Monica Bellucci

Monica Bellucci
Monica Anna Maria Bellucci (born 30 September 1964) is an Italian actress and model. She began her career as a fashion model, modelling for Dolce & Gabbana, before transitioning to Italian and later American and French films. She has continued to be involved in modelling for Cartier, Dior and Dolce & Gabbana. In 2018, Forbes Italy named her one of the 100 most successful Italian women.
Bellucci made her Italian film debut in Francesco Laudadio's La Riffa (1991) and went on to play a bride of Dracula in Francis Ford Coppola's horror film Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). Her breakthrough role was in the arthouse The Apartment (1996), for which she received a César Award nomination for Most Promising Actress. She captured American audiences' attention in Stephen Hopkins' Under Suspicion (2000). She gained greater international recognition by portraying Malèna Scordia in Giuseppe Tornatore's Malèna (2000). Bellucci starred in the period drama Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001), in a comedic role in Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra (2002), and in Gaspar Noé's controversial arthouse thriller Irréversible (2002) carried with her fearless performance.
Bellucci portrayed Persephone in the 2003 science-fiction films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. She portrayed Mary Magdalene in Mel Gibson's drama The Passion of the Christ (2004). She starred in The Brothers Grimm (2005), How Much Do You Love Me? (2005), Shoot 'Em Up (2007), The Whistleblower (2010), The Ages of Love (2011), The Wonders (2014), and Ville-Marie (2015). At the age of 50, by appearing in the 2015 James Bond film Spectre, Bellucci became the oldest Bond girl in the history of the franchise. Continuing her international multilingual acting career, she has since acted in films such as On the Milky Road (2016), The Best Years of a Life (2019), The Man Who Sold His Skin (2020), and Memory (2022). Her television appearances include the series Mozart in the Jungle and Dix pour cent. Bellucci made her stage debut in 2019, initiating a long series of interpretations of the Letters and Memoirs of Maria Callas.
Among her accolades are two Globo d'oro Awards, two Nastro d'Argento Awards, a Donostia Award, and a David Special Award. Bellucci received the knight insignias of the Order of Arts and Letters in 2006 and of the Legion of Honour in 2016. She is a permanent member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Early life
Monica Anna Maria Bellucci was born in Città di Castello, Umbria, on 30 September 1964. Her father, Pasquale Bellucci, owned a trucking company. Her mother, Brunella Briganti, was a housewife and amateur painter. She is their only child, as her parents did not want another one. Bellucci grew up in Lama (now Selci-Lama), in the comune of San Giustino, on the outskirts of Città di Castello.
Bellucci received a Catholic education. She was known to be an "intelligent child". Bellucci was introduced to modelling at age 13 by posing for a photographer friend of the family in Città di Castello. Her parents described her as "discreet" and "aware of her advantageous physique", with a growing interest in fashion. She was distant from other children her age, regularly making detours to get home after school and did not spend time with them around the comunes public space, with her father recalling that she complained that everyone stared at her. By then, her father had helped her to gain self-confidence.
Later, while hitchhiking, she met a hairdresser from Città di Castello named Piero Montanucci, who persuaded her to become his model. Bellucci, a student at the Liceo classico, captured attention wherever they went, and her innate ability to impose herself visually was perceived. A taste for cinema would not cease to animate Bellucci, watching Italian films by Vittorio De Sica, Federico Fellini, Roberto Rossellini, Luchino Visconti, and also by Marcel Carné and Jean-Luc Godard. Bellucci has said that her personality is largely due to her upbringing: "Certainly a lot of positivity also depends on the climate in which my parents raised me."
Modelling career
Bellucci, then 16, was asked to do photographic sessions by her father's friend, the director of a fashion agency. She later clarified that she began modelling in earnest at age 16, regularly travelling to Milan and Paris while continuing her studies at Città di Castello. Dressed by Città di Castello-based fashion entrepreneur Pina Alberti, Bellucci enthralled the crowd at a fashion show held in 1983 at the Teatro degli Illuminati (the city's municipal theatre) as part of the Momento Donna event hosted by Maria Giovanna Elmi. At that time, Montanucci was her mentor. While in high school, her father's friend allowed her to debut on the runway during a fashion show in Florence and a second in Milan. She would then begin doing three fashion shows a year, culminating in becoming a professional model at age 18.
Bellucci, who planned to become a lawyer, studied at the University of Perugia. She financed her studies by working as a model through her father's friend. In 1988, she was featured on the cover of Elle France, photographed by Oliviero Toscani, and Vogue Spain. A friend encouraged her to apply to Milan modelling agencies during her studies. Bellucci moved to one of Europe's fashion centres, Milan, where Elite Model Management spotted her and signed her to a contract in 1989. Her work as a model for Elite led her to travel soon after, and she decided to leave the university due to this context. Bellucci would say later that being a lawyer would not have suited her. Modelling agent Piero Piazzi witnessed Bellucci's debut and considered she could be an actress. Represented by Elite, she appeared in numerous international advertising campaigns, and Dolce & Gabbana recruited her to become its muse. Bellucci was the Italian model that fashion brands vied to sign. In 1989, she lived in New York and was already a dollar millionaire. She became a prominent fashion model in Milan, Paris, and New York.
