« An actress must be something of an adventurer»
 

PostED ON 22.10.2022

French-Italian actress Monica Bellucci, with clarity and honesty, evoked her career, her relationship to cinema, and her beauty.

 © Olivier Chassignole

On her relationship to cinema and the beauty of actresses:

When I started out in the cinema, I had come from the fashion industry and had a lot of preconceived notions about this environment. But you have to listen to people, because sometimes they’re right. I can't deny that being pretty has opened doors for me. It has made my life easier. But beauty only lasts five minutes if there is nothing behind it. Now that my body has aged, there is something else. As you get older, you use different elements of your game. They are not the same as when you were young and pretty. Having said that, the cinema is much more helpful to actresses today on the question of age. When I was 20, I would never have thought that I could still work twenty years later in the same way. And we women are now considered for more than just our looks. This means that men have changed too. The world is changing, even if it will still take some time!

On the adventurous and international aspect of her career:

When you decide to enter this business, you have to be a bit adventurous. One of the qualities of being an actor, in my opinion, is to be able to adapt to situations. Every director brings you a new experience and that's what's rewarding. Working in different countries has given me the opportunity to experience other cultures. It is fortunate because without my work, I would not be the person I am today. For example, with Emir Kusturica, I spoke Serbian. All that is magical! You enter different worlds, but on the tip of your toes. You need to do it with a lot of respect.

 © Léa Rener

On how she chooses her roles:

I always ask myself how the role in question will make me grow as a person and how it will make me a better actress. When I like a role, I don't look at how long I'm on screen. Even a three-minute role can be very enriching and more impactful than two hours on screen. Of course, I also need to feel a desire to work with the filmmaker who is asking me. I like to share new energy. I have matured and I like to give young directors some of my experience. I also like it when people think of me for roles that I would never have thought of. I like this unpredictability!

On her experience in Gapar Noé's film, ‘Irreversible’:

When people tell me that the film is "unwatchable", I understand it because you can't deny that it is violent. Gaspar Noé manages to move people by relating horrific things. ‘Love’, for example, is a porn film that makes you cry! But the interesting thing about ‘Irreversible’ is the contrast between the poetry of man, his gentleness, and the violence he can be capable of. My physique was used as an object of work by Gaspar Noé. He wanted to use my beauty to demonstrate monstrosity. The body, for an actor, is the same as an instrument. Today, I use it much less. There's a time for everything!

On Anita Ekberg, heroine of ‘The Girl in the Fountain’

Anita Ekberg was free. She was like a tornado when she arrived in an Italy, where women did not leave the kitchen. Women today learn a lot from women like her, who dared to break the rules. We have all learned from the courage of Anita Ekberg, who was a pioneer. Unfortunately, she went from being a star to something very tragic. However, even when she was desperate and sad, there was still a kind of lightness in her. ‘The Girl in the Fountain’ is also about the Italian star system of the post-war period and the present day. In other words, it recounts the woman of the past and the woman of today. There is a small but magical moment in the film that shows the moment when an actress decides to become her character.

 © Olivier Chassignole

 Reported by Benoit PAVAN