As has already been said, "The Moon in the Gutter" compared unfavorably with Beineix's previous light and playful "Diva." It also cost too much, which at the time ('80s) was being widely reported as some kind of aesthetic crime. But "Moon" seems to be nothing more powerful as a waking dream/nightmare. With its constant references to being in a dream, the beautiful and artificial sets and lighting, and the way people, cars, and the camera move through and around each other, the film, with a relatively low level of dialogue, manifests an urgent physicality.
The camera love the leads, particularly Depardieu and Kinski. Depardieu is shot in repose often, a block of smoldering anger while Kinski seems almost like a light flare of red chiffon he can't grasp. Some reviewers seem to bemoan the lack of a clear mystery or resolution, but the very text of the film seems to stem from the inside of Gerard's (Depardieu) inner thought processes - the sweat, the lights, the suspicion. He flares in anger almost without provocation and can't get the vision of his dead sister out of his head or his dreams - or that razor out of his hand.
The billboard, "Try Another World," is a cruel tease, a promise he can ultimately not follow. At the end, he is not with the girl who may save him but we wouldn't believe it if she did. Some viewers may want a clearer denouncement of what comes of Loretta, but the stance, the razor in his hand, the billboard impotent on the other side of the glass and the conflicted schizophrenic cadence of the music says everything you need to know.
Beineix's use of symbol to express mood and plot subtext was better submerged in "Betty Blue," a big hit.
The moon is not in the sky, it is in the gutter, and there it is strangely beautiful, reflecting another world that is unobtainable, all surface, threatening and like a model on a hill.
The camera love the leads, particularly Depardieu and Kinski. Depardieu is shot in repose often, a block of smoldering anger while Kinski seems almost like a light flare of red chiffon he can't grasp. Some reviewers seem to bemoan the lack of a clear mystery or resolution, but the very text of the film seems to stem from the inside of Gerard's (Depardieu) inner thought processes - the sweat, the lights, the suspicion. He flares in anger almost without provocation and can't get the vision of his dead sister out of his head or his dreams - or that razor out of his hand.
The billboard, "Try Another World," is a cruel tease, a promise he can ultimately not follow. At the end, he is not with the girl who may save him but we wouldn't believe it if she did. Some viewers may want a clearer denouncement of what comes of Loretta, but the stance, the razor in his hand, the billboard impotent on the other side of the glass and the conflicted schizophrenic cadence of the music says everything you need to know.
Beineix's use of symbol to express mood and plot subtext was better submerged in "Betty Blue," a big hit.
The moon is not in the sky, it is in the gutter, and there it is strangely beautiful, reflecting another world that is unobtainable, all surface, threatening and like a model on a hill.