In 1990, she lent her image and name to the Haute Couture line of the French luxury house Dior. In 1991, Bellucci was the brand ambassador for the personal care L'Oréal. The same year, she appeared in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, which featured photographs of her in the Caribbean. In 1993, she met Giuseppe Tornatore for the first time when he directed her in a Dolce & Gabbana perfume television advertisement. Bellucci opted to follow her passion for cinema rather than pursue a full-time modelling career. In the 1990s, she regularly appeared in "sexy" calendar shoots, beginning in 1997 at the age of 33 when Richard Avedon photographed her for the Pirelli Calendar. In 1997, Bellucci became the brand ambassador and muse of Cartier jewellery. Nina Hald of Berlingske said, "Cartier chose for the first time to associate an actress closely with the house". Cartier would accompany her throughout her acting career, notably on the red carpets, wearing haute joaillerie (high jewellery) collections, and she would work as a model for opulent creations. In 1999, Fabrizio Ferri photographed her for the Max magazine's calendar.
Bellucci posed for the GQ calendar in 2000 and was photographed by Gian Paolo Barbieri. She first appeared on the cover of Paris Match in June 2001. In 2004, while pregnant with her daughter Deva, she posed nude for the Italian cover of Vanity Fair in protest against the Italian laws that opposed in vitro fertilisation. In the same year, it was reported that Bellucci was the only actress contractually bound to Cartier. From 2006 to 2010, she was one of Dior's brand ambassadors and the face of a range of products. Cartier designed a collection of luxury diamond jewellery inspired by Bellucci's private commission and bearing her name. It was first presented at a Cartier event in Dubai in 2007. A jewellery collection named after an actress was unprecedented in Cartier's history.
Bellucci's appearances in television advertisements include Martini Gold, a collaboration between Martini and Dolce & Gabbana in 2010. She again posed pregnant and semi-nude for the cover of the April 2010 issue of Vanity Fair Italy. Cashmere goods manufacturer Éric Bompard chose her as the brand ambassador for his winter 2011–2012 advertising campaign. In 2012, Bellucci was the face of a Dolce & Gabbana lipstick collection named after her. She was signed to Storm Management in London and D'Management Group in Milan. In December 2012, Bellucci made her eighth cover of Paris Match. In August 2015, she was featured on the cover of GQ Italy for the seventh time. She was chosen as the face of German Nivea personal care products for its 2018 and 2019 campaigns. She walked the runway for the Spring 2019 Milan Fashion Week for Dolce & Gabbana. Joining her included Isabella Rossellini, Eva Herzigová and Helena Christensen, continuing the influx of 1990s supermodels returning to the fashion spotlight.
In late 2022, Bellucci was still an ambassador for Cartier. Throughout the decades, she appeared on national and international covers of Elle, Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire, Maxim, Schön!, Vanity Fair, and Vogue, among others.
Acting career
1990–1999: Early roles and breakthrough
Bellucci made her screen debut in 1990 in Dino Risi's television film Vita coi figli. She was cast after Italian director Carlo Vanzina noticed a portrait photograph of her in a magazine and recommended her to Risi. In 1991, she made her film debut in La Riffa, playing a role Italian director Francesco Laudadio offered her. In 1992, Bellucci played one of the three brides of Dracula in the horror film Bram Stoker's Dracula. Initially, Roman Coppola spotted her in the Italian magazine Zoom and then implored his father, Francis Ford, to offer her a role in his film. Francis Ford Coppola then called her to arrange a meeting in Los Angeles while she was in New York for a photo shoot. Discussing with Coppola, she realised she would embark on an acting career. Although she stayed in Los Angeles during filming at Coppola's request, she was apprehensive about the city and, by her own admission, believed that her English level needed improvement. She, therefore, decided that her subsequent work as an actress had to be undertaken in Italy. Nevertheless, her role in Dracula exposed her to the international audience for the first time.
Considering her minor role in Dracula as an experience, Bellucci later returned to Italy, where she enrolled in acting classes to realise her ambitions. "I craved it ... I needed to act", she said, even though she recalled a challenging period while all her friends were leaving the faculty. Bellucci had to overcome, not without difficulty, the prejudices related to modelling and her physical appearance and had to work to establish her credibility. She starred in Italian films for the next four years but was dissatisfied due to the country's lack of opportunities as she aspired to an international acting career. She conceded that the Italian film industry needed to invest more money to promote a film internationally. Bellucci eventually moved to France in anticipation of enhanced career prospects. She settled in Paris in 1995.
