Crystal or Ash, Fire or Wind, as Long as It's Love

Crystal or Ash, Fire or Wind, as Long as It's Love
Directed byLina Wertmüller
Written byRutger Hauer
Lina Wertmüller
Roberta Colombo
Produced byTarak Ben Ammar
Fulvio Lucisano
StarringRutger Hauer
CinematographyCarlo Tafani
Edited byPierluigi Leonardi
Music byPino D'Angiò
Italo Greco[1]
Release date
  • 1989 (1989)
Running time
110'
CountriesItaly, France
LanguagesEnglish
Italian
Budget$6-7 million

In una notte di chiaro di luna (internationally released as Crystal or Ash, Fire or Wind, as Long as It's Love, also known as On a Moonlit Night and As Long as It's Love) is a 1989 Italian drama film directed by Lina Wertmüller.[2] It entered the competition at the 46th Venice International Film Festival.[3]

Production

Principal photography for the film began in New York on 30 January 1989. Scenes were also shot in Paris, Rome, Venice, and London. The film was made on a budget of $6–7 million. Producer Fulvio Lucisano secured financing through Italian and French distributors after at least one major American studio declined to back the project, citing unease over its focus on AIDS.[4]

Director Wertmüller described the film as her first film without irony, which was a trademark of her earlier work. She framed it as a love story shaped by the central character's HIV-positive status, focusing on the redemptive power of love. The script was revised during development because an early version linked the protagonist's infection to bisexuality, but Wertmüller removed this in favour of heterosexual transmission, because of the stigma associated with AIDS as a punishment for "immoral behavior". Both Wertmüller and Dunaway cited Susan Sontag's AIDS and Its Metaphors as an influence.[4]

Cast

References

  1. ↑ "Crystal or Ash, Fire or Wind, as Long as It's Love (In una notte di chiaro di luna)". Cineuropa - the best of european cinema. Retrieved 14 June 2026.
  2. ↑ Roberto Chiti; Roberto Poppi; Enrico Lancia (1991). Dizionario del cinema italiano: I film. Gremese, 2000. ISBN 8877424230.
  3. ↑ Lietta Tornabuoni (3 September 1989). "E' Venezia, è cinema". La Stampa. p. 1.
  4. 1 2 Chase, Donald (12 February 1989). "Wertmuller Explores AIDS Love Story". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 14 June 2026.
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