La Luna is a film by Bertolucci and it explores the intertwining themes of addiction and obsession overlaid on familial love and commitment.

“La Luna” tells the story of Joe Silveri, a teenage boy who finds himself uprooted and in a foreign environment after his father’s untimely death. His mother, a famous opera signer, submerges herself in her work to deal with the loss, leaving her son to find his own way. Joe loves his mother, especially when she sings but as he tries to make sense of coming of age, being an American in Rome, and finding his place in the world, he longs for something he can count on, for structure and consistency. His mother, Caterina, is absorbed by her art and in contrast to her son, she is at ease in Italy, where she learned her trade. She speaks Italian fluently and surrounded by people who love and support her, she flourishes professionally. She doesn’t even realize that she has been ignoring her son until her assistant reminds her that his birthday is the next day.

Joe overhears that she has forgotten and becomes sullen and dismissive with his mother’s attempts to make his day special. He wanders off from his birthday party with his girlfriend and his mother goes looking for him. Her world comes crashing down when she discovers that he is shooting up heroin. Suddenly her career is unimportant and she starts to obsess over her son. Afraid to be alone, feeling like a failure as a mother, she will do anything to make things right for him. She hounds him for answers but he remains aloof, believing that she is more concerned with her reputation than him. They fight, she frets, he collapses and she calls in a doctor, who tells her what to expect when he awakes. She finds his drug supplier and learns how homesick Joe has been. She tries to payoff the dealer to stop selling his drug, but he gives her a fresh supply instead, saying that her son will be needing it.

Incapable of tough love, Caterina practically smothers her son with everything she thinks he needs. Her obsession becomes incestuous after she alleviates some of his drug withdrawal pain by groping him. She tells Joe that he is half-Italian and continues to try to seduce him, even tries to make him jealous. But he just wants the kind of tough love he needs to overcome his addiction, and become a man. She finally lets him know where to find his biological father. Will he find the parent he seeks or throw it all away, as the spoiled adolescent he has become?

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Spanking the money is a 1994 mainstream movie. It turns family drama on it’s head. redefining the relationship between a parent and their offspring.  The film’s title itself is a euphemism for masturbation, when one takes “matters into their own hands”.  However, the main character Raymond, feels increasingly that his fate is out of his hands.  Raymond (Jeremy Davies) has plans for a summer internship when his father makes him care for his bedridden mother instead. Susan (Alberta Watson), isn’t physically unwell, but she has limited mobility because of a broken leg. As Susan becomes increasingly dependent on Raymond, their relationship takes a disturbing turn, leading to a taboo connection between mother and son.

Exploring sexual awakening in the context of an inappropriate relationship “Spanking the Monkey” attempts to address the conflict nature of the Oedipus complex.  Raymond is resentful of his familial situation, especially since it has disrupted hard earned advances on his career path. He finds himself struggling to relate to his peers and is sexually awkward with his attractive neighbor.  Regardless, his sexual frustration, begins drive him into the arms of his mother, who is ever present in his daily activities. This exploration of a taboo subject forces the audience to question the boundaries of acceptable human behavior and challenges us to consider how circumstances can push individuals to do things normally reprehensible.

One could argue that director David O. Russell’s willingness to tackle such prohibited subjects is a daring artistic choice, especially for his first feature film. The forbidden change in nature of the principle mother -son relationship,  is not the only dark theme.  Raymond’s narcissistic parents manipulate him for their own comforts, though-out the movie. He is driven  to near suicide, as he increasingly loses control, over the direction his life is taking. So this is also a film about toxic relationships, how commitment with the wrong priorities can undo the best laid plans, robbing a person of years of hard-work.

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Le Grand Jete means big leap, a ballet term. This subtitled German film is about a ballet instructor who makes a life changing big leap with her estranged son.  The film begins by focusing on the crippling effects that a lifetime of extreme training has taken on body of Nadja (Sarah Grether). The only thing that gives her life meaning is ballet and she drives her students hard, like she drives herself.

When she visits her mother, she is reunited with her son. A son she let her mother raise so she could pursue her dreams of being a professional ballerina. She has recently returned from overseas, to continue the ballet traditions as a respected instructor in her hometown. Her son is a young adult, getting ready to start college. Nadia is probably in her mid to late 30s with a ticking biological clock, she wants to establish a relationship with him, just as he is ready to leave the nest.

The film takes a strange art-nouveau twist as we learn that the son Mario engages in extreme feats of physical endurance (like his mom). After his “show”, they go back to the home he still shares with her mother, his grandmother. There, le Grand Jete, truly begins as Nadja asks if she can touch, his prize winning, most endurant body. He is absolutely unreserved in his response, as she remains very much a stranger, a celebrity of sorts, more a curiosity than his mother.

Nadja moves in with her family and continues to get to know her son. The physicality of their personalities defines as well their relationship. Their relationship knows no boundaries, much to the disapproval of her mother. Quickly Nadja becomes pregnant and Mario stays on until after she safely delivers. With the birth of her daughter, Nadja is finally happy, and has a new purpose in life. The movie, le Grand Jete, ends when she releases her son from his commitment to find his own path.

Turn on your mom and sister

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