Monica Bellucci for ELLE France

Age suits Monica Bellucci. She had “the beauty of the devil”, as she says. She still has it, plus relief. How to formulate, without it being misinterpreted, that she is a thousand times more alive today than yesterday, that the untampered upstrokes and downstrokes of her face humanize her while making her a little less iconic? The goddess has descended among us. Monica Bellucci talks in a soft voice about her new life in France, which she chose while hesitating between Italy, England and Brazil. Why did the Italian land here? “Because I love Paris!” His two daughters, Deva and Léonie, speak five languages: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and English. Multilingualism is one of the advantages of having nomadic (and rich) parents who preferred to take them everywhere with them and educate them according to their places of work, rather than growing on fixed ground but without them. “When I divorced, I thought I had to give them some stability. I needed a little security. From a home. I love Rio, where their father, Vincent (Cassel) lives, but my life is in Europe. My identity is European. “She details:” Everything in me is Italian, my colors, my physique, my way of eating, my energy. But part of my heart is in Paris. I have never been a French resident. Living in France is a real choice. It even seemed a bit crazy to me… Everyone is leaving France and I’m moving there! ” Why ? “This is the country where human rights and cinema were invented! I respect its secularism, and I am happy that my daughters can benefit from a secular education. If I find this fundamental principle, it is among other things because there cannot be a war of religions in a country which takes secularism as its foundation. With a laugh: “But at the same time, I adore Pope Francis. I see him as a revolutionary! »