Anno XXXIII, n. 1 RIVISTA DI STUDI ITALIANI Giugno 2015

CINEMA

ASPIRATIONS AND PERSISTENCE IN FELLINI’S FILM LA VOCE DELLA LUNA

TONIA CATERINA RIVIELLO Santa Clara University Santa Clara, California

In memory of my father, On the 100th anniversary of his birth.

Born during WW I, he served Our native country Italy for seven years in WW II. Not only did “soldier Domenico” Serve honorably in the Cavalry, But he saved starving children With suitcases full of bread and food from Southern Italy.

Ntroduction

IA love of humanity gives Fellini the impetus in La voce della luna (The Voice of the Moon) to portray characters at many stations in life and with uncertain prospects. It is almost as if Fellini wants to give life on film to many sides of himself 1. He does not want to forget any individual from the human race. Each character represented on the screen gives Fellini a longer life, and a fuller life as an artist. We can perhaps try to understand this masterpiece by

1 The Voice of the Moon (1990). La voce della luna (original title), Directed by . Writing credits (in alphabetical order): Ermanno Cavazzoni, novel; Ermanno Cavazzoni, screenplay; Federico Fellini; . Produced by Bruno Altissimi .... executive producer; Ritza Brown .... associate producer; Mario Cecchi Gori .... producer; Vittorio Cecchi Gori .... producer; André Djaoui .... co-producer; Maurizio Pastrovich .... executive producer; Claudio Saraceni .... executive producer. Original Music by . Cinematography by Tonino Delli Colli. 983

TONIA CATERINA RIVIELLO analyzing the lives and feelings of three characters. Ivo Salvini, being the youngest, is presented to us through his childhood memories. The former Prefect Gonnella imposes himself on Ivo and us through satire and irony. He voices Fellini’s dissatisfaction with the corruption and falseness of some local officials in the government. The third character is the Professor of Oboe, a well- established artist who fears for his livelihood because music no longer provides him the rewards that he had expected. He represents Fellini the mature artist, who had to fight against government and private TV stations that threatened to insert commercials during films. Ivo and the Professor struggle with inner voices, from the moon or spirits, while the Prefect struggles with society’s judgments. Fellini also portrays traditional society struggling with the influences of mass culture and high-technology, and the film suggests that individuals who are sensitive to their inner voices are being progressively outnumbered and ignored. Although Fellini has faced the charge of improvising too much in this film, every detail is included to augment the poetics, the ultimate understanding that he wishes the audience will reach after much reflection. He said in interviews that his films do not have explicit “messages” as do billboards or advertising on TV, that his films are intended to be studied as works of art, and that in this film wanted to portray life in smaller cities and towns of the Italian landscape, in the Veneto region. Popular customs are raised to prominence by the maestro’s inclusion of members from every class and age group. Fellini does not wish the audience to come to a common understanding, but rather to reflect upon his work of art with open hearts, minds and souls. The universality of his art and his humility are capable of embracing and helping every viewer, be they well-schooled critics, spiritual beings, or seekers of entertainment. Fellini has respect for the human soul and mind, for individual wishes and aspirations.

I. Voices from the Well

Even during the opening credits, Ivo hears his last name being called near a well in an open field. The full moon is shining but no one else is nearby to confirm the voices. Before he determines anything he is interrupted by a troop of young men engaged in a “commercial transaction”. A man has collected a fee from other young men to go and spy on a woman who dances half-dressed in her home. Like Ivo, she is listening to a source of inspiration, in her case a radio playing a popular tune. When the men and Ivo watch her dancing, we cannot help seeing in the forefront the static of the television set. Fellini is reminding us that the TV is always on in many homes, even though there is nothing to watch. From this first episode, we can see how even a small town is well provided with different external sources of entertainment and distraction. When first watching the film we may be surprised that someone who loves 984

ASPIRATIONS AND PERSISTENCE IN FELLINI’S FILM LA VOCE DELLA LUNA music and dancing leaves the TV on. Only when we watch the film again and again do we realize that Fellini may have included the TV static to show a ludicrous but common “remedy” to the Professor’s dilemma of continual interruptions. This device of Fellini alerts us to the fact that whatever we see in his films ‒ be it an object or short image ‒ contributes to our understanding of the whole film. Our understanding of Ivo takes a surprising turn when he recites an ancient myth about the origin of the Milky Way to the young men, showing his erudition. The audience may mistakenly perceive him as a very literate and educated person, which is true in a limited sense. More generally, Ivo is curious to find in any situation more than what is immediately apparent 2. A similar curiosity is engendered in the audience by Fellini as Ivo walks with the cemetery caretaker to visit his grandparents’ tombs. Enigmatic lights make whirling circles in the nighttime sky, resembling tiny moons or fireflies, but they are not noticed by any character in the film. Although very transient and barely perceivable, these lights lend a sense of mystery in the blank spaces, a phenomenon that will soon reappear 3.

