Based on the novel Il poema dei lunatici (The Poem of the Lunatics) by Ermano Cavazzoni, and revisiting themes that Fellini first explored in La strada (1954), the film is about a fake inspector of wells and a former prefect who wander through the Emilia-Romagna countryside of Fellini's childhood and discover more alarming circumstances at the time of the full moon.
The film was shot at a cost of 15 billion lire in an anti-utopian town constructed outside Rome for this film. Fellini observed the actors’ improvisation to refine its plot.
Fellini gently interweaves modern pop with classical and mounts an energetic assault on media moguls and the pandemonium of contemporary society. With the film’s last words: “if we all quieted down a little, maybe we’d understand something”, Fellini suggests the escape into silence as a means to heal the psyche, the source of all true wisdom.
Italian comedians Roberto Benigni and Paolo Viraggio played the lead roles. This film received the Italian David Awards for Best Actor, Best Editing, and Best Production Design, and nominations for Best Director, Best Film, Best Cinematography, Best Music, and Best Producer. The Voice of the Moon was Fellini's last film before his death in 1993.