Bellucci was nominated for a César Award for Most Promising Actress for her portrayal of Lisa in The Apartment (1996), which launched her towards stardom in France and strengthened her position as an actress. The film was critically acclaimed by BBC's Almar Haflidason, who gave it the maximum rating of five stars. Her "break-out role" was in the European arthouse film The Apartment, said Gavanndra Hodge of The Sunday Times. Bellucci's second French release was Jan Kounen's Dobermann (1997), in which she portrayed a mute Gipsy and had to learn sign language beforehand to embody her character. Recalling the filming process, she expressed an inclination for stagings "that pass more through bodies than through words". At this point in her career, she made a significant impact on European audiences. For her leading role as Giulia Giovannini in the Italian comedy-drama film L'ultimo capodanno, Bellucci received a Globo d'oro Award for Best Actress in 1998. The Apartment later won a British Academy Film Award for Best Film Not in the English Language, prompting film director Stephen Hopkins to take a close interest in Bellucci.
2000–2003: American films and Irréversible
In 2000, Bellucci caught the attention of American audiences with Hopkins' Under Suspicion, her first English-language lead role, in which she starred opposite Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman. Hopkins cast Bellucci after observing her perform in The Apartment and then retained her ideas for creating the character of Chantal [Hearst]. At this point, an improvement in spoken English was noted. After the film's release, Freeman said, "It's all there in her eyes. She has this quality that reminds me of Jeanne Moreau. There is a sense of having been there, that she's had a life." Variety listed Bellucci among "the ten young actresses to watch", highlighting her interpretation. Under Suspicion was selected as one of the 2000 Cannes Film Festival's closing films, marking her red carpet debut at the annual event. Bellucci returned to Italian cinema in 2000 when she portrayed Malèna Scordia, an enigmatic, envied and coveted war widow whose life unfolded before the captivated eyes of a 13-year-old boy in the Tornatore-directed film Malèna set in Sicily. Mark Salisbury of The Guardian considered Bellucci's role in the Oscar-nominated film as her "breakout performance". She began to become known and popular with global audiences thanks to Malèna. Malèna was Bellucci's first international success and, in addition to her allure, caused her to be "besieged by offers" from Hollywood when Miramax secured the film for US distribution. For the US release, 10 minutes of explicit erotic scenes from the film were removed due to censorship in North America.
Bellucci starred with Samuel Le Bihan and Vincent Cassel in Christophe Gans' Brotherhood of the Wolf, a 2001 French period drama film based on historical events involving the beast of Gévaudan that decimated the population of Lozère in 18th-century France. Writing for The Washington Post, Stephen Hunter found the film's stylistic approach too dense, obscuring Bellucci's "fabulous natural asset", who played an "underused" role as a courtesan–papist spy. The film received mainly positive responses from critics. Brotherhood of the Wolf was a box-office success, attracting 5 million viewers to French movie theatres and grossing million worldwide, including $11 million in the United States, against a budget of about million. Afterwards, the film earned her a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the 2002 Saturn Awards in Los Angeles. The filming of Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra (2002) was one of Bellucci's favourite cinematographic experiences, which took place in a laughing atmosphere and where Jamel Debbouze's amusing pleasantries were heard. She portrayed the "prickly" Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt, in the comedy film directed by Alain Chabat. The Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw wrote that she was "certainly talented enough ... to merit getting the role of Cleopatra in some serious treatment", but until then, she had to perform in a "funny mainstream commercial" French production. The film was a great success, selling 14 million tickets in France at the time of its release and grossing more than $128 million worldwide.
In 2002, Bellucci co-starred with Cassel in Gaspar Noé's "violent" arthouse thriller Irréversible. Shot on 16 mm with hand-held cameras, the revenge film depicted Bellucci playing Alex, where she was also seen graphically raped for nine minutes without a break in an underpass, a scene she had to shoot four times. Bellucci's "indelible scene" was filmed in an underpass frequented by prostitutes on the outskirts of Paris. Bellucci and Cassel, a couple at the time, were some of "the country's biggest talents". Irréversible premiered at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival at midnight on 24 May and was described as "unsustainable", while others called it an "accomplished work". Causing outrage, it was reported "visceral" reactions from the audience during the film's screening, including fainting, nervous breakdowns and 200 hasty departures, and people passed out in the lobby. Lisa Nesselson of Variety thought Bellucci showed "responses to peril and joy particularly memorable". Subsequently, the film has been studied in film schools. Noé said he "has never seen an actress so charismatic, with that much guts ... her performance is incredibly audacious". K. Austin Collins of Rolling Stone called Irréversible "one of the most controversial movies ever".