II. The Professor of Oboe

The wife of the oboist, Geltrude, is a model extrovert who exemplifies a faithful wife willing to risk traveling at night along a hazardous country road to assist her desperate husband. As the caretaker with Ivo approaches, she reproaches him in an assured manner for giving her husband permission to live temporarily in the cemetery without having obtained the Mayor’s permission. He defensively replies that he did a favor for a friend, her husband, without asking questions. Her direct assuredness is in contrast with her husband’s apprehensive manner and analytical discourse. They form a comic but sympathetic couple. The wife is understanding of her husband’s wishes, in particular his wish to experience how it feels in the next world. She cares for him as normally as possible, and in fact she still remembers to bring him his favorite dishes even if it takes time and patience to please him. She hopes that he will soon come back

2 John Baxter, Fellini: The Biography , New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1994, p. 19: “Fellini tells us he was a remote and solitary child at school. ‘I liked to be pitied, to appear unreadable, mysterious. I liked to be misunderstood, to feel myself a victim, unknowable. I lived a life apart, a lonely life in which I looked for famous models like Leopardi…’”. 3 Many of the lights are blinking but others resemble shooting stars, and the ultimate source of these emanations is never revealed, although there is a similarity to the the bicycle lights that are seen approaching the town for the captured-moon broadcast. 985

TONIA CATERINA RIVIELLO home and not be terrified of playing music any longer. The oboist is a professor, who graduated with the highest honors from the conservatory. This learned individual has fears and apprehensions related to the instrument that he plays, especially to a passage of four particular notes 4. This semi-chromatic sequence (sol-la-do-mi) was considered dangerous during the Middle Ages, according to the Professor. He tells three doctors, who mysteriously appear in his home, that as he pauses between notes he hears noises and sees strange characters 5. For musicians who must practice for long hours every day, a rest in between passages may seem necessary and beneficial, but what the Professor finds out is that he has no rest, because of the interjecting disturbances 6. The continuous playing cannot happen because he is playing by himself and needs to take a breath. The Professor of oboe is perhaps an agent for the maestro, Fellini, when he expresses what he was expecting of music and what is dearest to him. The oboist having been a famous professor is acting as an agent of what Ivo’s ultimate dreams are about: joy, serenity, peace of mind, happiness on this earth, and acceptance for everyone. Ivo expresses these dreams with the same significance several times in the film, by the well with Terzio and friends, with the Prefect and the doctor in the piazza, and in the “empty” room adjacent to his bedroom with Nestore. The peacefulness of traditional society is intruded upon by the contemporary commercials and billboards even in the countryside, promoting the existence of TV and its spectacles. These programs have become such a disturbance in everyday life that the “artist” in order to find some solace and peace of mind is tempted to visit the world of the deceased. Fellini shows us how desperate some particularly sensitive and imaginative individuals have become to find refuge in the most unlikely places. We may humorously reflect that the continuous TV static is a potential solution to the oboist’s hazard of spaces between the notes of music which allow strange sounds and characters to intrude upon his peace of mind. The journalist in the film is a consumate professional who knows how to get people to talk even after they say they are not interested. When the oboist says that he will not answer questions, the journalist begs the couple very meekly to let him do his job, particularly so that he can look good in front of his supervisor. Geltrude commences the interview by asking her husband amiably to relate when the credenza moved during his practicing. The journalist moves closer to encourage the Professor, who illustrates how he first heard strange noises while he was practicing four notes. The Professor details three instances of unexplainable

4 The scale in Italian is sung as: do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si-do. 5 First, the credenza (chest) moves and, second, he hears strange noises in the kitchen. 6 Music is often soothing, but the pauses between notes may allow the listener’s worries to reemerge. 986

ASPIRATIONS AND PERSISTENCE IN FELLINI’S FILM LA VOCE DELLA LUNA disturbances: a shifting of the credenza, a compulsive eater appearing in his kitchen, and an unexpected visit of three doctors. By the third disturbance, the Professor relates, he became quite concerned and when questioned by the three doctors, he explained how he would hear the noises between the notes of the oboe, which like a lizard inserted themselves into the quiet moments. The Professor continues that he ‒ “like all of us” ‒ had been hoping for some spiritual rewards from music. But after dedicating so much of his life to mastering difficult passages, his hopes have been dashed. Instead of fulfillment, three afflictions enveloped his world: phantasms, darkness, and iciness. The Professor buried his oboe in his garden in an attempt to stop the noise, but instead he heard the noise from deep below the garden. A notable sign of his wife’s love is that she announces as she leaves what she will bring for dinner the next night. It is her subtle way to keep him hopeful for the future. Having been given permission by the caretaker to visit the cemetery that evening, Ivo listens from afar to this unusual dialogue among the journalist, the oboist, and his wife. He will soon share his own disappointment in a monologue about his inability to communicate with his ancestors and his wish to find a bridge or link to the afterworld. After many viewings of the film, one may consider the “annoying” intervals between the musical notes ‒ the spaces where foreign and strange messages are interjected ‒ as parallel to TV commercials for the maestro Fellini, which seemed to haunt his mature years. Just as the oboist asks the three doctors that some restriction should be imposed forbidding anyone to write music with rests, so Fellini fought vigorously to have commercials banned from films. His concerns as an artist were also based on the presumption that technicians who put commercials in films are often not concerned with the integrity of the work of art, but only with time limits and budgets 7. Yet Fellini’s efforts were not in vain, as they raised the consciousness of the people, who were similarly offended by the commercial aspects of the entertainment industry 8.

