Ipnotica, divina, simbolo di un’Italia affascinante. La grande attrice Monica Bellucci racconta vita, carriera e quell’amore speciale per la Carmen
Il suo è un indiscutibile fascino, frutto di bellezza, carisma e sensibilità. In una fredda giornata di gennaio, il nostro rendez-vous con Monica Bellucci è all’elegante bar Josephine dell’Hotel Lutetia, storico albergo di lusso parigino della Rive Gauche. Frequentato negli anni da artisti, aristocratici ed intellettuali come Pablo Picasso, James Joyce e Josephine Baker, oggi l’albergo è uno dei luoghi preferiti della grande attrice italiana, da tempo francese d’adozione.
Il suo indiscutibile fascino è frutto di bellezza, ma anche di carisma, sensibilità e consapevolezza. Qual è la sua visione del tempo che passa? “Penso che nella vita ci vengano dati dei doni, ognuno ha i suoi ed è un dovere coltivarli. Cerco sempre di dedicare del tempo alle mie passioni: il cinema, l’opera, il teatro, di modo che la mia parte artistica si sviluppi ed evolva non solo attraverso il mio lavoro. L’arte è sempre stata qualcosa di molto importante per me. La mia famiglia non faceva parte del mondo artistico, mio padre aveva un’azienda di trasporti, mia madre faceva la casalinga, non c’erano attori o registi fra noi. Eppure, fin da giovanissima, ho sempre avuto un amore per tutto quello che riguarda l’immagine: adoravo i fumetti, i libri dei grandi fotografi e i film”.
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Ha iniziato a lavorare come modella a 16 anni, poi è arrivato il cinema e una carriera costellata di successi. È sempre stata consapevole della sua bellezza? “È qualcosa che mi hanno fatto notare gli altri. A tredici anni e mezzo, quando sono tornata a scuola dopo le vacanze estive, ho capito che non ero la stessa dell’anno precedente, qualcosa era cambiato… Ero abbastanza timida di natura e questo ha fatto sì che fossero gli altri a venire da me e non viceversa. A sedici anni già lavoravo, ma non ho mai abbandonato la scuola. All’università ho cominciato a lavorare a livello professionale come modella e nel 1990 ho debuttato come attrice con Dino Risi. Non avrei mai immaginato il percorso che la vita mi avrebbe riservato”.
Può condividere un aneddoto di quegli anni? “A diciassette anni, mentre i miei compagni frequentavano il liceo classico a Castello di Pieve, io ero a Milano e Parigi. Facevo un tuffo in un mondo che non era il mio e poi tornavo alla mia realtà di provincia. Questa doppia vita mi ha dato la possibilità di crescere e di adattarmi a questo nuovo mondo fino a che non ho avuto il coraggio di volare con le mie ali. È il tipo di vita che ho poi continuato a fare: ho sempre avuto un piede nel mondo del cinema e della moda e un piede ben saldo nella realtà. Ho sempre cercato qualcosa che mi tenesse ancrée, come dicono i francesi, ancorata al presente”.
Nella sua carriera ha interpretato molti ruoli, tutti diversi fra loro: è passata dall’essere la sensuale Malena a Cleopatra, da Maria Maddalena a Persefone, da Anita Ekberg ad Altea, l’amante dell’ispettore Ginko in Diabolik: Ginko all’attacco!. C’è un personaggio che ha sentito più suo? “Si dice che gli attori siano persone che si fanno possedere dalle anime altrui. Mi piace questa idea e preferisco scegliere da quale anima farmi possedere. Guardo sempre avanti, a nuovi ruoli, nuovi personaggi, non guardo mai al passato e non mi capita mai di rivedere un film che ho fatto”.
E un ruolo invece che le piacerebbe interpretare? “Un’attrice, negli anni, cambia fisicamente e questo le dà la possibilità di interpretare ruoli diversi. Da un certo punto di vista è divertente diventare una donna adulta perché ci si pone in modo differente rispetto al passato. Mi piace essere sorpresa, come quando mi hanno proposto un ruolo nella commedia americana Mafia Mamma, in uscita ad aprile, con Tony Colette e diretta da Catherine Hardwicke. Certe volte arrivano proposte inaspettate, come quella di interpretare Maria Callas a teatro con una tournée internazionale che si è conclusa il 27 di gennaio a New York. La Callas è nata a New York nel 1923 e chiudere il tour in questa città è stato come chiudere un cerchio, un’importante coincidenza a livello simbolico”.
