Piacere Girolamo
Trombetta.
What does that mean?
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, I'm Jan and in this video I'm revealing the secret meaning
of Alberto's catchphrase, and explaining the many other hidden details and themes you might
have missed in the end of Luca.
Spoilers ahead so take care.
The movie's bittersweet ending finds both Luca and Alberto seizing the chance of a bright
new future, with Luca leaving for Genoa where he'll pursue his passion for study, while
Alberto finds the father figure he longed for in Massimo.
And as the pair tearfully leave each other, Alberto repeats the phrase he said to Luca
when they first met: "Piacere, Girolamo Trombetta."
Back then, when Luca first asked him what that meant, Alberto amusingly changed the
subject; but now at the end of the movie, he admits
he never actually knew.
"Go find out for me, will ya?"
Director Enrico Casarosa has since explained that Alberto's catchphrase is a pun that comes
from his own childhood, with the words "Piacere, Girolamo Trombetta" translating roughly as
"Nice to meet you, my name is twisty trombone".
Notice how Alberto twists his hand and then pulls and pushes Luca's arm during the handshake,
mimicking the twist in the name as well as the slide of a trombone.
There's also a double meaning embedded in this phrase.
Firstly, the word "girolamo" is a play on the Italian "giro la mano" which means "I
turn my hand", hence the "twisty" meaning part of the pun.
Secondly "Girolamo" is also the Italian equivalent of the name "Jerome", which would make the
literal translation of the phrase "Pleased to meet you, my name is Jerome".
Like the "stupido" phrase, humour comes from the fact that this is something Alberto overhead
one day and didn't really understand what it means.
"It's a human thing.
I'm kind of an expert."
So although he kind of used it correctly when he first met Luca, the second time he uses
it he's basically saying "pleased to meet you" as they say goodbye, which makes their
farewell even more touching in a way as he's saying he's happy to know his friend.
The double meanings of Alberto's parting phrase nicely reflect the bigger theme of the characters'
dual nature in the movie, which is highlighted again in those final moments as the rain transforms
Alberto back into his sea monster form, and the same happens to Luca as the train pulls
out of the tunnel, with both of them no longer afraid to show their true nature to the world.
That theme of difference and how individuals may choose or feel forced to keep their real
selves a secret was also addressed in various other moments from the end of the movie.
When Luca sees his friend Alberto cruelly trapped in a net by Ercole after the rain
reveals his sea serpent nature, he decides he won't pretend to be someone he isn't anymore
as he did earlier when he shamed Alberto for revealing himself as a sea monster.
In a powerful moment, Luca sheds his colander safety helmet and comes to his friend's rescue,
revealing his own true colours at the same time.
On another level, Luca Paguro, whose surname means "hermit crab" in Italian, is symbolically
casting off the protective shell he's worn until now, something that hermit crabs do
in real life as they grow and seek out a better fitting shell or home.
This scene is crucial for many reasons as it has the power to speak to anyone who's
felt the need to hide who they really are for fear of rejection, intolerance, and even
violence from society, which is one reason why Luca and Alberto's
transformations have been so readily seen as a metaphor for the LGBTQ+ community.
It's interesting then that "the feathery scaling" effect of Mystique's transformation scenes
in the X-Men films, which are also allegories for LGBTQ+ experiences, was one of the major
inspirations for the way Luca's animators designed the transformation of the sea monsters
in this movie.
Shortly after, we get another similar moment when the two old ladies reveal a secret it
feel likes they've been hiding for a very long time, that they too are sea monsters.
What these two old ladies represent is open for the viewer to decide for themselves.
On the one hand, their names Concetta and Pinuccia Aragosta may suggest that they are
the aunts or some other relatives of the underwater Aragosta family who Luca talks to at the beginning
of the movie.
"Hi, Mrs. Aragosta."
And you could also definitely view their sea monster reveals as a metaphor for their coming
out, making them a lesbian couple who've been living in secret in a society that they felt
would not openly accept them.
Given the 50s to 60s period that Luca is set in, the reality of gay couples living together
claiming to be relatives or just platonic friends was not uncommon.
Check out the touching Netflix documentary 'Secret Love', for example.
Also notice how the two ladies in Luca live on the outskirts of town near the Old Tower,
a nod towards their feeling of being outsiders and needing somewhere they could be safe.
Casarosa specifically addressed these metaphors in an interview with SlashFilm where he explained
that he loved the idea that the film explores the feeling of otherness and difference and
he added that the story is about a person making the decision to say
"Here I am.
Let the chips fall where they may.
I'm going to fly my flag and I don't care."
The film also acknowledges that other people's acceptance of who you are isn't necessarily
something that will either come easily or sometimes even at all, but what's important
is finding your own tribe so that you can thrive.
"Some people, they'll never accept him.
But some will.
And he seems to know how to find the good ones."
As Casarosa says, good friends are important "because they are the people that see you
for who you are, and they don't care about whatever differences you have."
And you can see this in how Luca and Giulia support each other's passions.
"Just promise you'll tell me everything you see!
Sorry.
Too much?"
"Never."
"Sorry.
Too much?"
"No way."
We also see this theme of outsiders and the feeling of being rejected or feared by society
in several other characters.
Ercole, the villain of this story, calls Luca and Alberto "out-of-towners" before proceeding
to mock the way they dress and use his goons to bully the pair.
