The Moon in the Gutter [La Lune dans le Caniveau] ** (1983, Gérard Depardieu, Nastassja Kinski, Victoria Abril) – Classic Movie Review 11,333

‘We’re born in the gutter… where the stars gleam in the water.’

Director Jean-Jacques Beineix’s 1983 French revenge-obssessed drama The Moon in the Gutter [La Lune dans le Caniveau] is based on a novel by David Goodis, and stars Gérard Depardieu, Nastassja Kinski and Victoria Abril.

The director of Diva (1981) and Betty Blue (1986) also created this far less likable movie, with Depardieu unable to make a good impression as docker Gérard Delmas, a man obsessed with his dead wife and the man who raped his sister, who committed suicide.

There is a sterling performance from Kinski as Loretta Channing, the beautiful rich woman the hero meets, and Abril is impressive as Bella, the possessive mistress of Gérard. But the pace of the film is so slow in a long running time of 137 minutes, and the emphasis on certain shots so symbolic that the film begins to reassemble a heartless exercise in trendy camera angles and ponderous sentiments. David Goodis’s story gets lost in the flashy film-making, but Beineix is at his best when he sets out to astonish his audience.

Also in the cast are Beatrice Reading, Gabriel Monnet, Dominique Pinon, Milena Vukotic, Vittorio Mezzogiorno, Bernard Farcy, and Anne-Marie Coffinet.

The Moon in the Gutter [La Lune dans le Caniveau] is directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix, runs 137 minutes or 126 minutes (cut) (US), is made by TF1 Films Production, SFPC, Opera Film Produzione and Gaumont, released by Gaumont International (1983) (France), Triumph Films (1983) (US) and Palace Pictures (1983) (UK), is written by Jean-Jacques Beineix and Olivier Mergault, based on a novel by David Goodis, is shot in Eastmancolor and Panavision by Philippe Rousselot, is produced by Lise Fayolle and scored by Gabriel Yared.

Robert De Niro’s wife from 1976 and 1988 Diahnne Abbott did not fancy performing in the nude so she was replaced by Victoria Abril.

Depardieu was unhappy with the film and called it The Film in the Gutter.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,333

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com