La luna (1979)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Bernardo Bertolucci

Writers:

Franco Arcalli (story) &
Bernardo Bertolucci (story) ...

Release Date:

30 September 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

While touring in Italy, a recently-widowed American opera singer has an incestuous relationship with her 15-year-old son to help him overcome his heroin addiction.

Plot Keywords:

Opera | Heroin | Diva | Verdi | Opera Singer

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 1 win

Cast

Jill Clayburgh	...	Caterina Silveri
Matthew Barry	...	Joe Silveri
Veronica Lazar	...	Marina
Renato Salvatori	...	Communist
Fred Gwynne	...	Douglas Winter
Alida Valli	...	Giuseppe's Mother
Elisabetta Campeti	...	Arianna
Franco Citti	...	Man in Bar
Roberto Benigni	...	Upholsterer
Carlo Verdone	...	Director of Caracalla
Peter Eyre	...	Edward
Stéphane Barat	...	Mustafa
Pippo Campanini	...	Innkeeper
Rodolfo Lodi	...	Maestro Giancarlo Calo
Sara Di Nepi	...	Concetta (as Shara Di Nepi)

Also Known As:

Luna (USA)

Runtime:

142 min

Country:

Italy | USA

Language:

Italian | English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Italy:VM14 | France:-16 | Argentina:X (original rating) | Argentina:16 (re-rating) | Australia:R | Finland:K-16 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Caracalla Thermals, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Fiction Cinematografica S.p.a.

Trivia:

Dedicated to Franco Arcalli.

Movie Connections:

Features Niagara (1953)

Soundtrack:

Tutte le feste al tempio' from 'Rigoletto'

A beautiful complex film

I found this a stunning and emotionally complex film. If you enjoy films mainly concerning characterisation in which the emotional complexities of human beings are not served up in easily chewable chunks, then you will probably enjoy this film. Even given the above, you might still be disconcerted by the rapid plot changes and narrative swings. Two points are valid here: Bertolucci directed this during the time when he was heavily into psychoanalysis ; and secondly, someone quite lucidly stated that Bertolucci's Spider's Stratagem was a movie with a linear narrative shown in a non-linear manner while La Luna was a movie with a non-linear narrative shown in a linear manner. Viewed in this manner, one can enjoy the film with its many beautifully crafted scenes.

I love how the film presents the craziness of life with its contradictions, multiple meanings and emotional messiness. The irrational and problematic behavior of the characters may make the film harder to follow but seems to me a truer view of life than the explicit logical road map given to audiences in most films.

The film does date itself clearly in the 1970s, so you have to accept some scary clothing moments such as Jill Clayburgh walking out of a building into a bright Rome day wearing sunglasses so big only a comedian would wear them these days. But on the whole this does not distract from the overall effect.

Finally, opera lovers will enjoy the set piece opera scenes which are very ingeniously shot and beautifully staged.