III. The Storm, the Tree, and a Flashback

After the film elaborates the Professor’s dilemma, it follows Ivo’s search for his grandparents’ resting place. Ivo addresses his ancestors by saying that they were worthy people, yet he cannot find a way to establish communication with them. Sitting on a ladder and gazing blankly into space, he suddenly sees a

7 His efforts even went as far as having a bill passed in a house of representatives. But unfortunately the bill did not pass the Italian Senate. 8 When he stops playing, he complains that the musical world should not allow such spaces between notes any longer. 987

TONIA CATERINA RIVIELLO circular opening in the ceiling above him. This sudden opening is perceived by him almost as a miracle; he ascends the ladder and puts his head and shoulders into the night air, at which point thunder and rain commence. As he climbs down there is a short dream-like sequence of “God” ‒ flying through the storm in a coach with an umbrella ‒ who bears a striking resemblance to the senior doctor in the oboist’s recounting. The genius of Fellini’s art ‒ his unique conceptual linking of reality and multiple dreams ‒ is demonstrated in this rapid sequence of actions. We see Ivo running toward a large beautiful tree, perhaps where he used to play as a child. As he runs, lightning is seen behind the tree. This pivotal sequence of scenes is essential to understand Ivo’s character and personality. The tree can be seen metaphorically as the tree of life and the light that filters through the branches as signs of hope for his future. Just as the tree has many branches and the lightning produces many divergent rays emanating in every direction, Ivo’s future is projected into many different choices of time and place 9. Each child is endowed with free will in order to explore many avenues. The director lets us see the reminiscence of Ivo in the context of the suggestive landscape and storm. Ivo is most affected by natural interruptions, whereas modern society is being influenced most by technological developments. Again the duality of natural versus artificial is suggested. With his jacket raised over his head and his palms opened, he says that he used to love running in the rain (as a child) and that his grandmother would call him “Pinocchino”, an utterance which is an invocation of his ancestor. Right after he pronounces the affectionate name, Fellini takes us again from reality to the imaginary, allowing Ivo to connect to his ancestor through his memories, by transporting him to a true dialogue with his Grandmother 10 . The director takes us one step further beyond the memory of the adult Ivo into the grandmother’s house when Ivo was a child. Fellini uses yet another sophisticated method in the interaction of Ivo as a child and his grandmother. During the brief rescue flashback of Ivo from the storm, her face is in shadow and his face is that of an adult. We continue to see her only in silhouette, behind a white sheet that she is hanging up to dry near a fireplace. Even as she talks to Ivo and approaches him, she holds a wet cloth that obstructs her face. Fellini may be suggesting that in memories we remember simplified versions of the past. Perhaps the white sheet enhances in Ivo’s memory the role that the grandmother was playing, that is, an oracle about his early childhood. The maestro is protecting Ivo in delivering these essential messages without his having to face anyone or to blame anyone for their content. The grandmother becomes a non-threatening

9 In the Christian tradition, every human being at birth is presented by God with almost infinite choices and possibilities. 10 His second wish to communicate with his ancestors comes true by reliving in a flashback the beautiful relationship he had with his grandmother. 988

ASPIRATIONS AND PERSISTENCE IN FELLINI’S FILM LA VOCE DELLA LUNA oracle, a fitting messenger for Ivo, who has become ‒ in this flashback ‒ an innocent boy in a white nightgown, drinking white milk by the fireplace from a white cup 11 . The grandmother confirms that Ivo (unlike Pinocchio) did have a real father and mother, even though Ivo did not see them in God’s coach flying through the storm. In a simple but reassuring manner, the grandmother says that God cannot always be with his parents. He has to take care of others as well. We learn nothing further about Ivo’s father or mother in the film. Fellini’s art reaches its peak in this scene as he masterfully fuses Ivo’s happiness as a young man in the storm and his immediate joy of rain as a child with the visual recounting of the rescue by his grandmother 12 . As we will see later in the film, rain spurs Ivo’s creativity and zest for life 13 . The child Ivo also recounts to his grandmother that he became a Poplar tree earlier in the day and that his hair had turned into many little leaves. From its great height he saw her tiny figure and called her by name: “Nonna, Nonna”. The child Ivo has already climbed on the ladder and on the floor there are apples, which he remembers being present in the “empty” room of his family home. She tells him to come down from the ladder and goes to his aid, perhaps not realizing that little Ivo is very energetic and creative. She encourages him to go to sleep, after having warmed up the bed with a foot warmer that holds live coals. Ivo goes to look under the bed, saying he wants to make sure that no one is there. He stares at the large fire and asks where the sparks go after the fire “goes to sleep” like the stars that fade in the daytime. He wonders why he gets so many ideas, only to see them fly away without being captured. The rain is a recurring theme in the film. Many pivotal moments in the film take place during a storm and at night. Early on, Ivo clearly states that he feels alive in the rain. We can recall that in the tradition of the theater of the past resolutions of inner conflict often reach their apex during a stormy night 14 . The Prefect Gonnella is analogous to the fallen King Lear, while Ivo plays the role of the fool. The transition from a state of confusion to clarity of mind and heart,

11 From the threatening storm we are taken into Ivo’s grandmother’s home and we witness the care and affection that only mothers or grandmothers can give to a child. 12 John Baxter, Fellini: The Biography , cit ., p. 16. Baxter quotes Fellini about his grandmother. “There was a time in my life when my grandmother was the most important person in my life. I couldn’t imagine life without her”. 13 In reminiscing about his being in the storm as a child, Ivo reveals how his grandmother called him “Pinocchino”. 14 For instance, King Lear’s madness reaches its apex in the storm and yet he begins passing from a state of confusion and outrage to one of clarity of mind and heart toward his daughter Cordelia. 989

TONIA CATERINA RIVIELLO according to an ancient belief, is rendered possible by the soul-cleansing property of water. Ivo desires to be in the rain in order to invoke a providential state of being that allows him to enter the sphere of the subconscious where joys and sorrows are preserved. As in other works, in Fellini's La voce della luna , the protagonist’s real quest is to know himself.