In Maria Callas, Lettere & Memorie di Tom Volf interpreta la divina attraverso le sue lettere più intime. Bellucci e Callas: due anime mediterranee, due dive appartenute ad epoche diverse. Cosa hanno in comune queste donne? “Il complimento più bello l’ho ricevuto in Grecia. Una signora mi si è avvicinata e mi ha detto: lei non ha la voce di Maria Callas, ma ha la sua anima. La Callas aveva un modo di amare vero, puro, che le è costato la vita. Mi ha toccato molto la sua dualità: sul palcoscenico era una donna intoccabile e distante, ma nella vita era docile, con un cuore semplice. Le persone l’hanno sempre molto amata e continuano a farlo non solo per la sua musica, ma anche perché aveva un’aura speciale”.
Qual è la sua opera preferita interpretata da Maria Callas? “La Carmen di Bizet, mi ha sempre aiutato ad andare in scena. Quando la Callas canta la Carmen – specialmente l’aria L’amour est un oiseau rebelle – non è più solo la grande cantante, ma è anche una donna innamorata, estremamente femminile. Ancora oggi mi ritrovo ad avere un po’ di paura prima di salire sul palco. Quest’aria mi ha sempre dato forza”.
A 51 anni ha sedotto il mitico James Bond in Spectre, nelle vesti della vedova Lucia Sciarra. Come ha reagito quando le hanno proposto questo ruolo?
“Mi sono messa a ridere. Sapevo che questo ruolo aveva qualcosa di diverso: oggi le donne hanno amanti più giovani, ma al cinema è raro vedere una donna con un uomo più giovane di sé. Lavorare con Daniel Craig è stato molto facile, è un grande attore e ti sa mettere sempre a tuo agio. Mi considero molto fortunata, alla mia età, di poter ancora fare le cose che mi piacciono. Confesso però che vorrei avere più tempo per me stessa. Il Covid ci ha fatto capire quali sono le cose essenziali della vita – la famiglia, gli amici, le relazioni umane – e soffermarsi su di esse è di estrema importanza. Quando vivi a mille allora non lo ricordi più. Ho vissuto così per anni, ora mi piacerebbe rallentare un po’”.
Sua figlia maggiore, Deva Cassel, segue le sue orme. Come la sostiene nello spiccare il volo? “Le ho consigliato di non fare le cose di fretta, di prendere il giusto tempo per valutare bene i progetti che le vengono proposti, di imparare attraverso i sì e i no. Ha già una sua sensibilità, sa bene cosa vuole”.
Da anni è adottata dalla Francia, ma non ha mai rinunciato al suo passaporto italiano. Le manca, qualche volta, la sua Umbria? “Mi manca tutta l’Italia, l’Umbria, Roma… Il nostro Paese ha un calore unico, ma la vita e il lavoro mi hannoportato a vivere all’estero. Ho sempre avuto progetti che mi hanno portato lontano”.
Nella sua cucina, a Parigi, oltre alla pasta e alla Nutella, c’è una grande fotografia di Sophia Loren. Quanto sono state d’ispirazione per lei le grandi attrici italiane come la Loren, Anna Magnani e Gina Lollobrigida?
“Quando studiavo guardavo tre film al giorno: queste donne mi hanno fatto sognare con la loro femminilità forte, sensuale, materna e pericolosa allo stesso tempo. La voglia di fare questo lavoro è nata dai tanti personaggi che ho visto interpretare da queste grandi attrici: Sophia Loren, Anna Magnani, Giulietta Masina, Lea Massari, Monica Vitti”.
Da qualche tempo ha ritrovato l’amore. Che significato ha per lei questa parola? “Forse nell’amore vissuto in età adulta si diventa più generosi, con una voglia ancora più intensa di capire l’altro, di proteggerlo”.