In 2003, Bellucci played Alessia in the Italian film Remember Me, My Love, directed by Gabriele Muccino, which earned her the Nastro d'Argento for Best Supporting Actress. The same year, Bellucci co-starred with Bruce Willis in Antoine Fuqua's Tears of the Sun, an action-adventure film set in a civil war in Nigeria. She played the role of doctor Lena Kendricks, working for a humanitarian organisation within a village threatened by rebels. The New Yorker film critic David Denby felt that some of Bellucci's scenes were exaggeratedly stylised but praised the film's visual prowess. Tears of the Sun garnered mixed reviews from critics and was a box-office disappointment. Also in 2003, Bellucci portrayed Persephone successively in the science fiction films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. She described her character as "dangerous, sensual with some sense of humor", recalling fond memories with Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Laurence Fishburne throughout the filming process in Australia. Bradshaw gave The Matrix Reloaded a positive review, grossing $742.1 million worldwide against a budget of $127 million. Alongside its release, she appeared on the Rolling Stone Spanish edition cover. The character of the Merovingian, played by Lambert Wilson, once again accompanied Bellucci as her husband in The Matrix Revolutions. The film received mixed to average reviews from critics. However, it grossed $427 million against a production and marketing budget of $185 million.
2004–2007: The Passion of the Christ and career progression
In Rome, before filming Tears of the Sun, Bellucci was notified that a film about Jesus Christ by Mel Gibson was in the works and asked to meet with him for the role of Mary Magdalene. Her agent advised her against making this film due to its potential failure, as its distribution was undetermined at the time. However, Bellucci ignored his suggestion and turned down another film. Gibson chose her because they "liked each other". She aspired to create an interpretation of the character that would be "strong and deep", even though no one believed the film would succeed. Eventually, Bellucci played an expressive and compassionate Mary Magdalene in Gibson's 2004 drama The Passion of the Christ, which depicted the final hours of the life of Jesus Christ. The film feature dialogues in Aramaic and Latin languages that she had to learn expressly. Le Monde considered that in the film portraying a "fundamentalist" view of the Gospel, Bellucci stood out the most from the cast list, and The New York Times film critic A. O. Scott expressed a converging opinion, saying she was the only "exception" to the "absence of identifiable movie stars". Catholics, meanwhile, objected that Bellucci played Mary Magdalene. Film critic Roger Ebert described The Passion of the Christ as "the most violent film I have ever seen", adding he was "moved by the depth of feeling, by the skill of the actors" and gave a rating of four stars out of four. Overall, critics were divided in their response to the film. The Passion of the Christ was a major commercial success, with a worldwide gross of over $611 million against a budget of $30 million.
On 2 July 2005, Bellucci was awarded the European Golden Globe for cinema at Rome's 45th Globo d'oro ceremony. She emphasised that she appreciated acting in both American and European films. In Terry Gilliam's fantasy adventure film The Brothers Grimm (2005), Bellucci played the 500-year-old Mirror Queen, starring opposite Matt Damon and Heath Ledger. Gilliam would later say, "[i]mmediately she comes on-screen, it seems to me the whole film lifts up into another realm, a realm of sex and sensuality and danger". Film critic Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle opined that she convincingly portrayed her character. She also voiced Cappy for the French version of the 2005 computer-animated adventure Robots. Bellucci had a leading role in the French romantic comedy How Much Do You Love Me?, written and directed by Bertrand Blier, which also starred Gérard Depardieu. She portrayed Daniela, the most beautiful prostitute in Pigalle, Paris, to whom a lottery-winning office worker offered to pay her to live with him. Le Monde wrote that it was "a hymn to the beauty of Monica Bellucci" and pointed out that it was neither Blier's best film nor his most failed. Nesselson observed that she was optimally used in the film as she stimulated the spectator's senses and intellect.
In 2006, Bellucci continued to star in French film productions and made a cameo appearance as a vampire in Kim Chapiron's Sheitan, while Cassel played Joseph. Bellucci starred alongside Daniel Auteuil in Paolo Virzì's period comedy-drama Napoleon and Me. She portrayed baroness Emilia who had a turbulent relationship with the character named Martino, played by Elio Germano, in the film depicting Napoleon Bonaparte during his exile to Elba from 1814 to 1815. Author Mark Feeney remarked that Bellucci did not take "things too seriously" in the film. Bellucci replaced Sophie Marceau, who had first been chosen for the lead role in the thriller The Stone Council based on the commercially successful book by Jean-Christophe Grangé. The film differed by character names as the book's heroine was Diane Thiberge, whereas Bellucci was Laura Siprien, a tormented adoptive mother confronted by killers who wanted her child. Sébastien Le Fol of Le Figaro wrote that she "delivers one of her best performances on the big screen" with a muted sex appeal. Notable French cinema hairstylist John Nollet, who worked for Bellucci on the sets of Brotherhood of the Wolf and Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra, decided to cut her hair short for The Stone Council.
