# The Tit and the Moon
**The Tit and the Moon** (Catalan: *La teta i la lluna*, Spanish: *La teta y la luna*) is a 1994 comedy-drama film directed by the Catalan filmmaker Bigas Luna, a Spain-France co-production about a nine-year-old boy who, displaced at his mother's breast by a newborn brother, asks the moon to send him a breast of his own.[1](https://www.filmaffinity.com/en/film928467.html) • [2](https://mubi.com/en/in/films/the-tit-the-moon) It is the final installment of his Iberian trilogy, following *Jamón, jamón* (1992) and *Huevos de oro* (1993), and it won the Osella d'Oro for Best Screenplay at the 1994 [Venice Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/venice-film-festival).[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111403/) • [4](https://cinegraph.org/movies/the-tit-and-the-moon-1994)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | *La teta i la lluna* (Catalan); released 1994, Spain-France co-production[1](https://www.filmaffinity.com/en/film928467.html) |
| Director and writers | Directed by Bigas Luna; screenplay by Cuca Canals and Bigas Luna, additional dialogue by Josep Bargalló and Frédéric Lasaygues[5](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/en-us/Peliculas/GetPdf?Pelicula=149893) |
| Lead cast | Biel Durán (Tete), Mathilda May (Estrellita), Gérard Darmon (Maurice), Miguel Poveda (Miquel)[1](https://www.filmaffinity.com/en/film928467.html) |
| Key crew | Music Nicola Piovani; cinematography José Luis Alcaine; producer Andrés Vicente Gómez[1](https://www.filmaffinity.com/en/film928467.html) • [6](https://pro.imdb.com/title/tt0111403/) |
| Venice 1994 | Osella d'Oro for Best Screenplay (win); Golden Lion (nomination)[4](https://cinegraph.org/movies/the-tit-and-the-moon-1994) |
| Spanish box office | €499,577.45 gross and 204,888 admissions in Spain[7](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=149893) |
| Audience ratings | IMDb 6.3/10 from about 3,800 votes; Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter 76% from 500+ ratings, with no critic reviews counted[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111403/) • [8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/la-teta-i-la-lluna-the-tit-and-the-moon) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Tete (Biel Durán) is a boy in a Catalan village on the edge of adolescence who cannot accept that his newborn brother has replaced him at their mother's breast (Laura Mañá). He asks the moon to bring him a breast of his own, and his wish seems answered when a French cabaret performer, Estrellita ([Mathilda May](https://www.edgepedia.org/mathilda-may)), arrives at the local campground with her traveling show and her husband Maurice (Gérard Darmon), a stage flatulist in the tradition of [Le Pétomane](https://www.edgepedia.org/le-petomane).[2](https://mubi.com/en/in/films/the-tit-the-moon) • [9](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-02-22-ca-34581-story.html) Tete's competition is stiff: Estrellita is married, and his older friend Miquel (Miguel Poveda), an adolescent flamenco singer of about eighteen, falls for her as well.[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/la-teta-i-la-lluna-the-tit-and-the-moon) • [9](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-02-22-ca-34581-story.html)
The film is framed by the Catalan tradition of castells, human towers: Tete introduces himself in voiceover as an *anxaneta*, the child who climbs to the top of the tower, and he must overcome his fear of falling just as he pursues his impossible wish.[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111403/) • [10](https://drac.cultura.gencat.cat/bitstream/handle/20.500.12368/37087/Catalan%20films%20%26%20television%201994-1995.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=6) In the dreamlike ending, he is suckled by Estrellita and by his mother in a final image that critics have read as a doubling of the mother goddess.[11](https://forbes.com.mx/reptiles-hormonas-y-felinos/)
## Production
The screenplay is credited to Cuca Canals and Bigas Luna, with additional dialogue by Josep Bargalló and Frédéric Lasaygues; Bargalló has written that the collaboration grew out of a long conversation with the director about the land, castells, and the landscape of the Camp region.[5](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/en-us/Peliculas/GetPdf?Pelicula=149893) • [12](https://josepbargallo.wordpress.com/2013/04/07/bigas-luna-de-la-terra-i-la-lluna-el-bigas-de-virgili/) Shooting ran from February 7 to April 23, 1994, on locations including la Barceloneta, Castelldefels, Torredembarra, Valls, and [Tarragona](https://www.edgepedia.org/tarragona).[5](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/en-us/Peliculas/GetPdf?Pelicula=149893) • [12](https://josepbargallo.wordpress.com/2013/04/07/bigas-luna-de-la-terra-i-la-lluna-el-bigas-de-virgili/) The film was shot in Catalan, Spanish, and French, produced by Lolafilms, Cartel, and Hugo Films, and scored by the Italian composer Nicola Piovani.[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111403/) • [1](https://www.filmaffinity.com/en/film928467.html)
In an interview at the Venice festival, Bigas Luna said the production cost around five million dollars, financed with French, Spanish, and Italian money, and called the film autobiographical: he had been obsessed since childhood with the breast as a symbol of nourishment, an image he had drawn for years under the name *allattatrice* (the nursing woman) before staging it on screen for the first time in this film.[13](https://elpais.com/diario/1994/09/09/cultura/779061601_850215.html) • [14](https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/4044245.pdf) The ICAA, Spain's film authority, certified the film on October 5, 1994 as not recommended for audiences under 18, and it opened in Spain the next day; the ICAA lists the runtime as 92 minutes, while some international listings give 86 to 91 minutes.[7](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=149893) • [4](https://cinegraph.org/movies/the-tit-and-the-moon-1994)
