LA TETA I LA LUNA

Spain, 1994, 90 minutes, Colour.
Biel Durand, Matilda May, Gerard Damon.
Directed by Bigas Luna.

La Teta i La Lluna is a strange film as are many of the films of Bigas Luna. He directs symbolic stories with an emphasis on sexual psychology.

This film focuses on a young boy, Biel Durand, who is obsessed with milk from breasts. He is jealous of his brother receiving his mother’s milk. However, when a young woman arrives, he focuses on her, her breasts and the possibility of milk.

If Bigas Luna’s films are taken literally, they can be quite repellent. However, the attitudes and behaviour are all symbolic of explorations of the human condition, especially the young boy, relationship to mother, suckling, growing up or not. It focuses on emotional development and hindrances to that development.

There are quite a number of supporting characters including the parents and an old friend of the family, Morris, who is an expert at breaking wind.

Certainly not for every audience, Bigas Luna is from Catalonia and brings this kind of sensibility to a Mediterranean exploration of the human condition.

1.The impact for the audience? Suitability for different audiences? Realism, fantasy, memoir, the child and the carnival?

2.The title, the focus, the credits and the doll, the colour style, the score?

3.Spain, Catalonia, the town, the fair, the family house?

4.The blend of the real and the surreal? A child’s perspective? The pyramid?

5.The young boy, his age, wonder, place in the family, relationship with father, with mother? The pyramid? The failure? The mother and the birth, the brother? The breasts? Desire? Seeing Estrellita? The encounters? Young man, jealous? Following? His satisfaction? Adventures? His focus on his mother, the vision of Estrellita, the pyramid?

6.The portrait of the parents, tough, family life, the mother and her attitudes, giving birth?

7.The women: shop, customers, breasts and mothering?

8.Estrellita and her beauty, her acting, the young man, the threesome, jealousy, the boy and the ending?

9.Morris, his age, his attitudes, love, performance, breaking wind? The young man, jealousy, allowing?

10.The brothers, strong, performance, death? The song, love, jealousy? The sea?

11.The finale, the threesome, music and song?

12.A fantasy, psychosexual role-plays, acting out? A child’s point of view? Women’s point of view? Love?