Bellucci starred opposite Clive Owen and Paul Giamatti in the action thriller film Shoot 'Em Up by Michael Davis, released in the US in September 2007. She played Donna Quintano, a prostitute, who teamed up with Owen's character, Mr Smith, to protect a baby amid a bloody settling of scores. Playing a prostitute again, albeit with a different approach than in How Much Do You Love Me?, Bellucci would say she felt empathy for female sex workers, who she believes retain "faith in humanity". She was fond of this sort of paradox and sought to highlight this virtue in her portrayals of characters of all types but noted that she could explore the opposite spectrum. She dubbed her own voice for the French and Italian releases of the film, saying it was a frequent practice for her to accomplish each film three times. Bellucci next starred alongside Auteuil in Alain Corneau's The Second Wind, a remake of the critically acclaimed 1966 gangster film of the same title. She portrayed Manouche, a tenacious character enamoured of a gangster who escaped prison. Bellucci had the idea of dyeing her hair blond to adhere to the style of film noir main characters played by former French actresses. A critic for Libération wrote that Bellucci was alone in a "fatally virile" context, but she managed to get through it "to the point of becoming the spectator's compass and the flesh of a film that sometimes lacks it".
2008–2017: Continued international work
Bellucci has a "visceral" need to act regularly in films from her native country. Thus, in 2008, Bellucci starred in Marco Tullio Giordana's Wild Blood and co-star Luca Zingaretti. The historical panorama examined the fate of Luisa Ferida and Osvaldo Valenti, respectively portrayed by Bellucci and Zingaretti, a couple of leading actors during the Italian fascism period. Author Barry Forshaw called Bellucci "charismatic", and author Gino Moliterno praised her performance as "extremely powerful". Next, Bellucci played Alba in the Italian film The Man Who Loves, where she was enamoured of Pierfrancesco Favino's character, Roberto, through a cinematic flashback. On 5 March 2009, she received the World Actress Award at the Women's World Award in Vienna. That same year, Bellucci co-starred with Marceau in the thriller Don't Look Back, a sequel to In My Skin, both directed by Marina de Van. The film depicted Marceau's character seeing changes around her and noticing her body transform into Bellucci's. Film critic J.B. Morain of Les Inrockuptibles noted that Bellucci's physical attitude and "attention to others have never been so well filmed". Variety film critic Derek Elley said she "looks elegant and mystified", though both pointed out the clumsily written dialogue. She reunited with Reeves in Rebecca Miller's romantic comedy-drama The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009), featuring Robin Wright and Winona Ryder. Bellucci portrayed Gigi Lee, the former wife of a successful publisher, Herb, played by Alan Arkin. She next appeared in a cameo role in Tornatore's autobiographical film Baarìa, a family saga traversing several generations and shot in Bagheria, Sicily.
In 2010, Belluci portrayed Laura Leviani in Larysa Kondracki's biopic drama thriller The Whistleblower, primarily filmed in Romania and depicting a vast human trafficking network discovered in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1999. Hélène Delye of Le Monde described Bellucci's character as a "grizzled, stubborn, insensitive civil servant". The Whistleblower received a polarised reception from critics. Bellucci shot three films in seven months including, Giovanni Veronesi's The Ages of Love, Philippe Garrel's A Burning Hot Summer, and Bahman Ghobadi's Rhino Season. In the third segment of the comedy The Ages of Love, an anthology film released in 2011, Bellucci starred opposite Robert De Niro, a divorced American art history professor living in Rome who fell in love with her character, Viola. De Niro was delighted to collaborate with Bellucci, saying she had "worked her magic" on him and admitting that he had accepted the role because he wanted to play alongside her. It was filmed two months after the birth of Bellucci's second child. A scene based on improvisation showed De Niro doing a striptease in front of Bellucci, which echoed in reverse a sequence of the 1963 film Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, where Sophia Loren performed it for Marcello Mastroianni. For her role in Rhino Season (2012), Bellucci learned to speak Persian (Farsi), the Iranian language.
In 2014, Alice Rohrwacher's The Wonders featured Bellucci as Milly Catena, host of the Countryside Wonders televised contest. In the film, combining autobiographical aspects and fiction, her character is depicted in a pagan priestess style, wearing elaborate clothes with ancient figures surrounding her. Critically acclaimed, The Wonders won the Grand Prix Award at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. In 2015, Bellucci had the leading role of Sophie Bernard in the Canadian drama film Ville-Marie directed by Guy Édoin. The film traces the journey of Bernard, a European actress visiting Montreal for a film shoot and trying to reconcile with her son. Bellucci said Édoin had offered her "one of the most beautiful roles" of her career, describing a stimulating fear of embodying Bernard's character that affected her emotionally. The film garnered generally positive reviews, and Bellucci's performance was unanimously praised. For her portrayal of Bernard, she received the Best Actress Award from the Dublin Film Critics' Circle at the Dublin International Film Festival. At 50, she became the oldest Bond girl ever in the James Bond film franchise, playing Lucia Sciarra in Spectre, directed by Sam Mendes and released in 2015. She was initially sceptical about Mendes' project, but he argued that a mature woman in a James Bond film would be innovative. She felt gratified to have been the first to portray what she called a "James Bond lady". Spectre received mixed to positive reviews from critics. The film grossed $880 million worldwide against a $240 million budget. Guy Lodge of Variety called Bellucci "One of the most restlessly globe-trotting stars in world cinema", who does not want national borders or age brackets to dictate her filmography.
