{"id":565791,"date":"2026-08-11T14:26:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T14:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/565791\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T14:26:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T14:26:15","slug":"monica-bellucci-has-never-done-anything-like-new-film-kettice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/565791\/","title":{"rendered":"Monica Bellucci Has Never Done Anything Like New Film ‘Kettic\u00e8’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tDo you think Monica Bellucci<\/a> has done it all? Think again.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019ve never done anything like that,\u201d she tells\u00a0Variety\u00a0about her role in \u201cKettic\u00e8<\/a>.\u201d Directed by Giovanni Tortorici<\/a>, the film premiered at Locarno.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI was on set in my pajamas with a knife in my hand and slippers on my feet. This woman has abandoned her femininity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSet in Palermo in 2012, \u201cKettic\u00e8\u201d follows teenage Giulio who becomes increasingly lost, even after his encounter with a spirited girl named Ketty. So does his mother.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was interesting to play this wife and mother who represents the angst and frustration behind the apparent perfection of decaying high society. She\u2019s an unhappy woman, bitter, with a kind of rage, but she has no outlet for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs her character struggles to find balance, her relationship with her son brims with tension.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cShe tries to counterbalance this frustration by eating little cakes and screaming constantly. Sometimes, the situation becomes almost comical. There is a real generational incomprehension between the two of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThroughout her career, Bellucci hasn\u2019t done many comedies, though she has certainly proven her comedic timing in \u201cCall My Agent!\u201d or \u201cAsterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI expressed my dark side more: in \u2018Mal\u00e8na,\u2019 \u2018Irr\u00e9versible\u2019 or \u2018The Passion of the Christ.\u2019 Then, I did many genre films, from James Bond to \u2018Brotherhood of the Wolf\u2019 or \u2018Matrix\u2019,\u201d she recalls. But in \u201cKettic\u00e8,\u201d her character is tragicomic at times.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cShe threatens her husband with a knife, but nobody\u2019s scared of her. She screams, she\u2019s aggressive, but everyone knows she won\u2019t go anywhere. She wouldn\u2019t have the courage to change her life. In the end, she\u2019s their slave,\u201d says the star.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tEarlier this week, Tortorici told\u00a0Variety<\/a>\u00a0that Bellucci delivered a \u201cvery intelligent, very realistic interpretation, even if the character is a bit eccentric. I have to say that when I showed the film to people who also know this aristocratic world, they told me that they found a lot of truth in her performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cGiovanni is young, but he\u2019s completely in control of the set. He made a personal, unique movie,\u201d reciprocates Bellucci, also praising young co-stars Salvatore Gallina and Rachele Testagrossa. \u201cThey brought these fully believable characters to life. When young people work like that, it means the director is talented.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cGiovanni looks so calm and sweet, but on set, he was a tiger \u2013 in a good way!,\u201d she laughs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHe knew where he was going.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThis year, Bellucci worked with many young directors, from Maria Sole Tognazzi to L\u00e9a Mysius\u2019 (Cannes premiere \u201cThe Birthday Party\u201d) and Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (\u201cSeven Dogs\u201d).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s interesting because there\u2019s really an exchange, you know? They come with their own universe, point of view and excitement, and I come with my experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cL\u00e9a Mysius is a young director, but she\u2019s already respected in France. She also gave me the opportunity to play a beautiful role unlike anything I\u2019ve done before. It\u2019s character far from my Mediterranean temperament. She wants to live in isolation, which is the opposite of who I am in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBellucci continues to choose her roles \u201cthrough instinct.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen I worked with David Lynch [on \u2018Twin Peaks\u2019], I had just one scene. But sometimes, it really doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s a smaller role. I just like to be free,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhat I like about my work is the element of surprise. I like it when directors come to me with ideas I hadn\u2019t thought of, even though I\u2019ve been here for so many years. I still have the excitement and passion for my work.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tShe adds: \u201cOur bodies change, of course, but we can express other aspects of life that we couldn\u2019t before. I could never have done \u2018The Birthday Party\u2019 when I was 30 or 40. I needed more experience to portray these kinds of emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cToday, we actresses are so lucky to have the chance to keep working even as adult women. In the past, it was impossible to have a career after 40. It\u2019s slow, but things are changing,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tStill, it\u2019s not all there is.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI love what I do and I\u2019m very grateful that I still have the chance to do interesting things. But life is more important,\u201d she states.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLife is stronger than art.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Do you think Monica Bellucci has done it all? Think again. \u201cI\u2019ve never done anything like that,\u201d she…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":565792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,276825,278502,6235,30439,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-565791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-giovanni-tortorici","tag-ketticu00e8","tag-locarno-film-festival","tag-monica-bellucci","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}