Giulia lives with her mother in Genoa for most of the year and doesn't feel fully accepted
by the community in Portorosso when she comes to visit her father.
"Every summer, I come here, and everyone thinks I'm just some weird kid who doesn't belong.
Which is one reason why she may feel especially drawn to Luca and Alberto.
"You know, we underdogs have to look out for each other, right?"
Another reason being her strong sense of justice against society's intolerance as represented
by Ercole.
"So long, evil empire of injustice."
And when Massimo refers to his disability, pointing out that he was born that way and
that his right arm wasn't bitten off by a sea monster, the film is making the point
that we shouldn't make assumptions about people based on their appearances.
Showing disability as something that simply exists and is just one part of who someone
is is all-too-rare on screen, so it's good to see it here.
Massimo himself shows how a person can overcome their fears of what they think of as "the
other", as he progresses from being obsessed with hunting sea monsters to adopting Alberto
and even visiting Luca's sea monster family during the end credits.
Even Ercole's sidekicks decide they've had enough of being abused by him at the end of
the film and reject him and what he represents by tossing him into the town fountain, which
is what he tried to do to Luca when he first met him.
Casarosa says that he loves the idea that the film's sea monsters are a way for "the
audience to come in and bring their own experience of feeling 'other'" and project their own
sense of difference onto it.
Now, I want to mention a few other details you might have missed from the end of the
movie.
As the credits roll, the accompanying images reveal the story of what happened after Luca
left Portorosso.
We can see that Massimo has fully adopted Alberto as his son, and when he gives him
a knife for a birthday present, it pays off this earlier scene in the movie.
"Which knife do I get?
Huh?
Huh?"
"You don't."
And as well as helping out Massimo, Alberto also now seems to have a job as a lifeguard.
Also, the statue of the town's famed sea monster killer appears to have been replaced by Luca's
stone statue of himself that he used as a decoy for his illicit trips to the surface,
which shows just how much attitudes have changed in Portorosso.
As for Luca and Giulia, they get a dog together called "Nerone", the Italian name for the
Roman Emperor Nero.
The turtle from the island that held up the ramp for Alberto and Luca's homemade Vespa
jump has been adopted too and given the name Caligula.
And many thanks to Pier Gio who commented on my easter eggs video that "Caligula was
a mad Roman emperor, who named his horse a senator and ordered a war against the sea
god Neptune."
Machiavelli has a litter of kittens, many of which are mini-moustachioed versions of
him, and his name is a reference to the Italian writer and political philosopher whose most
famous work The Prince has a notable quote that:
"Men usually judge things by the eye rather than by the hand.
Everyone sees what you appear to be, but few feel what you are."
Which feels especially pertinent to the story of Luca.
Some other little details you might have missed in the end credits include Luca and Giulia
indulging their joy of space as they watch the moon landing, which as Charles Lee points
out was in 1969.
There's also a Lady and the Tramp easter egg with two cats sharing a plate of spaghetti.
And the cheese, basil, garlic, and nuts that appear at the end of the credits are most
of the ingredients needed to make classic pesto, an essential part of Giulia's favourite
pasta dish.
"I made your favourite, trenette al pesto."
The post-credits scene also reveals what might have been in store for Luca if he'd ended
up going to the deep with his Uncle Ugo as the strange fish chatters on about how great
life is at the bottom of the sea.
"Mmm.
Whale carcass.
Anyway, you're gonna have fun."
The visual punchline at the end though is that all this time Ugo's been talking to a
solitary goatfish who sidles off once he realises exactly what life's going to be like with
Ugo in the deep.
A fun theory I had, and which Cepterman also noticed, is that this goatfish could be Enrico,
who Luca mentioned at the beginning of the movie.
"You want to run off like your buddy Enrico?
He's either dead, or he's out there.
Somewhere."
I also love their idea that that line could be a Finding Nemo reference too.
On top of that, this goatfish Enrico is quite likely also a reference to director Enrico
Casarosa himself, who grew up in Italy, but left his home to go to New York and pursue
his passion for animation, eventually getting to work and direct films at Pixar.
In fact, Casarosa has said that Luca's story very much channels his own childhood and how,
as a shy kid of 11, he met his real-life best friend Alberto, who was a much more boisterous
character, just like the one in the movie.
Alternately, the goatfish with Uncle Ugo might be Giuseppe who had a habit of drifting off
by himself.
"Giuseppe, get back here!"
And thanks to "Just Someone" who pointed out the scene may also be a nod to Finding Nemo's
post-credits scene in which an anglerfish with a glowing lure like Uncle Ugo's gets
eaten up by tiny little green fish.
Now, as great as the ending of Luca was, the original story was going to be incredibly
different with a big battle and Alberto turning into a giant kraken.
I'll be explaining all that in my next Luca video, and I'll add a link to watch it here
and in the video description as soon as it's ready.
So what did you think of Luca, Alberto and Giulia's story and what does the movie mean
for you?
Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
And if you enjoyed this video, then don't forget to hit that thumbs-up and share, it's
hugely appreciated.
You can tap left to discover all of the Pixar easter eggs in Luca including Inside Out,
Up, Pizza Planet and many more or tap right for something else you're sure to like.
Thanks for watching and see ya next time.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!