''La Luna'' (released in the United States as ''Luna'') is a 1979

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Bernardo Bertolucci Bernardo Bertolucci ( ; ; 16 March 1941 – 26 November 2018) was an Italian film director and screenwriter with a career that spanned 50 years. Considered one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema, Bertolucci's work achieved inte ...

from a screenplay co-written with his brother

Giuseppe Giuseppe is the Italian form of the given name Joseph, from Latin Josephus, Iōsēphus from Ancient Greek Ἰωσήφ (Iōsḗph), from Hebrew יוסף. The feminine form of the name is Giuseppa or Giuseppina (given name), Giuseppina. People wit ...

and wife Clare Peploe. The film concerns the troubled life of a teenage boy and his relationship with his parents, including an incestuous relationship with his opera singer mother. It stars

Jill Clayburgh Jill Clayburgh (April 30, 1944 – November 5, 2010) was an American actress known for her work in theater, television, and cinema. She received the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actr ...

, Matthew Barry,

Tomas Milian Tomás Quintín Rodríguez-Varona Milián Salinas de la Fé y Álvarez de la Campa (3 March 1933 – 22 March 2017) was a Cuban-born actor with American and Italian citizenship, known for the emotional intensity and humor he brought to starring ...

Fred Gwynne Frederick Hubbard Gwynne (July 10, 1926 – July 2, 1993) was an American actor, artist and author, who is widely known for his roles in the 1960s television sitcoms '' Car 54, Where Are You?'' (as Francis Muldoon) and '' The Munsters'' (as Herm ...

Veronica Lazăr Veronica Lazăr (6 October 1938 – 8 June 2014) was a Romanian-born Italian actress. Biography Lazăr was born in Bucharest in 1938. She graduated from the Caragiale Academy of Theatrical Arts and Cinematography (where she also obtained a degre ...

, and

Alida Valli Baroness Alida Maria Laura Altenburger von Marckenstein-Frauenberg (31 May 1921 – 22 April 2006), better known by her stage name Alida Valli, or simply Valli, was an Italian actress who appeared in more than 100 films in a 70-year career, span ...

. An Italian-American co-production, ''La Luna'' was released by

20th Century-Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film production and distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Com ...

on August 29, 1979. It received mixed reviews from critics, though Jill Clayburgh's performance was widely praised, earning her a

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Januar ...

nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama. The film is dedicated to Bertolucci's oft-collaborator

Franco Arcalli Franco "Kim" Arcalli (13 March 1929 – 24 February 1978) was an Italian film editor and screenwriter best known for his work with Bernardo Bertolucci, Tinto Brass and Michelangelo Antonioni. Life and career Born in Rome by a Venetian family, h ...

, who died of cancer during pre-production.

Plot

Joe is the son of famous

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

singer Caterina Silveri. While he believes that Caterina's husband, Douglas Winter, is his biological father, the truth is that Joe was sired by Caterina's former lover Giuseppe, who is now living in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and working as a schoolteacher. Joe, moody and spoiled, needs a strong father figure to guide and discipline him, but Douglas is aloof and largely indifferent to parenting. When Joe witnesses the sudden death of Douglas in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, it leaves him angry and distraught. Caterina, unwilling to stay in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

after Douglas' death, decides to move to Italy with her son. There, Joe begins associating with a dangerous crowd and becomes addicted to

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...

. Caterina is heartbroken and hopes to lure her son back to a safer and more healthy lifestyle. She tries in many instances to get closer emotionally to Joe hoping that increased contact will prevail over the allure of the drugs. She even contacts his drug dealer to ask for sympathy for her situation. At one point, when Joe is desperate for a fix, his mother gives him a

handjob A handjob (also spelled hand job) is a manual sex act involving a person stimulating the penis or scrotum of another by using the hand. This is done to induce an erection for sexual pleasure, sexual arousal and may result in orgasm and ejaculat ...

just to get his mind off drugs temporarily. Seeing no other alternative, she decides to drive to the location they originally lived, where her estranged lover lives, with the hope that some sort of fatherly bond will cure her son. Along the way, tensions, some sexual, derail and prolong the trip. Eventually the son is dropped off at Giuseppe's home but Joe, rather than telling his father that he is his son, says that he is a friend of his son, and that his son overdosed on heroin after lifelong turmoil over the absence of his biological father. With some sort of closure achieved for the boy, he returns to his mother, who is preparing for an opera. Embracing, they reaffirm their love for each other, and together the son and his father, who has come to watch the performance, and who now knows Joe's true identity as his child, hear Caterina sing at her very best.

Cast

Reception

In his two-star review, the critic

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

wrote of Bertolucci "He's got a soap opera and a Freudian case history (traditional enemies in their natural states) and he's forcing them to copulate". In the ''

London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published bimonthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review of Book ...

'',

Angela Carter Angela Olive Pearce (formerly Carter, Stalker; 7 May 1940 – 16 February 1992), who published under the name Angela Carter, was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, and journalist, known for her feminist, magical realism, and picar ...

wrote of Jill Clayburgh's performance "Jill Clayburgh, seizing by the throat the opportunity of working with a great European director, gives a bravura performance: she is like the life force in person". In an entry dated 7 September 1979, Russian film director

Andrei Tarkovsky Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky (, ; 4 April 1932 – 29 December 1986) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter of Russian origin. He is widely considered one of the greatest directors in cinema history. Works by Andrei Tarkovsky, His films e ...

wrote in his diary, "Saw Bertolucci's ''La luna''. Monstrous, cheap, vulgar rubbish." The movie was briefly banned in Ecuador in 1980 by

Abdalá Bucaram Abdalá Jaime Bucaram Ortiz ( ; ; born 4 February 1952) is an Ecuadorian politician and lawyer who was the 38th president of Ecuador from 1996 until his removal from office in 1997. As president, Bucaram was nicknamed "El Loco Que Ama" ("The Madm ...

, then major general of the

Guayaquil Guayaquil (), officially Santiago de Guayaquil, is the largest city in Ecuador and also the nation's economic capital and main port. The city is the capital (political), capital of Guayas Province and the seat of Guayaquil Canton. The city is ...

police. Bucaram closed all the theatres that showed the film. The movie, however, was broadcast years later on national TV without any repercussions.

Accolades

References

External links

*
La Luna at Rotten Tomatoes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luna 1979 films 1979 drama films American drama films Italian drama films Films about incest English-language Italian films Films set in Rome Films directed by Bernardo Bertolucci Films scored by Ennio Morricone Films shot in Rome Films shot in New York City 20th Century Fox films 1970s English-language films 1970s American films 1970s Italian films Films with screenplays by Bernardo Bertolucci