In Francia è considerata un’ambasciatrice del nostro Paese e definita “ipnotica” e “divina”. Se Monica Bellucci dovesse descriversi, quali parole utilizzerebbe? “Credo sia molto difficile riuscire a descrivere sé stessi.Direi che sono un tipico prototipo italiano, proprio come il parmigiano…”.
Per concludere: qual è il ruolo più importante che ha ricoperto nella sua vita? “Nella vita è quello di madre, ma questo è un ruolo che non si finisce mai di imparare, perchè è la vita stessa”.
Model, actress, star, mother, Monica Bellucci has navigated a challenging path with grace, class and grace, portraying many faces – sparkling, mysterious, bold, sensitive… See what she revealed to Vogue Greece, dressed in white and black.
Her name is usually accompanied by the superlative. Rightfully so. Just before we talk, I’m looking at some backstage footage from her exclusive Vogue Greece photoshoot in Paris, her base for years. One person, multiple roles, I think.
Do you miss the fashion space?
But I’m always in the field, after all fashion and cinema are more and more connected. Actors become the icon of fashion, and fashion is a way of expression for actors. I have a lot of respect for this space. When I see a show and the designers at the end, I know how much work is behind it. Fashion represents the seasons, clothing represents what we feel, we can trace history through fashion.
You love black, it is a color that characterizes you.
For me black is not a color, but something that represents the timeless, wearable for any occasion, simple for the day, elegant for the evening. It gives us a kind of security.
And the white?
I love it very much, but it needs an occasion and the right mood. Of course, sometimes you wake up and want to add color, white, red. Personally, I dress in color in the summer.
Like when you come to Greece?
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Yes, it is true that Greece is my summer place, I come often. I feel an ancestral connection to her, through my Italian roots. Something connects us at the DNA level. I am drawn to the culture, the way of life. In Athens, on the islands, everything is so welcoming, I feel at home. I can definitely say that I love the light, the people, the flavors, that’s the logical side. But there is also the subconscious, which you cannot explain. When we staged the show Maria Callas: Letters & Memoirs at the Herodio, I had the opportunity to go on this unique stage. And in a way, if I hadn’t received the green light from Greece for this production, which then went international, we wouldn’t have gone this far. [s.s.: Athens was among the first cities where the theatrical production was presented, based on the book of the same name by Tom Volf, through hundreds of unpublished letters of Callas.] As an Italian woman, I very humbly took the courage to represent a great Greek artist. The last performance was recently given at the beautiful Beacon Theater in New York. Before that we met at the Greek consulate to thank the Greek community of the city, because that’s where Kallas started. Apart from my love for Greece and the fact that I visit it often, there is also a cultural route that leads me to the country. But also the warm public of Greece and New York. Before that we met at the Greek consulate to thank the Greek community of the city, because that’s where Kallas started. Apart from my love for Greece and the fact that I visit it often, there is also a cultural route that leads me to the country. But also the warm public of Greece and New York. Before that we met at the Greek consulate to thank the Greek community of the city, because that’s where Kallas started. Apart from my love for Greece and the fact that I visit it often, there is also a cultural route that leads me to the country. But also the warm public of Greece and New York.
It’s nice to form strong ties to the place, beyond the fact that you’re coming on vacation. At the same time, you have one thing in common with Callas: you are both citizens of the world.
Yes, I believe that. Greek, born in New York, became famous in Italy, made an amazing world trip, died in Paris. A woman who certainly felt a little foreign everywhere. A feeling I can understand sometimes. There was, of course, the duality between the public who adored her and her loneliness on a personal level. Her greatest regret, I believe, was that she had no children, that she had no family.
Will you miss Maria?
These days we are shooting a documentary about the show, a Greek, French, Italian co-production. We have footage from the performances in Athens, Venice, Istanbul, Paris and New York, in three languages. And we are shooting in Maria’s apartment, on avenue Georges-Mandel in Paris, something very moving. Like when I wore her black Saint Laurent dress for the show, a moment when I shuddered, because it was like stepping into her skin. Although it belongs to others today, the layout in the apartment remains the same so, in a way, I was her home. From the public to her private world, where the phone call from Onassis did not come. We started the shows in Paris in 2019, passed through Athens and ended up this year in New York, where he was born 100 years ago.
