By Raquel Stecher
Dubbed the Queen of Italian Cinema, actress Monica Vitti graced the silver screen for over four decades. She was best known as director Michelangelo Antonioni’s muse and together the pair made five movies including his “Trilogy of Decadence”: L’avventura (1960), La Notte (1961) and L’eclisse (1962). Vitti made films in Italian, French and English and thrived in both comedy and drama. She was a celebrated beauty and often referred to as the Marilyn Monroe of Italy. Vitti’s allure came from her detached ambivalence that made her both desirable and elusive, much like her L’eclisse co-star Alain Delon. She redefined feminine beauty with her slender frame and unique features with contrasted from the buxom Italian movie stars of the day. With her sad eyes, elegant Roman nose, sensual lips and haunting stare, it’s difficult to not be in awe of her appearance on screen. Most importantly though, Vitti was a consummate actress. Devoted to her craft, she was aware of her limitations but never held back from trying something new.
Monica Vitti was born Maria Luisa Ceciarelli on November 3rd, 1931 in Rome, Italy. She had a troubled childhood and dealt with poverty, isolation, strict parents, and the turbulence of World War II. Acting was a means of escape for her and she began to study drama as a teenager. At the age of 18, her parents and two brothers emigrated to the US. She opted to stay behind—not only to distance herself from her family, but to also hone her craft. Then, came her reinvention. She changed her name to Monica Vitti (the last name a variation of her mother’s maiden name Vittillia) and studied to become a professional actress at Rome’s National Academy of Dramatic Arts. When her family returned, they had to come to terms with her transformation. In an interview Vitti said, “I am so completely Monica Vitti that my mother and father call me Monica and not Maria.”
By the time she started making films, Vitti was already an established stage actress and part of a successful Italian acting troupe. She made her film debut in Laugh! Laugh! Laugh! (1954). A few years later, she met Michelangelo Antonioni when she became part of his Teatro Nuovo di Milano. This set off their famous collaboration and a love affair that would span a decade. Vitti dubbed the voice of Dorian Gray in Antonioni’s film Il grido (1957) and would star in his film L’avventura (1960). Antonioni’s film were modernist, surreal, and at times erotic. Vitti became the embodiment of his impassive female protagonist haunted by guilt-ridden angst. Antonioni cast her in La notte (1961) with Marcello Mastroianni and Jeanne Moreau and L’eclisse (1962) with Alain Delon. She also starred in Antonioni’s first-ever color film Red Desert (1964), opposite Richard Harris. The two drifted apart and, while their romantic relationship ended, they stayed friends for years. They worked together one more time on the television movie Il mistero di Oberwald (1980). About her acting Antonioni said: “I can say she’s an extremely serious actress. She comes from the Academy and therefore possesses an extraordinary sense of craft.”
Vitti had a natural sense of humor and a knack for comedy. Antonioni encouraged her to make comedic films and even claimed that she could become “the Carole Lombard of the second half of the century.” She continued to work throughout the 1960s and 1970s, mostly on comedic fair like the James Bond spoof film Modesty Blaise (1966), her first English language film and Luis Bunuel’s surrealist comedy The Phantom of Liberty (1974). According to the New York Times, at the time comedies “in Italy were dominated by male stars. Italian audiences and critics were stunned by her facility as a comedian, which many came to believe was her greatest calling.” Vitti was best known in her home country of Italy and across Europe. A handful of her films, especially those made with Antonioni, earned her international acclaim and exposure in the US. However, given the fact that Vitti didn’t master the English language, she knew that breaking into the US market wasn’t in the cards for her.
Over time, Vitti’s film work decreased and she focused more on stage work, television appearances, and teaching acting. Vitti became a first time director with her debut film Scandalo segreto/Secret Scandal (1990) starring her alongside Elliott Gould. It was a critical success, but a box office failure. And with that, Vitti’s film career came to an end.
After her relationship with Antonioni, she became involved with cinematographer and director Carlo Di Palma and then cameraman Roberto Russo. Vitti and Russo lived together for 27 years before marrying in 2000 (some sources claim they married in 1995). In 2001, Vitti was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and she withdrew from the public eye. Her last public appearance was in 2002. Vitti spent the next two decades under the care of her husband Russo and passed away on February 2nd, 2022 at the age of 90. Vitti left behind her a legacy work that will be appreciated by film enthusiast and drama students for many years to come.
Let’s celebrate Monica Vitti with some of her films available to rent from DVD Netflix:
L’Avventura (1960)
In the first film of Michelangelo Antonioni’s Trilogy of Decadence, Vitti stars as Claudia, whose friend Anna disappears while on a boating trip off the coast of the Italy. Throughout the movie, Claudia and her friends search for Anna, and Claudia begins an affair with Anna’s fiancé.
This film will leave you with more questions than answers. When it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, it received boos from the audience and Vitti fled the theater in tears when people were laughing at her scenes. Despite this reaction, filmmaker Roberto Rossellini championed the film and it went on to win a jury prize at the festival. It’s now considered one of the great modernist Italian films.
La Notte (1961)
The second film in the Trilogy of Decadence, La Notte stars Marcello Mastroianni and Jeanne Moreau as Giovanni and Lidia, a married couple at a crossroads in their relationship. The story takes place over one day and culminates with one over-the-top mansion party. Vitti plays Valentina, a young socialite who catches Giovanni’s eye.
This film offers the perfect blend of visual artistry and pacing.
L’Eclisse (1962)
The final film in the Trilogy of Decadence, L’Eclisse follows the travails of two insanely good-looking young adults as they fall for each other in early 1960s Rome. Vitti stars opposite Alain Delon who plays Piero, a stock broker on the Rome Stock Exchange. Vitti and Delon perfectly depict their characters mutual sense of unease that directly conflicts with their unbridled passion.
While some might find the film boring, it's celebrated as one of the greatest films of all time. Director Martin Scorsese said of the film that it “felt less like a story and more like a poem.”
Red Desert (1964)
In Michelangelo Antonioni’s first-ever color film, Monica Vitti stars as Giuliana, a young mother who along with her son visits the chemical plant where her husband Ugo works. Giuliana has a variety of strange experiences that spring from her loneliness and anxiety. Richard Harris co-stars as Corrado Zeller, a businessman who begins an affair with the beautiful Giuliana.
The film is visually stunning, highlighting greens, reds, and yellows against an industrial backdrop. Vitti brings the same combination of ambivalence and anxiousness to this film as she does in L’Eclisse.
The Phantom of Liberty (1974)
Vitti’s collaboration with surrealist filmmaker Luis Bunuel resulted in one of the most delightfully absurd films ever made. It’s a stream-of-consciousness comedy which features all sorts of strange scenarios that don’t really seem to go together and brilliantly casts a critical eye on convention and propriety.
Vitti plays Mrs. Foucauld. She and her husband Mr. Foucauld (Jean-Claude Brialy) the parents of two girls who encounter a strange man in the park and return home with some strange photos. During the night, Mr. and Mrs. Foucauld are visited by a cast of characters including a chicken, a mysterious woman, a bike messenger, and an emu. Sounds weird. Well, it is! According to the New York Times, The Phantom of Liberty was Vitti’s last successful film.
Raquel Stecher has been writing about classic films for the past decade on her blog Out of the Past. She attends the TCM Classic Film Festival as well as other events where old movie fanatics get together to geek out. Raquel has been a devoted DVD Netflix member since 2002! Follow her on her blog Out of the Past or find her on Twitter @RaquelStecher and @ClassicFilmRead, Facebook, and Instagram.