ABSTRACT
Film actress Under the pseudonym of Monica Vitti, Maria Louisa Ceciarelli started her career as a film actress in the 1960s thanks to her association, both professionally and personally, with Michelangelo Antonioni. Her singular beauty, at once sophisticated and abstract, suited the originality of Antonioni’s vision, as epitomized in his famous 1960 trilogy, L’avventura (The Adventure), La notte (The Night), L’eclisse (The Eclipse) and then in Deserto rosso (Red Desert) (1964), which all starred Vitti. In the 1970s, thanks to films such as Scola’s Dramma delta gelosia (Jealousy, Italian Style) (1970) and Sordi’s Polvere di stelle (Stardust) (1973), she became a popular figure of the commedia all’Italiana (comedy, Italian style) while pursuing an international career, collaborating with Luis Bunuel (The Phantom of Liberty, 1974) and appearing in American productions like An Almost Perfect Affair (1979). In 1983, she received a Silver Bear in Berlin for her outstanding performance in Flirt (1983), a film she co-wrote with the director Roberto Russo and Silvia Napolitano. An accomplished actress and a writer, Vitti also directed her first film, Scandalo segreto (Secret Scandal) in 1989. In 1995, she was awarded a Golden Lion in Venice for her life achievement.