I see you are creating your own ‘genre’. In 2021 you “met” another star, Anita Ekberg, in Antongulio Panizzi’s documentary The Girl in the Fountain.
I don’t know why such type of projectsthey come to me! Anita Ekberg was very different from Callas, but they represent the same era – there is a photo of Callas from the premiere of Dolce Vita. They were very independent for their time, making their own money and arriving in an Italy where women were still at home. Kallas wanted to divorce at the time when divorce was forbidden and took Greek citizenship to do so. She fought and risked her public image out of love. Ekberg was so bright, full of femininity – although Scandinavian, she looked very Mediterranean. But, she didn’t know how to protect herself and the people around her wanted to steal that light. Federico Fellini, however, filmed her from the height of her beauty to her decline. We learned a lot from these two women. They were revolutionaries,
Does femininity change over the years? Today, for example, in social media I often notice a type of excessive, I would say, femininity.
On Instagram, it’s like we’re inventing femininity, because we’re in the realm of the dreamy. And many times this is far-fetched. As for social media in general, there are pluses and minuses. We fear them, but at the same time they create high-speed communication. Anyone who has a talent can show it and make a living from it. Yesterday I had lunch with a talented director who was telling me that he cast an actor through social media. On the other hand, there is reality and image. There is a danger today in inventing a life through these channels, because in the context of creation everything is possible, but beware, this is fantasy, not reality. Your image is a part of you, but it is not you. At the same time I see my daughters, 18 and almost 13. when i was young the tendency was not to show your weaknesses. Now it’s not a shame to show your vulnerability, to say at some point “I can’t”. Even in dressing, wearing a sweatshirt for example, I have the feeling that things are simpler. Everything has its opposite. Social media is like a huge table that has everything. You choose what to eat.
Are you a protective Italian or a slightly more relaxed French mom?
I am between the two cultures. The Italian part comes out in “you ate, you slept, you chilled”, but the French side of me says, “Let them live and learn from their experiences”. I try to survive between the two.
Deva, the great one, has already begun her course.
Yes, she’s graduated, she’s making strides in modeling, she’s already starred in one movie, La bella estate, based on a novel by Cesare Pavese, and now she’s on her second. Leonie goes to school and takes acting classes at the same time. Both have an artistic streak.
And you continue on your own path. I recently saw the Foenkinos brothers’ spin-off Les fantasmes, where you and Carole Bouquet play a couple who keep their relationship alive through deathophilia. Does Paris influence your choices?
I don’t feel that I belong to any particular film family. I always do something special and different.
This is true. Monica Bellucci _was born in Citta di Castello, Umbria, in 1964 and began studying Law in neighboring Perugia, before taking up – super-successfully – modeling. At the age of 25, she made her film debut under the direction of Dino Risi in Vita coi figli, while also doing a stint in Bram Stoker’s Dracula by Francis Ford Coppola. From Gilles Mimouni’s L’appartement, Gaspar Noé’s much-discussed Irreversible and Giuseppe Tornatore’s Malena to the role of Mary Magdalene in Mel Gibson’s Last Temptation of Christ, her cinematic profile is constantly expanding. And she doesn’t fail to poke fun at herself in an episode of Call My Agent, where she’s looking for a “normal” man. In April she will return to New York for the premiere of Catherine Hardwicke’s Mafia Mamma, with Toni Collette,
Is there a director you would like to work with?
I love surprises, a beautiful film is the result of many factors coming together. I shot a short film, The Man Who Sold His Skin, by Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, which was nominated for an Oscar. This work is unpredictable and I let it guide me, sometimes with experienced directors, other times with someone who may have only made one film. Because you are always learning.
TV or cinema?
It’s funny you ask me, because I just received a script for a TV series, but I can’t tell you much more. Cinema is slowly rising. I recently saw Blonde, the Netflix movie, but on the big screen. Today, films intended for television could be played in cinemas.
