Noshe life she was much loved and loved much. And even on set she played passionate, intense women, with directors such as Mario Monicelli, Carlo Lizzani, Damiano Damiani. Yet, for this latest film of his, The othersfrom the novel by Michele Prisco, Ida Di Benedetto78 years old, chose to play a woman who couldn’t be further from her: Amelia Jandoli, respectable embroidery and sewing teacher in a girls’ school inSouthern Italy in the 1950sa daily life without shocks, no affection, no thrills.
Until one day, suddenly, a young stranger comes looking for her: her twin brother, on his deathbed, wants to see her. After an initial refusal, the mature lady – who doesn’t understand the reason for the request – will follow the boy, but she arrives at the patient’s bedside too late. Who was this man, and why did he say his name? Uncovering the mystery will be painfulbut it will lead the woman to confront herself for the first time.
Who is Amelia? And what did you find in this character?
Undoubtedly his story does not belong to me, at least in the first part. Raised in a former convent, Amelia has always been alone, she lives well like that. She doesn’t even imagine another possibility. But when she learns that her name has somehow been stolen from her and she decides to go in search of the truth, her hard-earned equilibrium is shattered. She gets excited, angry, then discovers the value of friendship, of a new unexpected affection. She looks at herself in the mirror, she sees herself different. She understands the meaning of love, in the broadest sense.
A portrait of Ida Di Benedetto from 1987.
Ida Di Benedetto: «I was ahead of my time»
For you, what is love?
Such a beautiful thing, a miracle. From one day to the next you start singing out of happiness, how can you explain it?
She married very young, had two daughters, Stefania and Marta, but it didn’t last. Maybe because of her age?
I hate marriage, in fact I got rid of it very quickly. It was all, “Wife does this, husband does that.” I was ahead of my time, I felt instinctively that this wasn’t right. I ran away. My whole life has been a continuous escape. I have always been a rebel.
Ida Di Benedetto with Pippo Fava in 1980.
When did it start?
At boarding school with nuns in Rome. They beat me, I ran away. I took off my shoes, crossed the corridors on tiptoe, climbed over the gate and then ran along Via Merulana, up to the house. But my parents took me back. I took after dad, who always ran away. When I got married I felt like I was in prison again. I had to cook, I wasn’t capable of it. My husband, on the other hand, was good and I asked him: “Why don’t you do it?” I didn’t realize that these weren’t questions to ask. I was looking for financial independence: my mother looked after the girls for me and in the afternoon I went to work as a model. Secretly I also attended an acting school, the one where Giancarlo Giannini started. Then when I did an audition and they called me for the theater, I had to explain it. My husband told me: “Choose, either me or the stage”. And I: “I choose my life”. I ran away. Many years later, he confessed to me: “I didn’t understand anything about you.” From that moment I began to love him, and I was by his side until the end.
The great love with Pippo Fava
You had a great love, Pippo Fava, the Sicilian journalist and writer killed by the mafia in 1984. Did you run away from him too?Of course. He was married and that was fine with me, because that way everyone was at their own home. He called me all the time: where are you going, what are you doing? At first I felt flattered. But when I discovered his cheating, I left him.
You worked together. The film Palermo or Wolfsburg, directed by Werner Schroeter, Golden Bear in Berlin in 1980, is based on a novel by Fava.
We didn’t collaborate just for that film. I brought a monologue to the theater, Pupataken from one of his texts, Foemina Ridens .Pippo was my great love. I have never forgotten him.
Ida Di Benedetto with Michele Placido at the time of Fontamara, Carlo Lizzani’s 1980 film.
She says she is against marriage. Why then did you marry Giuliano Urbani, former Minister of Cultural Heritage from 2001 to 2005?
At first he was married too, and, I repeat, I was fine with that. I preferred busy men. Then he became a widower, he got sick. He convinced my daughters that I would do well to marry him, I would make him happy. And they convinced me. I must say that he is a rare man of exquisite kindness.
You have worked with famous names in Italian cinema: Michele Placido in Fontamara by Carlo Lizzani, Lino Capolicchio in We three by Pupi Avanti. He has made films with Salvatore Piscicelli, Damiano Damiani, Nanni Loy. Who has remained in your heart?
Comencini, Damiani, the directors of that time had a special way of talking to the actors. But perhaps the strongest memory is that of my first film, The kingdom of Naples, by Werner Schroeter. I went from the theater to a set in German, I shot live, at the beginning I didn’t even know the language. I had a great time in Germany, there is enormous respect for talent. Director Margarethe von Trotta once told me: you’re crazy if you go back to Italy, you have to stay here. But I had two daughters, I didn’t feel like it.
Ida Di Benedetto: «I will leave Naples»
A few months ago she was robbed at home in Naples. She said she was leaving town. Did she do it herself?
Not yet but I will. Naples is abandoned, soiled by crime, no one takes care of it. I will return to Rome, where I lived for 39 years, it is my second city. I will miss the sea, never mind.
Can’t you just stay in that house?
And how could I? We suffered three robberies, they targeted us. They must have thought: an actress and a former minister, who knows what they have. The last time was terrible. It was 5.45, I woke up and went to see if Giuliano was sleeping. Returning to my room, I was pushed, they locked me inside. I started screaming at the window, none of the neighbors showed up. Where was everyone at that time, why didn’t they intervene? She helped me a lady who was in the gardens in front. She called the police. The thieves, who came in from outside, stole what was left: the iPads, even the perfumes. Thats enough. The sea does not wash Naples, as Anna Maria Ortese wrote. The enchantment of the city has been lost.
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