In 2016, Bellucci had a guest role in the third season of the American comedy-drama streaming television series Mozart in the Jungle, an adaptation of the memoir Blair Tindall's Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music, portraying Alessandra, an opera singer and latest collaborator of New York symphony orchestra conductor, Rodrigo, played by Gael García Bernal. Varietys Nick Vivarelli labelled her the "Italian actress with international star power". In the same year, Bellucci portrayed Nevesta in the film On the Milky Road, a romance set during the 1990s Bosnian War whose lead role was played by the film's director, Emir Kusturica. Reflecting on the film and her other cinematic experiences, Bellucci said, "I decided to be an actress, not a politician, I recount political choices through my artistic choices." Kusturica asked her to learn all her dialogue in the Serbian language to interpret her character. She had to adapt to a "complicated" environment in a "land of beauty and violence", with Kusturica suffering "great [mental] pain" during filming, which spanned four summers. The Hollywood Reporters Neil Young felt the Golden Lion-nominated film's approach lacked nuance, while Bellucci performed "admirably well" and kept her "dignity intact" in a physically demanding role. Her performance in the film earned her the Nastro d'Argento europeo (European Silver Ribbon Award), held on 1 July 2017 at the ancient theatre of Taormina in Sicily. In 2017, Bellucci was cast in the third season of David Lynch and Mark Frost's television series Twin Peaks. The same year, Bellucci received the honorary Donostia Award at the San Sebastián International Film Festival.
2018–present: Recent career
In 2018, Bellucci had one of the leading roles in the Australian comedy science-fiction horror film Nekrotronic, playing a necromancer and demonic soul-eater. A journalist for The Hollywood Reporter appreciated that she portrayed her "diva" character through an "operatic camp-vamp" performance but was less enthusiastic about the plot, believing her acting style would be best suited to films by Guillermo del Toro and Tim Burton. Also in 2018, she appeared in the third season of the notable France 2 television series Dix pour cent, playing herself with self-mockery. In Claude Lelouch's The Best Years of a Life (2019), a film set in Normandy, Bellucci had a cameo role as Elena, the daughter of Jean-Louis Duroc, portrayed by Jean-Louis Trintignant. The film received a positive critical response. Following his documentary film Maria by Callas (2017), writer and director Tom Volf proposed to Bellucci his project based on his book, Maria Callas: Lettres & Mémoires, containing the writings of soprano Maria Callas. As a one-woman show directed by Volf, Maria Callas' Letters and Memoirs is a narrative form of letters recited by Bellucci alone on stage and wearing two dresses that had belonged to Callas, thus making her theatrical debut at the Marigny Theatre in Paris held from 27 November to 6 December 2019. She would perform it intermittently over the years. As she was announced the recipient of an honorary Magritte Award for the upcoming 10th Magritte Awards, the André Delvaux Academy remarked that Bellucci's unorthodox filmography made her "unclassifiable" and that she developed her acting career by alternating films d'auteur (auteur films) with blockbusters.
In 2020, Bellucci starred in the role of Soraya in the Oscar-nominated The Man Who Sold His Skin, directed by Kaouther Ben Hania. Film critic Stephanie Zacharek of Time ironically opined that Soraya was a "frosty, willowy blond" acted by "a deviously silky-smooth Monica Bellucci". Maria Callas' Letters and Memoirs visited European theatres, including Venice's Teatro Goldoni and Athens's Odeon of Herodes Atticus, with an orchestra that attracted 4,000 people each night. In 2021, Bellucci received a David Special Award for her career achievements at the 66th David di Donatello ceremony. She co-starred as part of an ensemble cast featuring Liam Neeson and Guy Pearce in Martin Campbell's action thriller Memory (2022), in which she played Davana Sealman, an unscrupulous real estate magnate. Memory was panned by critic Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly, who deemed it "wrapped in leaden dialogue and B-movie cliché" with Bellucci appearing "blasé". She continued interpreting the play and brought it to Her Majesty's Theatre in London, Chatelet Theater in Paris, and Istanbul and Los Angeles. In January 2023, at 58, she performed the play at the Beacon Theater in New York City. Recalling Irréversible, Bellucci told The New York Times in 2023 that her "days of acting in transgressive movies are behind her" as she is a mother. In 2023, Bellucci entered talks to star in Beetlejuice 2. She will play Beetlejuice's wife.
