The Moon in the Gutter

The Moon in the Gutter
French film poster
Directed byJean-Jacques Beineix
Written byJean-Jacques Beineix
Olivier Mergault
David Goodis (novel)
Produced byLise Fayolle
Hubert Niogret
Emmanuel Schlumberger
StarringGérard Depardieu
Nastassja Kinski
CinematographyPhilippe Rousselot
Edited byYves Deschamps
Monique Prim
Music byGabriel Yared
Distributed byGaumont Distribution
Release date
  • 18 May 1983 (1983-05-18)
Running time
137 minutes
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench
Box office$4.7 million

The Moon in the Gutter (French: La Lune dans le caniveau) is a 1983 French drama film directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix. It was entered into the 1983 Cannes Film Festival.

Although it immediately followed Beineix's big, commercial success Diva and featured two very big stars, Gérard Depardieu and Nastassja Kinski, The Moon in the Gutter was not well received by critics or audiences and failed at the box office with only 625,000 admissions in France. Its vivid visual style was noted by critics. It preceded a much better-appreciated cult success from the same director, known in the U.S. and UK as Betty Blue.

The film was based on a 1953 pulp-noir novel of the same name, written by David Goodis, but it was transferred in the film script from the docksides of Philadelphia to Marseille.

La Lune dans le caniveau, according to AllMovie, "received uneven reviews on its initial release". It won a French Cesar Award for its production design.