INTERVIEWS•5 photos

Monica Bellucci finding herself in her 50s

‘Sophia Loren, Lollobrigida, Silvana Mangano, could exist as icons after 40 but not as actresses. And I think today it is completely different.’ Look at Charlotte Rampling, Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, she says. ‘Women look at themselves in a different way today and because of that we are watched in a different way.’ She’s certainly been busy post-Spectre. She’s appeared in On the Milky Road, a magic-realism film set in the 1990s during the Bosnian War; and the Amazon comedy series Mozart in the Jungle, alongside Gael García Bernal; as well as the Twin Peaks revival (‘It was amazing to work with David Lynch’). ‘These are not stories I could do before,’ she says, delighted with the way life is turning out. ‘I had no idea when I was 25 that at 50 I would still be working. It is a great discovery for me.’ Bellucci grew up in a comfortable family, in the small Città di Castello, on the Umbrian border with Tuscany. Her father, Pasquale, ran a haulage company and her mother, Brunella, was a housewife and amateur painter. Bellucci was an only child – her parents didn’t want another one. ‘They had me when they were very young and although my mother was maternal, maybe she was too young,’ she says. ‘But she did what she could and she did well. ‘I think I missed having a brother or a sister,’ Bellucci continues. ‘That’s why I have two kids, because even though sometimes you can fight, it is better to fight than be lonely.’ She says she had lots of cousins, but remembers at eight or nine feeling very alone. Her personality – ‘So curious, so open, I want to know things’ – meant that in her early teens she longed for the big outside world. ‘A small town is something that can protect you but at the same time, it made me want to escape and look for other things.’ What happened, of course, was modelling.
‘Sophia Loren, Lollobrigida, Silvana Mangano, could exist as icons after 40 but not as actresses. And I think today it is completely different.’ Look at Charlotte Rampling, Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, she says. ‘Women look at themselves in a different way today and because of that we are watched in a different way.’ She’s certainly been busy post-Spectre. She’s appeared in On the Milky Road, a magic-realism film set in the 1990s during the Bosnian War; and the Amazon comedy series Mozart in the Jungle, alongside Gael García Bernal; as well as the Twin Peaks revival (‘It was amazing to work with David Lynch’). ‘These are not stories I could do before,’ she says, delighted with the way life is turning out. ‘I had no idea when I was 25 that at 50 I would still be working. It is a great discovery for me.’ Bellucci grew up in a comfortable family, in the small Città di Castello, on the Umbrian border with Tuscany. Her father, Pasquale, ran a haulage company and her mother, Brunella, was a housewife and amateur painter. Bellucci was an only child – her parents didn’t want another one. ‘They had me when they were very young and although my mother was maternal, maybe she was too young,’ she says. ‘But she did what she could and she did well. ‘I think I missed having a brother or a sister,’ Bellucci continues. ‘That’s why I have two kids, because even though sometimes you can fight, it is better to fight than be lonely.’ She says she had lots of cousins, but remembers at eight or nine feeling very alone. Her personality – ‘So curious, so open, I want to know things’ – meant that in her early teens she longed for the big outside world. ‘A small town is something that can protect you but at the same time, it made me want to escape and look for other things.’ What happened, of course, was modelling.

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Comments (1)

AMIR N2018-07-11

Hello lady monica bellucci I saw your Irreversible film, and I was saddened because you in film were hurt I love you so much and I cannot endurance the movies you will hurting Also, I've seen you in Malena's film, and I was saddened because you in film were hurt You are my very beautiful and favorite actor, please, in videos that you are harassed Thanks & Regards Amir N IRAN

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