Other activities
Film industries
Bellucci was mistress of ceremonies at the 56th Cannes Film Festival, presiding over the opening and closing ceremonies held on the Croisette from 14 to 25 May 2003. From 17 to 28 May 2006, she was a jury member at the 59th Cannes Film Festival. In 2009, Bellucci signed a petition alongside filmmakers from Europe and the US and 70 other prominent industry names to support film director Roman Polanski, who had been arrested on his way to the Zurich Film Festival due to his 1977 sexual abuse charges. She returned to her role of mistress of ceremonies at the 70th Cannes Film Festival, in charge of opening and closing one of the major international film events, which took place from 17 to 28 May 2017. In 2017, Bellucci was invited by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to be a permanent member representing Italy, becoming one of the voting juries responsible for awarding the annual Academy Awards (Oscars). From 26 to 30 September 2018, she chaired the judging panel of the 29th Dinard British Film Festival. Bellucci was to be chairwoman of the 15th Crystal Globe Awards, scheduled for 14 March 2020 at the Wagram auditorium in Paris, but the ceremony was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Charities and patronages
In 2008, Bellucci supported a fundraising campaign in favour of a centre for children with cancer located in Prima Porta. It was initiated by the Associazione Genitori Oncologia Pediatrica (Association of Parents in Pediatric Oncology), also known as AGOP, created by parents of children with cancer and leukemia at the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome. In 2010, Bellucci became patron of Paroles de Femmes (Words of Women), an apolitical and secular French association promoting equality between men and women in society. In March 2010, she organised the Nuit des Femmes (Women's Night), bringing together female politicians, researchers, doctors, lawyers, writers, painters, and business leaders to assess the evolution of women's rights in France. The funds raised went to construct centres for accommodation, reintegration and support for single mothers in precarious situations. In 2010, Rizzoli and La Martinière Groupe published a book prefaced by Tornatore retracing Bellucci's modelling and acting careers through photos taken by photographers such as Peter Lindbergh and Helmut Newton. All proceeds from the book's sales were donated to AGOP and Paroles de Femmes. She is also a patron of the SOS Autism France association.
Foreign relations of Italy
Bellucci is regarded in France as an ambassador of Italy. She has been involved in state dinners chaired by the president of the French Republic and organised as part of foreign heads of state visits. On 21 November 2012, Bellucci attended the state dinner hosted by French President François Hollande at the Elysée Palace in Paris on the occasion of the visit of Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and his ministers. On 5 July 2021, she was invited to a state dinner hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysée Palace in honour of Italian President Sergio Mattarella and his daughter Laura.
Public image
In 2001, Bellucci was featured nude with caviar on her breasts on the cover of Esquires Desire issue. In his 2001 review of Malèna, CNN International's Paul Tatara called Bellucci a "world-class bombshell". In 2002, AskMen named her number one on the "Top 99 Most Desirable Women". In 2003, Chris Campion of The Daily Telegraph wrote that La Bellucci' is Italy's national sweetheart and an icon of European cinema". On 23 November 2004, Bellucci pressed the button triggering the Christmas illuminations of the Champs-Élysées avenue consisting of of electric garlands descending from the Place de l'Étoile towards Place de la Concorde, in the presence of the first deputy Mayor Anne Hidalgo. Bellucci was the first-ever foreign public figure invited by the City of Paris and the Champs-Élysées Committee (merchants and businesses on the avenue) to inaugurate this annual celebration. In 2004 and 2007, Bellucci was voted "the most beautiful woman in the world" based on a survey of 1000 people in France commissioned by TF1. Paris' Grévin Museum unveiled a wax statue of her in April 2005.
Bellucci was called "arguably the world's most beautiful actress" by The Times staff writers. They suggested that she has, by contrast, the propensity to specialise in acting "[u]gly scenes", which they exemplified by the rape scene of the 2002 film Irreversible. Mark Salisbury of The Guardian wrote in 2005 that she represents an "international object of desire" and "[i]n person, as on screen, Bellucci radiates a rare, otherworldly beauty." In the words of Blier, she is "completely relaxed with her image and with her own sense of modesty as well." Blier compared her to "Ava Gardner, the stars of yesteryear". On 9 May 2008, L'Obs reported on a survey of 1,003 people conducted by the Superior Audiovisual Council as part of Europe Day, where Bellucci was the second of the European personalities (excluding France) favourite of the French. In 2011, Bellucci was ranked fourth in Los Angeles Times Magazines list of the "50 most beautiful women in film". She was voted No. 1 of the "100 sexiest stars of 2011" in a NRJ 12 nationwide survey in France, on a list including American and French actresses, models, singers, sportswomen, and TV hosts. She was featured in Empires "Sexiest Women" list. In 2012, Bellucci said she has never undergone cosmetic procedures: "I don't like the idea of having my face retouched and, frankly, I think it's quite dangerous for an actress. ... Compared to a plastic face, I prefer wrinkles."
