La voce della luna (1990)

Director:

Federico Fellini

Writers:

Ermanno Cavazzoni (novel)
Ermanno Cavazzoni (screenplay)

Release Date:

1 February 1990 (Italy)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Drama

Plot Keywords:

Nonlinear Timeline | Journalist | Cult Director | Tourist | Fool

Awards:

4 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Roberto Benigni	...	Ivo Salvini
Paolo Villaggio	...	Gonnella
Nadia Ottaviani	...	Aldina
Marisa Tomasi	...	Marisa
Angelo Orlando	...	Nestore
Sim	...	Flute player
Susy Blady	...	Susy
Dario Ghirardi	...	Journalist
Dominique Chevalier	...	1st Micheluzzi Brother
Nigel Harris	...	2nd Micheluzzi Brother
Vito	...	3rd Micheluzzi Brother
Daniela Airoldi
Stefano Antonucci
Ferruccio Brembilla
Stefano Cedrati

Also Known As:

The Voice of the Moon

Runtime:

Argentina:122 min | USA:120 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

Italian | Japanese

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Italy:T | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Stabilimenti Cinematagrafici Pontini, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Cecchi Gori Group Tiger Cinematografica

Trivia:

This was Fellini's last film.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Making Life Beautiful (1999) (TV)

Care in the Community - Italian Style

Not many directors would choose the end of their career to head off in an entirely new direction, but that is very much what Fellini does here. This was his first film based on a novel (Ermanno Cavazzoni's "Il poema dei lunatici") and quite a radical departure in terms of style.

In a move which apparently alienated many of his traditional audience, the film-world is almost entirely the one experienced by the central characters, Ivo Salvini and to a lesser extent Gonnella. This subjectivity of approach was of course used in "8 1/2" but in a less extreme and clearly autobiographical way. Here, Fellini makes the brave decision to keep contextualisation and explanation to a minimum, leaving the unwary viewer flailing about in search of a foothold. As Ivo's state of mind drifts between lucidity and hallucination, we seldom know what is 'real' and what is imagined, even down to the words spoken by other characters.

"Felliniesque" themes such as the love/fear of women, religious superstition and motifs like madonna statues and mountains of pasta are revisited from this rather skewed perspective, but the film overall has a dislocated feel which is far away from the likes of Roma or Amacord.

Interestingly, Benigni is asked to act here, rather than doing his usual schtick, and does well as a Chaplinesque figure who occasionally reminds one of Guilietta Masina.

This is certainly not what you might call classic Fellini (he confessed to a crisis of confidence writing it) but there is much to enjoy and to wonder at in this last work. The man himself regarded it as the "orphan" of his films and hoped it would come to be better regarded.

Devotees of Terry Gilliam will note the original of the waltz scene lifted for the following year's "Fisher King".