IV. Ivo in Pursuit of Aldina

In the next scene, where he flirts with Susy to gain access to Aldina in her top- floor apartment, Ivo plays the role of a fast-talking adolescent lover. He succeeds in making Susy ‒ who obviously cares for him ‒ believe that he has a letter to deliver late at night during a rain storm. After she lets him in the building, she notices that his jacket is soaked and covers him with her dry red jacket. Ivo takes this opportunity to suggest that he might dry better upstairs. She allows him to start climbing the steps and then asks him if he likes her, but he slyly says that he respects her, which is better. He thinks aloud that he has imagined entering this building many times, which Susy mistakenly takes as a compliment. Ivo continues the deception by insisting that they go upstairs. Once inside the two sisters’ bedroom, Ivo takes the candle carried by Susy and views the sleeping Aldina from a distance. Susy falls to the floor in disappointment when it is clear that Ivo has come to see Aldina. The cinematography tells the story from that point on. Ivo lifts Susy’s red jacket to mask his presence, but he loses his composure and drops it on the floor. Fellini has the room in darkness, but Aldina’s serene face is illuminated by the moonlight. He has only time to recite some poetry by Leopardi and to say to Susy “She is like the moon. She is the moon”. Aldina wakes up and cries for help, thinking an intruder is in her bedroom. She throws a silver shoe at Ivo, which he catches and runs away with it. Ivo keeps the shoe as a memento, but much later uses it in a search for a replacement to Aldina, a “Cinderella” whose foot matches hers 15 .

V. Nestore and Aspirations

Ivo and his childhood friend Nestore unexpectedly meet in the town square and get reacquainted while sitting on the rooftop of Nestore’s apartment building. It is refreshing to see Nestore and Ivo manifest their true aspirations in the vastness of the open air. Neither is outraged by the recent proliferation of TV antennas because they are not presently sensitive to the recent changes in

15 John Baxter, Fellini: The Biography , cit ., p. 354. Baxter records that Fellini “poured more of himself into the script than he had into anything he’d worked on for a decade, finding most of his material, not surprisingly, in his Gambettola childhood”. 990

ASPIRATIONS AND PERSISTENCE IN FELLINI’S FILM LA VOCE DELLA LUNA society (and do not have the same expectations or standards of most people). Both are so happy to see each other and share their inner aspirations that there is no focus at this moment on any external annoyances. Although Nestore never says to Ivo that the town is being obstructed by the antennas, we sense an impending calamity for the simple Nestore whose true vocation is to look at the beautiful rooftops and feel unconstrained, unjudged. In the film, we are reminded at several junctures that traditional society is afflicted by the massive intrusion of TV and mass media. Signs and billboards have obstructed the beautiful view of the artistic houses of the past. Natives and tourists who loved to look from their balconies and terraces at the red tile roofs can no longer do so without the ugly TV antennas and billboards cluttering the scene. Nestore seems oblivious to these concerns and reveals to Ivo that his real love in life is to be on the roof with no identity, without the judgmental gazes of others. Fellini here leaves it to the audience to decide as to whether the landscape has become polluted or not. But Fellini refrains from having Nestore complain that even his harmless wish is unobtainable. This may signify how true dialogue between people can surmount impediments. Ivo reveals to Nestore on the roof that he is dreaming of flying over wells, presumably to hear the voices that emanate from them and compel him to wonder about their meaning. Their genuine desires do not involve any help from modern technology or mass media. Their desires are expressed in open air as the later dialogue with Prefect Gonnella is put forth in the open countryside of the Veneto region. When Ivo unwisely leans over the rooftop to find Aldina’s bedroom and return her shoe, one of three brothers, Terzio, uses a modern ladder truck to save Ivo from a three-story fall. Terzio embraces Ivo and calls him “little brother” and embraces him with true concern. A ladder appears several other times in the film: at the cemetery, in the grandmother’s house after the storm, and in the well near the end. There are also aspirational moments when Ivo watches a bird flying on the top of the cemetery and when he is rescued by his grandmother from under the tree. The tree is protection but also a fascination during a lightning storm. As in the rooftop incident, Ivo does not seem to recognize the hazards that others readily perceive. The brothers ‒ who are presented for most of the film as suffering creatures ‒ are determined to work seriously night and day for a common goal that everyone (within reach of a TV broadcast) can share.

