The Voice of the Moon

The Voice of the Moon

Year: 1990

Runtime: 120 mins

Language: Italian

Director: Federico Fellini

FantasyAdventureComedy

Recently released from a mental asylum, Ivo Salvini teams up with former prefect Gonnella, an unlikely pair who roam the Italian countryside. As they travel they encounter a bizarre, media‑saturated dystopia filled with endless television commercials, beauty pageants, loud rock music, fervent Catholic rites and eclectic pagan rituals.

Warning: spoilers below!

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Timeline & Setting – The Voice of the Moon (1990)

Explore the full timeline and setting of The Voice of the Moon (1990). Follow every major event in chronological order and see how the environment shapes the story, characters, and dramatic tension.

Time period

1989

The events occur in the late 1980s, anchored by pop culture motifs and the era’s peculiar politics. References to the year 1989 appear in the pageant and social scenes, underscoring a period of flamboyance and paranoia. The tone reflects a pre-Y2K sense of absurd modernity in a transitioning Italy.

Location

Italy, rural Italian town

The story unfolds in a rural Italian town surrounded by farmland and a quiet cemetery. The setting blends mundane, small-town life with surreal, moon-haunted imagery that pervades the community. Key locations include a deserted warehouse and open farmland where the bizarre events play out against a backdrop of local rituals and idle gossip.

🌍 Italy 🏞️ Rural town 🎭 Surreal setting 🕰️ 1989

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 12:31

Main Characters – The Voice of the Moon (1990)

Meet the key characters of The Voice of the Moon (1990), with detailed profiles, motivations, and roles in the plot. Understand their emotional journeys and what they reveal about the film’s deeper themes.

Ivo Salvini (Roberto Benigni)

Fresh out of a mental hospital, Ivo is volatile and relentlessly driven by an unrequited love for Aldina. He treats Aldina as the moon—the source of both his beauty and his madness—fueling a cascade of reckless schemes. His charm is tangled with desperation, making him both charismatic and dangerous as he pursues his fixation.

🌀 Frenzied 🌙 Moon-obsessed 💘 Infatuation 🤪 Erratic

Aldina Ferruzzi (Nadia Ottaviani)

Aldina resists Ivo’s advances and embodies a cool detachment amid his feverish pursuit. Her beauty and aloof demeanor fuel the satirical pageant scene where she is crowned Miss Flour of 1989. Her journey through the farmlands and moonlit chant sequences underscores the surreal loneliness at the heart of the story.

💃 Beauty 👑 Fame 🕊️ Enigma

Gonnella (Paolo Villaggio)

An ex-prefect fired for rising paranoia, Gonnella becomes Ivo’s uneasy ally and lieutenant. He leads the duo through a succession of absurd conspiracies and bureaucratic misadventure, blurring lines between authority and folly. His theatrical involvement culminates in a chaotic disruption of the night’s propaganda and performance.

👮 Authority 🧠 Paranoia 🎭 Satire

Giuanin Micheluzzi (Nigel Harris)

One of the three Micheluzzi brothers, Giuanin drives the moon-capture plot with overlarge farming equipment. His family’s lunacy translates into a spectacle where a celestial body becomes a prop in a rural carnival. The brothers’ antics propel the surreal events that destabilize the town’s sense of reality.

🧠 Eccentric 🛠️ Invention 🌕 Moon-obsession

Terzio Micheluzzi (Dominique Chevalier)

Terzio is another of the Micheluzzi brothers, sharing in the bizarre moon-capture plan and the duo’s wild schemes. His presence reinforces the theme of collective madness and the collapse of ordinary limits. Together with his brothers, he threads the film’s surreal undercurrent through their outrageous acts.

🧠 Eccentricity 👥 Sibling duo 🌗 Surreal

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 12:31

Major Themes – The Voice of the Moon (1990)

Explore the central themes of The Voice of the Moon (1990), from psychological, social, and emotional dimensions to philosophical messages. Understand what the film is really saying beneath the surface.

🌙 Obsession

The moon serves as a metaphor for Ivo’s fixation and unraveling sanity. His infatuation with Aldina mirrors a broader hunger for escape and meaning in a world that seems to mock conventional norms. The pursuit drives most of the plot, highlighting how desire can distort reality and fuel reckless schemes. The film uses this obsession to thread between romance, fantasy, and madness.

🗳️ Propaganda

What starts as a carnival of eccentricity devolves into a political farce where priests and politicians try to instrumentalize the moon for public propaganda. The moon ceremony and subsequent public spectacle become a stage for official messaging, quickly spiraling into chaos. The commentary satirizes how power exploits spectacle to manufacture consensus and control. Throughout, individuals grapple with authentic voice vs. manipulated narrative.

🎭 Surrealism

The film thrives on absurd, dreamlike sequences that blur the line between reality and performance. A beauty pageant, a disco inside an abandoned warehouse, and a moon captured by farming gear create a carnival of imagery. Characters drift through these scenes with a theatre-like seriousness that amplifies the comedy and critique. The surreal tone invites the audience to question what is truly happening beneath the surface.

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 12:31

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Unlock the Full Story of The Voice of the Moon

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The Voice of the Moon Summary

Read a complete plot summary of The Voice of the Moon, including all key story points, character arcs, and turning points. This in-depth recap is ideal for understanding the narrative structure or reviewing what happened in the movie.

The Voice of the Moon Summary

The Voice of the Moon Timeline

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The Voice of the Moon Timeline

More About The Voice of the Moon

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More About The Voice of the Moon

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