Tahiti Eclipse

Eclipses don’t feature frequently in movies.

If the word “eclipse” appears in some movies titles, it is not always a reference to the astronomical phenomenon.  It is rather a metaphor of the ambiguity of a character or a situation.

Significant encounters in Classics of the cinema

Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Eclisse (1962)
”L’eclisse” was realized in 1962 by Antonioni, the famous Italian filmmaker.  This movie expresses the impossibility of communication between human beings in the modern world. It depicts Vittoria (Monica Vitti), a young worried and indecisive woman. She has a poetic vision of the world, and is at odds with her family and social environment. While she has just split with her fiancé, breaking with a comfortable thus oppressive way of life, she engages a love affair with Piero (Alain Delon), a stockbroker who is her total opposite. This relationship gives rise to complex feelings.

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Georges Melies, the French pioneer of cinema and special effects, gives a melancholy and poetic interpretation of the eclipse in this black and white short film. Realized in 1907, it was entirely shot in a studio, and was featured during fairs. It is part of the « journeys through the impossible » series made between 1896 and 1914, which are « enchanting, mysterious, naive small films with poetic beauty but seem to be today obsolete» (Source: Wikipedia)

Below is an excerpt from « The Eclipse of the Sun Full Moon » by Georges Melies.