La voix de la Lune

It is a pity that Fellini's last film is not better known as it represents something of a return to form after a series of disappointments. .Fellini's visual imagination is still intact but some of the wonderful precision of imagery is no longer present. Perhaps by the end of his career too many of his old collaborators had died or retired. The best part is the first half hour seen entirely from the perspective of the insane central characters. Their obsession with the moon provides the alibi for many evocative night shots, (I've often thought that one thing that distinguishes great film makers is how they film the night), as well as the spectacular climactic sequence when they imagine that they have trapped the moon. Elsewhere there is typical Fellini fun with the crowning of 'Miss Flower' complete with an outsize King and Queen of the Gnocci and a final shower of flower on all the contestants. 'La voce della Luna' shares much of 'Ginger and Fred's' distaste for the contemporary world summed up in a sequence in which a disco rave is interrupted by a Strauss waltz. This is far more poetic and unexpected than anything in the predictable 'Ginger and Fred'. Those worried by the narrative incoherence of Fellini can bury their boring heads in a screen writing manual. Perhaps the current international popularity of Roberto Benigni, little known outside Italy when the fim was made may yet allow this flawed but haunting film to gain the audience it deserves.

An astounding movie that left me behind with a smile on the face. Its ending reminded me of the annoying feeling when having woken up after a beautiful dream.

In fact, the movie has something of a dreamland, where almost everything seems possible and space and time have lost their limitations. In Salvini, plaid by Roberto Benigni, it is presenting a modern fool as its very likeable main protagonist, who on his ways around a small Italian town meets all kind of weird characters and hears voices from the ground of the wells. The movie could also be described as a modern fairy tale that in some parts becomes quite reflective when disclosing some absurdities of modern life. When seeing those it becomes in a way comprehensible that Gonella, the 2nd main protagonist, has developed a certain paranoia and believes in a big world conspiracy.

It is also true that the movie does not have a lot of thrill because it is lacking a real story line. This fact, however, kept alive my curiosity because it remains unclear throughout the movie where the film is heading at and what strange things are next to happen. This concept does not necessarily work out but grandmaster Fellini succeeds one more time in presenting us a stream of lively and fascinating images. Some typical Fellini ingredients like madonna statues and fairgrounds are part of them one more time.

Overall, a film like a poem, that certainly is not everyone's cup of tea.

The amusing and entertaining adventures of a recently released mental patient (Roberto Benigni) and his band of misfits, discover conspiracies to concur while looking for love.

Acclaimed director Federico Fellini wrote a short treatment for this film in two weeks with his long-time scribe Tullio Pinelli as early as summer 1988. Returning to themes they first explored in "La strada" (1954), the duo crafted a parable on the whisperings of the soul that only madmen and vagabonds are capable of hearing.

The film screened out of competition at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival, where it was panned, misunderstood and/or ignored by the majority of North American critics. One critic boasted, "Absolutely ravishing. I've never been so bored in my life". Ultimately, Fellini's last film became his first never to find a North American distributor. At least until 2017 (more on that shortly).

One might think this is the sort of film that would grow in reputation over time. Those who saw it in 1990 likely did not know this was the final Fellini, and that alone should give it a special place in our hearts. Yet, critic Michael Scott pulls no punches when he calls the film "an unwanted, undercooked, post-meal main course, just as you are ready to slip into your pyjamas." He also says it is "the best example yet of the train wreck that can occur when you give a visionary unquestioned creative control but take away his glasses; it looks stunning but is nigh on incomprehensible."

He does concede however that the "visuals ... rank up there with the most impressive of Fellini's entire body of work." Herein lies what, I think, makes the film worth a second (or third) look. The color scheme is striking, especially on the new (2017) Arrow Films Blu-ray with a new scan. The blend of fantasy, madness and reality is cleverly blended, with one scene of lovemaking while a rumbling train passes quite memorable indeed.

The Arrow Blu-ray looks great, and does bring this Fellini to America for the first time ever. The special features are slim, but it does include an hour-long documentary on the film, which is really indispensable and perhaps would help change Mr. Scott's opinion? Certainly it puts the film in its proper place in the world of Fellini.

This is one of Fellini's best movies, and one of the most underrated pictures of all time. This masterpiece includes all the main themes of Fellini's career. It doesn't follow a "prose style", but a "lyric style". It's like a visual poem. In fact this film narrates the journey of Ivo Salvini (Roberto Benigni) through dreams and memories, which actually belong to the great director. As a matter of fact Salvini, alter ego of Fellini, says: "I love to remember, maybe more than living". The protagonist wanders in the countryside, asking himself about life, and meets Gonnella (Paolo Villaggio), who feels himself oppressed by the giant and factitious society, made of useless appearance. The noisy square is the symbol of a chaotic society (circensian, as Fellini would say), where the individuality is dead, superseded by an alienated mass. This crowd is insensitive to the voice of inner being, to the voice of the moon. In this film the noise contrasts with the silence, the loud public square contrasts with the noiseless countryside, which helps along subjectivity. The omnipresent television clashes with the moments of poetry, like the scenes of Benigni reciting poems of the Italian romantic poet Giacomo Leopardi. Poetry wins over the modern society, which doesn't listen the voice of inner being, deafened by the noise of the Machine. Poetry is like a flight, like a dance, like music (the waltz scene in the disco is wonderful). At the end only the most misunderstood people can catch the moon, that glow of infinite. Nobody can explain what happens. Maybe it's not necessary to explain. It's enough to keep silence and listen. Benigni and Villaggio are two great actors, the soundtrack by Nicola Piovani is impressive and touching, the set design by Dante Ferretti has a beautiful imagery, and the direction of the master is outstanding as usual. All that enables us to listen for a moment the voice of the moon.

I love how subtly the real mixes with the unreal in Fellini's movies to the point that you are not quite sure which is which anymore. I love the poetry, a mad poetry of love, mystery and revelations. Benigni's role in this film is glorious. This film is drenched in an art of dreamy quality. Paolo Villagio is great in this movie too carrying an entirely different madness to that of Benigni's character. I just love the structure of this film as well as the poetic script. This film really moved me into a hypnotic state. Fellini is the Jung of movies, taking you further and further, deeper and deeper into a trance and then finally after putting you through a maze, a labyrinth of complex psychological truths tells you "Now look!"