V. The Brothers and the Townspeople

It is rewarding to see how some marginalized citizens ‒ such as Ivo, Nestore, the Professor, the Prefect, and the brothers ‒ who are seen with suspicion or doubt by the political figures of the town are in fact the most cultured, refined, and metaphoric in their use of the Italian language. The Prefect provides an 991

TONIA CATERINA RIVIELLO artistic definition of the waltz as an “embroidery”, “a dream”, “a flight”, and “the harmony of the stars”. The very likable Professor of Oboe uses a high style of speech but without being affected or long-winded. He is the most lucid and clearheaded in the film. He is skeptical of the questioning of the journalist. When the journalist says that he would be satisfied with answers to a few small questions, the Professor says that there will be no small questions or answers, lest he be called mad. Terzio, who is quietly suffering from the absence of the woman he loves, thinks of the full moon as a beautiful woman who could fall in his arms because she needs to be loved. And by this reasoning, he thinks that the moon will never want to return to the cold sky. Ivo, the protagonist, uses clean and sensitive language. His discourse is always cognizant of not just himself and his needs but also of the needs of fellow citizens. Ivo shares Terzio’s love of the full moon as an image of femininity. He quotes a poem by Leopardi, and Terzio is at his most eloquent and imaginative when describing the capture of his “lady” moon. Near the end of the film, Nestore appears in the “empty” room of Ivo’s family home, but with disarming sincerity conveys to Ivo the good news of the capturing of the moon by the three brothers. He says that he came to tell him first so that they can go together to celebrate at the televised event. It is comforting to Ivo that Nestore is in the empty room next to his bedroom; this is a way for the director to alleviate any fear that Ivo may have in entering the room after a long absence. The audience can see this by the transformation of Ivo’s expression while seeing and listening to Nestore sitting on the window sill. We had just seen a wary expression on Ivo’s face when he asked his sister if the empty room has been kept. At the first viewing of the film we might think that the sister was just distracted and did not answer Ivo’s question, but in subsequent viewings we become aware that the sister’s non- answer is intentional, because the room is most likely an imaginary locale. To the Prefect, Ivo explains that all of his voices started in this room.

VI. Ivo and the Prefect

On the same night of the storm, the former Perfect Gonnella makes his entrance in the film while he is walking home and is being followed in a car by a doctor, who pesters him to go home out of the cold. The Prefect is quick to let the doctor know that ‒ first of all ‒ he wants to be addressed as Prefect Gonnella, especially by him. The doctor should not take the liberty of addressing him as Mister, as one would an unknown citizen. The Prefect continues that he knows where he lives and does not need the help of the doctor’s car light. At his door he announces that he does not need any unsolicited advice and bids the doctor goodnight. The Prefect makes the acquaintance of Ivo when Ivo is at his most distressed, just after Susy has told him that if he does not stop bothering Aldina, 992

ASPIRATIONS AND PERSISTENCE IN FELLINI’S FILM LA VOCE DELLA LUNA she will have him arrested. The two animated comedians ‒ Benigni and Villaggio ‒ actually bump into each other and the Prefect at first thinks that Ivo is another spy sent by the officials. The Prefect initiates the conversation with bold rhetoric, asserting that all the people around him are playing differrent roles publically. Each person is representing a different “persona” than what he or she is. Ivo, on the other hand, is fearful that Aldina might have him arrested for his intrusion into her home and life. He is crushed and can hardly stand up from his emotional rejection. This uncertain wondering state of Ivo is understood by the Prefect as a subtle intrusion into his life. He “compliments” Ivo that he is a subtle and inconspicuous spy 16 . After this unpromising meeting, these two characters will separate only at the end, after they have learned much from each other. Ivo is introduced to the older gentleman at a vulnerable point in his life, making him quiet and only having the strength to verbalize the devastating news just delivered to him. The Prefect says that up to three months ago he would have overseen complaints like Aldina’s and would have intervened on Ivo’s behalf. He tells Ivo that he is sympathetic and can understand how people can be far different from their projected image as caring and considerate. He instructs Ivo to observe the people in the piazza, how well they are dressed, how concerned they look when talking to others. They are merely reciting parts that are most convenient at this moment in their lives. At first thought, one may judge the Prefect as abrupt to be telling a stranger, who is visibly upset, his own preoccupations. But if we consider the experience that a more fatherly figure has accumulated, both as an official and as an individual, we can see the value in distracting Ivo from his recent heart-break. Fellini exemplifies here a beneficial dialogue between two generations and with different types of concerns: outer and inner. Both major characters, the Prefect and Ivo, are open and tolerant individuals, and spontaneously befriend each other. It may be that each recognizes that the other is facing a major disappointment alone and that isolating themselves would not be conducive to self-discovery or healing. The Prefect and Ivo do not separate after their initial meeting although they have nearly opposite temperaments.

16 Costanzo Costantini, Conversations with Fellini , San Diego-New York: Harcourt Brace, A Harvest Original, 1995, p. 156. Fellini said to Costantini about La voce della luna that “Every character, every situation, every element in the film is, to a varying extent, an expression of the personality of the director. Even the discotheque. If Villaggio represents the moment of the ‘return to order’ in the face of raging chaos, Benigni represents the seminal importance of creativity, imagination and fantasy; of that transitory, ambiguous, indecipherable but yet wonderful and thrilling experience that is life”. 993