## Place in the Iberian trilogy
The film closes the trilogy Bigas Luna began with *Jamón, jamón* (1992) and *Huevos de oro* (1993). In his own account, the three films are three portraits of Spain: *Jamón, jamón* depicted Aragón with a rough sensuality, *Huevos de oro* the machista sex of Spain's interior, and *La teta y la luna* a Mediterranean and Catalan story with a more naive eroticism.[13](https://elpais.com/diario/1994/09/09/cultura/779061601_850215.html) He described three levels of love in the film: the husband's platonic, mythical love; the adolescent's realistic, carnal passion; and the child's surreal, fantastic love.[13](https://elpais.com/diario/1994/09/09/cultura/779061601_850215.html) Scholars have read the film as Luna's consideration of Catalan culture and identity in post-Franco Spain, with visual references to Fellini's *La Strada* and *Amarcord*, and as one of the most sensual portraits of popular [Catalonia](https://www.edgepedia.org/catalonia) in his work.[15](https://escholarship.org/content/qt2mv320fn/qt2mv320fn.pdf?t=pe9tvy) • [16](https://cvc.cervantes.es/el_rinconete/anteriores/diciembre_16/22122016_01.htm)
[Javier Bardem](https://www.edgepedia.org/javier-bardem), the lead of the first two trilogy films, appears in a small role credited as Benito González.[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111403/)
## Reception
At Venice in 1994 the film won the Osella d'Oro for Best Screenplay and was nominated for the [Golden Lion](https://www.edgepedia.org/golden-lion); it also won Best Film at the Ondas Awards.[4](https://cinegraph.org/movies/the-tit-and-the-moon-1994) • [1](https://www.filmaffinity.com/en/film928467.html) The Los Angeles Times critic Kevin Thomas, introducing a 1995 American Cinematheque tribute to Luna, called it a tender fable of love and passion that marked a departure from the director's usual raunchiness, and praised Darmon's anguished husband.[9](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-02-22-ca-34581-story.html) Time Out found the film gentler and more likeable than its two predecessors but faulted its lack of narrative drive, noting that the dream-sequence lactation images left the strongest impression.[17](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-tit-and-the-moon)
In Spain the film sold 204,888 admissions and grossed €499,577.45.[7](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=149893) On aggregate audience platforms it sits in the mid-range: IMDb 6.3/10 from about 3,800 votes, TMDb 6.2, and a 76% Popcornmeter score on Rotten Tomatoes from more than 500 audience ratings, with no professional critic reviews counted on the Tomatometer.[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111403/) • [4](https://cinegraph.org/movies/the-tit-and-the-moon-1994) • [8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/la-teta-i-la-lluna-the-tit-and-the-moon) The film later circulated on the Criterion Channel and was included in the 2015 Roxie Theater retrospective of Bigas Luna's work in San Francisco, organized by his daughter Betty Bigas after the director's death in April 2013.[18](https://www.playpilot.com/us/movie/the-tit-and-the-moon-pptiGcY/) • [19](https://www.llull.cat/espanyol/actualitat/actualitat_noticies_detall.cfm?id=31848&url=el-cine-roxie-san-francisco-homenajea-bigas-luna-con-proyeccion-cuatro-peliculas.htm)
## References
1. [The Tit and the Moon, FilmAffinity](https://www.filmaffinity.com/en/film928467.html)
2. [The Tit & the Moon, MUBI](https://mubi.com/en/in/films/the-tit-the-moon)
3. [The Tit and the Moon (1994), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111403/)
4. [The Tit and the Moon, Cinegraph](https://cinegraph.org/movies/the-tit-and-the-moon-1994)
5. [TETA Y LA LUNA, LA, ICAA film file (PDF)](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/en-us/Peliculas/GetPdf?Pelicula=149893)
6. [The Tit and the Moon, IMDbPro](https://pro.imdb.com/title/tt0111403/)
7. [TETA Y LA LUNA, LA, ICAA Film Database](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=149893)
8. [The Tit and the Moon, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/la-teta-i-la-lluna-the-tit-and-the-moon)
9. [Filmmaker Luna to Speak at 'Recent Spanish Cinema', Los Angeles Times (1995)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-02-22-ca-34581-story.html)
10. [Catalan films & television 1994-1995, Generalitat de Catalunya](https://drac.cultura.gencat.cat/bitstream/handle/20.500.12368/37087/Catalan%20films%20%26%20television%201994-1995.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=6)
11. [Reptiles, hormonas y felinos, Forbes México](https://forbes.com.mx/reptiles-hormonas-y-felinos/)
12. [Bigas Luna, de la terra i la lluna, Josep Bargalló](https://josepbargallo.wordpress.com/2013/04/07/bigas-luna-de-la-terra-i-la-lluna-el-bigas-de-virgili/)
13. ["Jamás he pedido dinero público a nadie", El País (1994)](https://elpais.com/diario/1994/09/09/cultura/779061601_850215.html)
14. [Bigas Luna, AnMal Electrónica 32 (2012)](https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/4044245.pdf)
15. [Examined by the Light of the Moon, eScholarship](https://escholarship.org/content/qt2mv320fn/qt2mv320fn.pdf?t=pe9tvy)
16. [Bigas Luna, todo ojos, Rinconete, Instituto Cervantes](https://cvc.cervantes.es/el_rinconete/anteriores/diciembre_16/22122016_01.htm)
17. [The Tit and the Moon review, Time Out](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-tit-and-the-moon)
18. [The Tit and the Moon streaming guide, PlayPilot](https://www.playpilot.com/us/movie/the-tit-and-the-moon-pptiGcY/)
19. [El cine Roxie de San Francisco homenajea Bigas Luna, Institut Ramon Llull](https://www.llull.cat/espanyol/actualitat/actualitat_noticies_detall.cfm?id=31848&url=el-cine-roxie-san-francisco-homenajea-bigas-luna-con-proyeccion-cuatro-peliculas.htm)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Coming-of-age films › Coming-of-age films released before 2000*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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