Bernardo Bertolucci
La Luna

THE REVIEW

In 1979, Bernardo Bertolucci decided to take on the challenge of creating an extremely complex and difficult film; unflinchingly delving into the depths of relationships between parents and children, which often conceal a profound and intense symbiosis, and which in some cases hide a deep pain while simultaneously being the only possible "cure." La Luna speaks of this through the slow crumbling of a New York family due to the weakness of a father perhaps unable to handle some dependency, who loses his life following a heart attack while driving. Mother and son are left alone, with the fifteen-year-old boy reacting to his father's loss in the worst way by becoming an addict and venting all his pain on his blameless mother, dragging her down the blind alley he has chosen.

But she will nevertheless try to bear the burden, making wrong right: maybe not; Bertolucci doesn't give us an answer on what might come from a morbid relationship that leads to incest; rather, he moves the protagonists of his film to Italy, (with appearances by Benigni, Milian, Aida Valli): we witness the young man's first sexual experiences behind a cinema screening "Niagara" with Marilyn Monroe. Bertolucci then outlines the film's subplot, which is the mother's profession as an opera singer, where we will see her perform the third act of La Traviata, especially at the finale, where even the photography will play a crucial role; along with the slow decline of the son now dependent on drugs, with the desperate mother trying to find him each time.

A very touching film directed by one of the greatest Italian directors of all time, and once again we find the fundamental contribution of music, with some truly touching scenes where the mother seeks comfort in the experience of her music teacher who is now too old to offer any solace. However, the film does not solely focus on melancholy and disillusionment, as in the final sequences we also find a twist, although not a shocking one.