La teta i la lluna (1994)

Directed by: Bigas Luna | 87 minutes | comedy | Actors: Biel Durán, Mathilda May, Gérard Darmon, Miquel Poveda, Abel Folk, Laura Mañá, Genís Sanchez, Xavier Masse, Victoria Lepori, Xus Estruch, Jane Harvey, Vanessa Isbert, Jordi Busquets, Diego Fernández, Salvador Anglada, Javier Bardem

The Catalan Bigas Luna will be remembered mainly as the director of ‘Jamón, Jamón’, the brooding comedy that was the starting point of the careers of Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem. It is less well known that Bigas Luna also made her way as a visual artist before and after that successful song. That background is clearly reflected in ‘La teta y la luna’, a film that largely relies on its beautiful images. Fortunately, that visual richness distracts somewhat from the wafer-thin story.

Although the synopsis may point to a normal story, ‘La teta y la luna’ is above all a freak show, topped with a magical realistic sauce. We meet a dancer who saves tears, a motorcyclist who earns his money by letting multifunctional farts, a flamenco singer who is heartbroken and a boy who is looking for a tit. Those characters are constantly spinning around each other, without any progression in the story.

Visually, ‘La teta y la luna’ is certainly worthwhile, although the boundary between art and kitsch is often minimal. Everything in this film is lavish, from the insanely bright colors to the boobs that pop up everywhere. This frenzied visualization evokes the name Almodóvar, although his work is slightly more stylish. The lack of a real plot makes you suspect that some scenes were written purely for visual effect. We see a red bra, silhouetted against a bright blue sky and floating along a Roman aqueduct. Nice to see, but hardly relevant.

In addition to visual beauty, ‘La teta y la luna’ must have humor and atmosphere. That atmosphere – sometimes gloomy, sometimes brooding – is largely determined by the sleepy seaside town in which the story takes place. The humor is in the musings of main character Teta. We hear his amusing thoughts about breast milk, baby brothers, cojones and pyramids as a voiceover and are a welcome addition to the sometimes somewhat boring events.

All in all, ‘La teta y la luna’ has turned out to be a reasonable film, although it could have been a bit less noncommittal and artificial. The deeper layers that the film undoubtedly contains are difficult to discover for the uninitiated in the Spanish language and culture. Thus, this comedy is especially suitable for lovers of female breasts, circus numbers and feet that taste like Roquefort.