MovieChat Forums > La luna (1979) Discussion > Bertolucci's direction

Bertolucci's direction

posted 15 years ago by virgiltx
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The last time I remember seeing this movie, my impression was that Bertolucci, at the time he made it, did not have enough familiarity with spoken English to judge the deliveries of his actors. This would be especially problematic with the boy's performance (his first movie). The director needs to be extremely keen to inflection, tone, emphasis etc, being the one who is making it all fit together and making it all add up.

But the film, and Matthew Barry's performance succeed in spite of that.

[–] ofumalow 15 years ago

Barry is awkward and clearly inexperienced in his very first Italy scenes--I believe the film was shot more or less chronologically, with the major exception of the initial NYC sequences which were shot after everything else (with a different cinematographer, even). But then Barry really pulls it together--it's a shame this performance wasn't better appreciated. And Jill Clayburgh really does wonders with variably naturalistic dialogue; her character is larger-than-life anyway. Most of the other characters are speaking English as a second language, so any stiltedness make sense.

I love this movie, crazy narrative/credibility flaws and all. It's intoxicating.