Footprints On The Moon (1975) – Film Review

Directors: Luigi Bazzoni & Mario Fanelli
Cast: Florinda Bolkan, Peter McEnery, Nicoletta Elmi
Certificate: 12

By Sarah Morgan

During the 1970s, Italian cinema was peppered with a myriad of mystery thrillers, sometimes with a hint of the supernatural.

Dario Argento became a master of this genre, dubbed ‘giallo’, but other film-makers dabbled in it too. Strangely, Luigi Bazzoni’s Footprints on the Moon isn’t officially classed as a giallo, but I think it should be – it certainly bears all its hallmarks, including an unsettling sense of heightened reality.

At its centre is Alice Cespi, an interpreter living alone in Rome. She goes to work one morning, but on arrival is informed she’s lost her job because she’s been absent without leave for some time. Alice is both puzzled and concerned – she has no memory of these missing days, but on arriving back home, finds a postcard featuring an image of a rundown hotel in a village called Garma.

“Recurring nightmare”

She decides to visit in the hope it will help her piece together what has happened. On arrival, it seems she has been there before, but the locals know her as Natalie.

In the meantime, a recurring nightmare inspired by a film she saw as a child, in which an astronaut was stranded on the moon, continues to haunt her. Eventually, these thoughts and her present-day life begin to merge…

Before watching the film, I had absolutely no knowledge of Bazzoni (this was his final movie), most of his cast or the production itself. Perhaps that’s the best way to watch anything, because you’re not beset by preconceived notions. As a result, I was left a bit flabbergasted – albeit in a good way – by what I witnessed.

Footprints on the Moon keeps viewers guessing to the end, and offers a masterclass in tension.

“Bewitching”

Florinda Bolkan is bewitching as the confused Alice/Natalie, while British actor Peter McEnery makes a brief appearance as someone with whom the central character may or may not have once been in love. However, if you’re expecting to see lots of Klaus Kinski, you may be disappointed – he appears only briefly in the film-within-a-film segments.

The special features include a range of interviews with Bolkan and cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, who is better known for his Oscar-winning work on Apocalypse Now, Reds and The Last Emperor.