There is room for a kind of dipole…
Yes, because they are two different stories. Television continues to have the power it recently acquired and cinema returns with its magic, with the dark room, where dreaming alongside others creates an incredible energy.
We certainly live in very interesting times.
With great social, cultural changes, a new era without a doubt.
In which the woman, in the western world at least, finds her place, which is not always easy.
Everything takes its time. Rome wasn’t built in a day, as we say. We are in progress and it is interesting to find a common place of communication, not war, for a productive, effective dialogue between women and men.
It’s also a time when a wider generation of female actors are enriching their resumes with roles that “accept” the passage of time.
50 years ago, after the age of 40 you were nowhere to be seen, regardless of your talent. Now, although still not the most common thing, there are careers that last for many years. Today, the mature woman exists. Have you seen Good Luck to You, Leo Grande? [p.s.: Refers to Sophie Hyde’s film, where a retired religion teacher invests in some encounters with a young sex worker, starring Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack.)
Yes, and I loved her!
Both are excellent. How powerful this film is and how brave it is to show that femininity is not only in a woman’s body, but also in her mind. The body becomes sexy, because the spirit and the soul are sexy.
It’s an evolution.
It’s a revolution! Because in the past this only applied to men. It is not only the mask of the body that counts, because the body always hides something.
I come back to femininity, because we don’t all have the same way of showing it. Sometimes I think our current freedom pushes us to hide our feminine side a bit. You, however, always seem comfortable with your femininity.
This is very personal. Today, we have the freedom to express it however we want. In general, we can express ourselves much more. I too change with time, I evolve. From a child you become a young woman, a mother, a mature woman. Artistically speaking, at the age of 50 I made two films, On the Milky Road by Emir Kusturica and Specter by Sam Mendes. These two directors gave me dynamic roles and the opportunity to cross the bridge of 50 – not easy for an actress.
Do you ever tell yourself “well done”? Do you tell him how well he has done all these years?
I tell myself I was lucky enough to do things I love. (Laughter) And it’s nice now, because after all this time you can get some distance from it all. Today I tell myself that I don’t want to work all the time, but to spend a little more time with my daughters, who will grow up fast, to live my life as a woman, to do things for me. I love my job, on the screen we represent the lives of others, but life itself also needs time. Prioritize reality, as we said before.
Do you feel free today?
Love gives you freedom, but it also imprisons you. Like the love for my children, which sometimes forces me to have a particular behavior, which is my choice. The important thing is to be free to make your own choices, even if they put their own limits on you.
Don’t miss Vogue Greece March extraordinaire on Saturday February 25 with Kathimerini.
Vogue Greece March , which is released on Saturday February 25 with Kathimerini , explores the timeless charm of black & white. Super star Monica Bellucci is on the cover, photographed exclusively for Vogue Greece in black and white. On the occasion of her role asMaria Callas the leading actress talks to Elise Keys about her strong relationship with Greece, the position of women in society and the film industry, but also the femininity that has always been her means of expression. “Everything takes its time. Rome wasn’t built in a day, as we say. We are in development and it is interesting to find a common place of communication, not war, for a productive, effective dialogue between women and men”, he describes. “We are very happy here at Vogue Greece to host Monica Bellucci, a timeless diva, a woman-symbol, on our covers,” writes Editor-in-Chief Thalia Karafyllidou.
Vogue Greece March meets the actor Willem Dafoe, who in his new film Inside , collaborates with the Greek director Vassilis Katsoupis, being the only protagonist of the film. He may have been associated with dark characters, but he himself declares himself sunny in Vlasis Kostouros. “Honestly, I don’t think I have a dark side. As an actor, whenever I embodied a character, I would tell you that I had a spontaneous tendency to want to shine a lot of light on the dark heroes and a lot of darkness on those who seemed bright.”
Legendary photographer Ellen von Unwerth has the unique ability to capture the most vivid black & white shots. “I like to capture life. But on black and white film the effect looks more magical in my opinion. It’s not as realistic, but it also has power and spontaneity. At least that’s what I’m trying to convey. Also, it’s easier for me to decide if an image is good or not on black and white film”, she answers in her interview in the March issue of Vogue Greece . (c)