On 10 April 2016, the Karin Models agency, representing Bellucci, opened an official Instagram account for her. In 2018, Bellucci was named among the 100 most successful Italian women by Forbes Italy, listed alphabetically. She appeared on Men's Healths list of the "100 Hottest Sex Symbols of All Time", encompassing both women and men, and the magazine's Australian edition also named her one of the "100 Hottest Women Of All Time", ranking her at No. 21. Known for wearing high-value jewellery, with an unfailing commitment to Cartier, but also to Boucheron and Chopard, Naomi Pike of British Vogue referred to her as "A Modern Day Liz Taylor". Dressed in diamonds, "few contemporary Hollywood stars can rival Italian actor Monica Bellucci", said Pike. Federico Roberto Antonelli, director of the Italian Cultural Institute in China, said that "everyone dreams of Malèna's Monica Bellucci" in the country. In 2021, Vogue France ranked her fourth of the "most beautiful Italian actresses of all time". She is considered an Italian sex symbol by the media. Rolling Stone Italy included Bellucci in its "10 greatest sex symbols of the 1990s" list, in no particular order. The press refers to her as a style icon. In January 2023, Elisabeth Vincentelli of The New York Times wrote that she has a "reputation as a symbol of European glamour and sophistication" that is "firmly established".
Personal life
At the age of 20, Bellucci married Italian photographer Claudio Carlos Basso; they divorced after six months.
From 1989 to 1995, Bellucci had a relationship with Italian actor Nicola Farron. They met on the set of Vita coi figli. Farron described an "overwhelming relationship" that became unstable because other men increasingly lusted after Bellucci.
Bellucci and French actor Vincent Cassel met in 1995 on the set of their film The Apartment. They married on 2 August 1999 in Monaco. Bellucci and Cassel have two daughters, Deva Cassel (born 12 September 2004) and Léonie (born 21 May 2010). Their daughters were born in Rome. Bellucci and Cassel acted together in nine films from 1996 to 2006. The family lived in Italy, France, Brazil, and England. The couple's separation by "mutual agreement" was announced on 26 August 2013. They later divorced. In December 2014, Bellucci said of Cassel: "Love, especially when there are children, is always there." The two have remained close ever since.
After her divorce, Bellucci was in a relationship with French sculptor and former model Nicolas Lefebvre. They had been dating since 2017. They made it official in early March 2019 during a Chanel show at the Grand Palais in Paris. Lefebvre was then 36 years old. She told Italian magazine F about the end of their relationship, which was reported by other media in early July 2019.
Bellucci and American filmmaker Tim Burton briefly met at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. They reconnected in October 2022 at the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon, and their relationship was revealed by Paris Match in February 2023. In June 2023, she confirmed her relationship with Burton.
Besides the Italian language, Bellucci is fluent in French and English and proficient in Portuguese and Spanish. After her divorce from Cassel, Bellucci lived with her daughters in England, France and Italy. In 2015, she decided to reside in France. Bellucci said, however, that "I am entirely Italian. Everything about me is Italian" and acknowledged that "Paris is part of my history". Bellucci said she votes in Italy, not France. She does not have French nationality. She owns houses in Rome and Lisbon, and in 2023, she purchased a villa on the Greek island of Paros.
Bellucci has emphasised that she has moved away from her religious roots: "I come from a Catholic religion, but I'm not Catholic". She has called herself an agnostic, saying, "I am an agnostic, even though I respect and am interested in all religions ... If there's something I believe in, it's a mysterious energy; the one that fills the oceans during tides, the one that unites nature and beings."
In 2020, GEDI Gruppo Editoriale's alfemminile website ranked Bellucci as the third richest actress in Italy, with wealth valued at $45 million.
Acting credits and accolades
Bellucci also received honours from the French government. In 2006, French Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy conferred her with the knight of the Order of Arts and Letters. In 2016, French President François Hollande presented her with the knight insignia in the National Order of the Legion of Honour at the Élysée Palace.
Notes
References
Sources
External links
http://www.monicabellucci.net at Official Web Site
1964 births
20th-century Italian actresses
21st-century Italian actresses
David di Donatello Career Award winners
David di Donatello winners
Italian female models
Italian film actresses
Italian video game actresses
Italian agnostics
University of Perugia alumni
Italian expatriates in Brazil
Italian expatriates in England
Italian expatriates in France
Italian expatriates in Portugal
Italian expatriates in the United States
Living people
Magritte Award winners
Nastro d'Argento winners
People from Città di Castello
People named in the Pandora Papers