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Their discourse is articulated in an elevated manner. At first viewing, one might conclude that they are not listening to each other but there are key moments that disprove this. After the “son” and doctor converse with the Prefect in the public square, the Prefect tells Ivo that they look perfect, they are dressed perfectly for their parts, but it is all a fake. Then Ivo quietly suggests that the “son” is his real son. The Prefect mockingly characterizes the son as being beyond real, in fact a “Platonic ideal”, which helps us understand why the Prefect shows more interest in dialoguing with a fresh acquaintance, Ivo, than in agreeing to go to dinner at his son’s home. In a brief interaction, the Prefect has had enough time to realize that this new friend could be of assistance to him or at least tolerate his scathing rhetoric. More generously, we may conclude that the Prefect prefers Ivo’s company to his son’s because Ivo’s “case” is one of social justice needing his prompt attention 17 . After numerous interactions and dialogues, the Prefect tells Ivo that he has decided to make him his lieutenant, because he intends to rectify injustices that cannot be handled alone. He asserts that everyone needs someone who has been trusted over time to be a companion in life’s journey. He shows Ivo the limits of the territory formerly under his authority. To indicate their long interaction, Fellini shows the two beginning to walk when nature is verdant, presumably in springtime, and then again when the grain is harvested, the hay is baled, and ripe fruit has been collected in baskets by women. Fellini uses nature and the changes of season to suggest the growth and maturation that Ivo is undergoing under the guidance of the Prefect. Ivo matures also by interacting with other townspeople, especially Terzio and his two brothers. As Guido will do in Benigni’s La vita è bella , Ivo discovers what he is inclined to do in interactions with the townspeople. When one of his doctors sees the silver shoe of Aldina strapped to Ivo’s waist, he calls it a Cinderella shoe. Ivo thanks him for the idea, not realizing that he will later mimic the prince of the fable by asking every young woman at a disco to try on the shoe. Unlike the prince, however, Ivo finds out that the shoe fits many of the young women, not just his beloved Aldina. Ivo makes the connection that all these women have some quality that Aldina has. Here we can infer that it is the will and the desire of the individual to determine the outcome of a situation. Ivo’s realization indicates that he has understood that “Aldina” is more a quality than a person. By the time Ivo is presented at the disco with the many young women, he has grown as an individual who will use reason and determination to achieve fulfillment and happiness.

17 In the second half of the film, Prefect Gonnella becomes Ivo’s surrogate father, after bumping into him by accident in the town. After leaving office Gonnella is eager to help those who have been treated unjustly. 994

ASPIRATIONS AND PERSISTENCE IN FELLINI’S FILM LA VOCE DELLA LUNA

VII. Festival and Pageant

The annual combined celebration of the “Gnoccata Festival and Miss Farina Pageant” may at first seem frivolous, but it shows how a society can come together in the name of community and the lifting of spirits. The dance to celebrate the election of Miss Farina includes most of the characters in the film and forms Fellini’s homage to country life and the hard-laboring people of Italy and the Veneto region. The festival honors the farmer’s work in assuring a bountiful harvest of grain and potatoes. Fellini takes every opportunity to bring nature and its fruits into the celebration of the popular feast, which shows that grain and flour are still so essential to human life. Within a single frame of the film, the director represents the “old and the new” side by side: a billboard with the image of Leonardo Da Vinci nearby smoking towers of a modern processing plant. At nearly the same time, workers carry big cooking pots for the Gnoccata upside down over their heads, while children bang on them like drums. It seems as if Fellini were suggesting that we may transform any necessary and mundane action into a feast, an enjoyment, especially for children. As he stated, this film gives life on the screen to Italian popular traditions in small cities. He chose the Veneto where he had been fascinated as a child by such a landscape, which remained vivid in his memory. Unlike big-city dwellers, townspeople know each other and observe comings and goings. We observe how patient they are, how they listen and try to help the needy and afflicted. As a comic sideshow, a rich entrepreneur (who financed the new TV station) is questioned on TV as to the significance of the stations initials. His response disappoints the journalist because the three initials are those of his wife and two daughters, rather than a reference to high technology which could prove advantageous financially. Once again this reminds us that the townspeople are not willing to abandon their long- standing values in the interest of a quick financial gain. The camera surveys the entire festival audience, not just the entertainers and contestants. The dancing during the celebration of the festival and pageant is an opportunity for Fellini to represent the entire town. Fellini has an abundant rain of (potato) flour fall on Aldina, the elected “Miss Farina”, making her resemble the moon even more. In hastily pursuing Aldina during the pageant, Ivo has foolishly let himself be trapped in the dark beneath the dance platform. Peering through a circular opening in the dance floor, Ivo sees Aldina’s powdered face as if it were projected on the moon, a vision that will reappear near the film’s conclusion and reinforce the image of her as a superficial phenomenon. The dancing scene on the central stage after the award ceremony depicts couples of different ages and also highlights the makers and cooks of the gnocchi , who prepare the traditional dish on site. The camera pans over the joyous faces of these energetic 995

TONIA CATERINA RIVIELLO cooks, proud of their work but also anticipating the happiness and satisfaction that the whole well-nourished town will feel by participating in the celebration with music and dance. It is inherent to Italian culture to have the best of one’s products prepared with skill and love to please the guests. In some Italian festivals, in localities where the land is not as fertile as in the Veneto, the citizens of a given town save for a whole year in order to have one day of thanksgiving, friendship, and community 18 . For Fellini, every individual should be free to express his or her desires and fulfill the dreams and aspirations with which God has so richly endowed them. In looking at the entire piazza during the combined festival, one can sense the Fellinian influence of the circus. The importance of the circus in Fellini’s work is that people work together and dedicate their lives to their art, to learning and perfecting performances, and to master working with animals, at times even dangerous ones, in order to entertain the public. The arrival of the circus in a town surprises children and makes them dream and anticipate other mornings when they would see the white tent in their town again. The arrival of the circus has a threefold influence on the children: its sudden arrival, the entertainment, and the anticipation of its return. The circus for Fellini puts people together without distinction of class, wealth, or age. Children especially will feel privileged to be accompanied by their parents, siblings, and classmates 19 .

