The main character of the documentary film "Wishing on a Star" is Italian astrologer Luciana de Leoni. (source: FILMTOPIA)
Astrologer Luciana de Leoni does not predict the future. Instead, she offers guidance on how to find fulfilment in life, or at least make it a bit better - to rekindle your love for your husband, to break free from your egoistic mother, to fall in love, to take care of oneself without the help of ageing parents.
To do this, she uses a computer, map and thick books with yellowed pages. She looks for the coordinates where her client should go, so that what their wishes will come true. Be it Lebanon, Brazil or Taiwan.
Under the international title "Wishing on a Star", the documentary film about Luciana premiered at the Venice Film Festival at the end of August. It was shot in Italy, everybody in it speaks Italian, yet it was made by Slovak director Peter Kerekes.
Screenwriter Erica Barbiani did not want anyone else; in the end she convinced him to take the job.
Kerekes was never interested in the position of the planets and never believed in their influence on a person's life, but when he met actor Luciana de Leoni, he understood that he could lose a lot if he refused the offer.
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Luciana de Leoni seems like a professional through and through. She is of retirement age, and obviously has a lot of experience; she is very relaxed and natural in front of the camera, so much so viewers have hard time guessing whether she is an actress or real astrologer.
No, she is not an actress; even the clients who visit her in the film are real. What makes the film work as if it was acted out, is due to something else. Italians are simply masters of conversation.
