simply put, it's a faithful split-channel presentation of the original mono source material and gets the job done.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included, and you'll likely need them given a few heavy regional accents.

A Night Full of Rain Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with poster-themed cover artwork. No extras are included.

A Night Full of Rain Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Lina Wertmüller's A Night Full of Rain -- or, as it's fully titled, The End of the World in Our Usual Bed in A Night Full of Rain -- is alternately as ambitious and pretentious as that lofty name implies. It features great performances from its two reliable leads, as well as a few interesting twists, turns, and narrative techniques, but also falls into distracting arthouse traps; combined with a generous helping of unavoidable culture clash, it's not at all surprising that this film wasn't warmly received by American audiences. It's still well worth a look more that 45 years later and feels like a good fit for Warner Archive, who deliver a mostly pleasing Blu-ray presentation that nonetheless suffers for its lack of extras. This one's certainly recommended to established fans, but newcomers should try before they buy.