VIII. Ivo’s Family Home

Perhaps to understand the long-term prospects of Ivo’s life, we need to examine the scene after his sister and brother-in-law take him home from the disco episode. Ivo’s untouched room includes memorable items from his upbringing, a highchair signifying infancy, a life-size Pinocchio statue representing

18 Fabrizio Borin (in conjunction with Carla Mele), Federico Fellini: A Sentimental Journey in the Illusion and Reality of a Genius , Rome: Gremese Editore, 1999. Translated from Italian by Charles Nopor, with the collaboration of Sue Jones. Borin writes that “In the grip of an inner tempest, Fellini found something to hold onto in the movies themselves… A deserted island as a gift that he could populate with an entire imaginary universe… By dint of that privileged talent, he can even manage to see heaven and earth united, and so looks from one side to the other, breathing and filming ‘that atmosphere surrounding things’ which he attributed to Rossellini”. (pp. 170-71) 19 John Baxter, Fellini: The Biography , cit ., p. 26. Baxter opines that “One of the most persistent of Fellini’s fantasies involves his first contact with the circus, later to become a motif in his work. For years, he insisted that, when the travelling circus of the clown Pierino visited Rimini, he ran away with the show, being retrieved by his father after a week on the road”. (p. 26) 996

ASPIRATIONS AND PERSISTENCE IN FELLINI’S FILM LA VOCE DELLA LUNA childhood (the period when his Grandmother called him “Pinocchino”), and a portrait of poet Leopardi representing youth and the formative years. With these symbols, we can see that Ivo had productive early years with a promising future in the world of letters, having grown up in a supportive, respectful environment. We see the maturity of Ivo when he is in the car with his sister and brother-in- law. He seeks assurance that they are going home. He becomes very happy to feel their love and announces that he has a couple of projects that can change his future. This key word, “future”, signals that Ivo is ready to embark on a positive journey, contrary to episodes at the beginning of the film, when flashbacks serve to make him relive episodes that had probably contributed to his confusion and alienation. Ivo’s arrival back at his “family” house is filled with concrete objects from his past, kept intact by his sister. These familiar objects become metonyms of his youthful life. At this stage of his self-search, Ivo can touch and hold replicas of characters that had been essential for his passing from one stage to the next. Ivo’s sister has maintained these “links to the past” and protected them from his two lively young nieces. Ivo’s imagination from the beginning to end is filled with flashbacks of crucial episodes of his life. But it is by going from memories and images of the past to concrete objects summarizing the past that Fellini shows how Ivo enjoys progression and inner growth as an individual. In seeing Ivo go from just imagining and remembering to touching and holding, we recall how young Ivo compared his ideas with sparks from a fire. We may surmise that bewildering questions of his past have been clarified, smoothed over by support and dialogue with his friends, his sister, her family, and the Prefect-mentor. Ivo refers to a room next to his bedroom, but his sister does not confirm its existence. When she leaves, Ivo enters the room, most likely an imaginary one, and sees his friend Nestore, who announces that the moon has been captured by the three brothers. Ivo then states that such an accomplishment is great news for all of them, who have been long-term friends.

IX. Capturing The Moon

The townspeople are proud of the Micheluzzi brothers’ feat of capturing the moon. It shows their commitment to working diligently even at night to achieve their vision, and metaphorically ask how far human aspirations may reach if they are aided by persistent dedication. The satisfaction of the entire town is a reassuring sign that together momentous things can be accomplished and celebrated. Capturing the moon with some harvesting equipment is obviously a practical impossibility, but the idea is used by the town as a publicity stunt to promote its new TV station. The townspeople seem happy to play along, thinking that technology is someday going to perform similar “miraculous” 997

TONIA CATERINA RIVIELLO feats. Thus the scope of the celebration implicitly includes the ascendency of technology in the modern world. This development is not welcome from Fellini’s perspective. He submits that someday technologists may even make the moon into a worldwide TV screen, as is demonstrated at the film’s conclusion when the face of Aldina appears on the moon, announcing that it is now time for a commercial. Fortunately, Ivo is at that moment listening in the well for the voice of the moon and does not seem to notice this last image of his “beloved”.

X. Interruptions

The interruptions that continually shift the focus to another setting or subject matter make the film complex. In the structure of the film, Fellini seems to mimic the disruptive rhythms of the world today. Concentration is difficult to achieve because of the continual interruptions and changes of subject matter. Today we call this multi-tasking, which can be acceptable if we are satisfied to do our work in small segments. Fellini seems to be warning us against the mixing of works of art and financial concerns. This mixture can lead to short- term goals superseding long-term goals and can result in chaotic fragmentation. The town is suffering from a sudden burst of construction in multiple styles with no overarching plan. Fellini’s inclusion of much construction equipment, sprouting antennas, and smoking towers in the landscape seems to be a sad indication that the town is far from being a beautiful, coherent work of architectural planning. Many interruptions in the film disrupt the narrative sequence and make conventional character development atypical in this eventful drama. Ivo listens to voices from the well and is interrupted by the youthful group. The woman dancing in her home with the TV screen full of static is “interrupted” by the young men’s argument over money. The rain and storm in the cemetery interrupt Ivo’s search for his ancestors. The lightning is a natural interruption that begins Ivo’s flashback of his grandmother. The Prefect is interrupted by the doctor on his way home. The Professor’s oboe practicing is interrupted by the noises between the notes. Ivo interrupts the sleep of Aldina. Ivo’s despair at Aldina’s rejection of him is interrupted by the Prefects abrupt walking and caustic rhetoric. The Prefect insists on interrupting the disco to dance a waltz with the “Countess”. TV commercials for Fellini are interruptions to works of art, which should be seen in the original sequence and continuity that the artist intended. Aldina’s face on the moon announcing a commercial break interrupts the serenity of the final scene of the film 20 .

20 Fabrizio Borin, Federico Fellini: A Sentimental Journey in the Illusion and Reality of a Genius , cit ., p. 170. Borin describes the end of the film: “To 998

ASPIRATIONS AND PERSISTENCE IN FELLINI’S FILM LA VOCE DELLA LUNA

XI. Circular Images

A recurring image is the circular shape of things, a full moon, the well, the movement of the waltz. The image that Ivo gets of Aldina from under the stage is also round. The images of the buckets some figures have on their heads for the festival are round; the roundness of the hay bales in the fields; the fruits on the tree. All these images support the notion of Fellini that the film has no beginning and no end. The moon’s light is projected onto Aldina’s face but at the end her face is projected onto the moon. Fellini’s position seems to be ambiguous, since he is working in an art form, motion pictures, that is a relatively modern development, yet he deplores the next generation of musical taste, disco music, delivered by an immense boom box suspended from the ceiling. Fellini’s camera emphasizes the clutter of antennas on the rooftops, even as Ivo and Nestore are expressing their dreams and aspirations. We can surmise that the two friends are unconcerned with the trends of modern society and the “polluted” environment which they cannot physically rise above. The moon is always shown as a full moon. The time scale of the film is hard to assess, because there are numerous flashbacks and changes of season that seem to contradict the continuity of conversations and thought processes 21 . At the beginning and end of the film, Ivo is listening to the well for the voices in the nighttime. The obvious suggestion of circularity in the plot was made explicit by Fellini’s comment that there is no beginning and no end 22 . Contrary to a

the accompaniment of frogs and crickets, with the moon lighting the background, Ivo approaches one of his speaking wells for the last time. He has understood that, in order to understand anything about himself and the world, the only thing he and the others can do is to keep silent. He approaches the well and looks down into it, while the final image is dissolved into blackness” (p. 170). 21 John Baxter, Fellini: The Biography , cit ., p. 359. Baxter quotes Fellini on the passage of time: “I feel as if my years have passed suddenly, have betrayed me. I’m not really certain what I was doing when I was fifty-one, thirty-eight or sixty-three…. I feel as if I had lived through one long single year’’. 22 Costanzo Costantini, Conversations with Fellini , cit ., p. 150. Fellini said in a conversation with Costantini that “The desire to create is visual in itself. It’s work for work’s sake. It is not so much the result that counts, as starting the endeavor. As I have said before, making a film is like making a journey, but what interests me about a journey is the departure, not the arrival. My dream is to make a journey without knowing where I am going, maybe never arriving anywhere…”. Fellini said this after “” and as he was waiting to have 999

TONIA CATERINA RIVIELLO static conception of Ivo, we contend that he is returning to a “deeper” source of inspiration after having indulged in the superficiality of the spectacle and festival.

Conclusion

With each film and character, the maestro achieves a new perspective on human psychology. Discovery of the self is a long road, and just as children learn from their world so individuals need to be humble and open to further enrichment. This film’s most memorable image is that of the lightning behind the large tree where Ivo hides from the rain. The flash highlights many branches reaching in all directions, signifying the infinite possibilities that each individual is presented with by God at birth. The branches spring from the same trunk and are nourished by the same source of life. The light produced by the lightning behind the tree (where Ivo loved to play as a child) may represent life itself, but also hope ‒ or divine light in the Christian tradition ‒ that sustains the human spirit and saves it, time and again, from plunging into despair. Even if one occasionally pursues the wrong avenue, out of ignorance or misplaced trust in others, the persistent goodness of the soul will guide one back to the “strada maestra”, the right road. What one needs is a strong will and desire to remain connected to the source of life, the origin of one’s aspirations. By searching and learning from every human interaction, Ivo, the main character of La voce della luna , eventually learns through the voice of Aldina ‒ at the end of the film ‒ that the voices that he has been hearing from wells and in his head, like the buzzing of bees, are a gift to him. He should not make himself unhappy by trying to understand the deep meaning of the voices. His non-understanding is a second gift to him. The mystery of the voices’ meaning will keep him searching, conjecturing, imagining, and consequently alive. It is thanks to Fellini’s selfless, generous nature that the world of cinema is privileged to see and feel the struggle that his characters undergo while helping other unfortunate souls. Like acrobats of a circus, the maestro’s characters are reliant on their counterparts. Federico Fellini is a demiurge, a sculptor of human feelings and dreams. He has a circular way of creating and molding his art that lends it a unique artistic signature and makes it a lasting gift to humanity.

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ideas for a next film, which we know as La voce della luna and he defined as having “no beginning and no end”. 1000