Monica Guerritore makes her debut behind the camera with Annaa film about Magnani, premiered at the Rome Film Festival and in theaters from 6 November. A story that starts from the night of March 21, 1956, when the Roman actress won the Oscar for Best Actor for The Tattooed Rose. It was the first time for an Italian actress.
Magnani goes down the alleys of Rome and from that moment Guerritore recounts the meeting with Tennessee Williams, author of the novel on which the film was based, with the agent Carol Levi, the short and intense love with Roberto Rossellinithe race of Rome, an open city, the illness of his son Luca and his decline, until his death in 1973.
Anna: the plot of Monica Guerritore’s film
On March 21, 1956 Anna Magnani won the Oscar for best actress for The Tattooed Rose. During that night Nannarella goes down the alleys of Rome and remembers how the character of Serafina was born, the meeting in Piazza di Spagna with Tennessee Williamsthe author of the novel on which the film by Daniel Mann is based and with the agent Carol Levi (Beatrice Grannò).
The Oscar, however, does not bring her luck. It fails to make inroads into the United States. Her impetuous character creates problems for her: she says everything and gets in the way of the sets. Guerritore talks about the decadent and the more intimate Magnani: there is also the relationship with his son Luca, who suffers from polio and the short but intense relationship with Roberto Rossellini. The man of her life. After the Oscar her friends turned their backs on her. He no longer trusts anyone, only animals.
For The ciociara Carlo Ponti prefers Sophia Loren. Magnani’s phone no longer rings. «There’s something wrong with my face,” she says to herself. Only the sea soothes his wounds. Anna he returned to the theater for his last show, Medea, before dying in 1973, aged 63.
Monica Guerritore as Anna Magnani. (Courtesy press office)
Monica Guerritore: «Anna Magnani showed me the way to do this job”
Monica Guerritore created her first work on the lesser-known Magnani. «We know everything about her from an artistic point of view, but we know nothing about her life – says the actress and new director – of his change of gaze, his transformation and his darkest moment. I was like a diver trying to understand why that look changed. I tried to bring his image to life».
«I have always carried that face with me. He showed me how to do this job – continues Monica Guerritore – it makes me think about what a character wants to say and not how he appears. Even my facial features. TO Sometimes I see myself as hideous, but this face always communicates something».
Monica Guerritore and Tommaso Ragno. (Courtesy press office)
A point of reference as a woman
«Anna is a point of reference as a woman, for her abrupt character and for having always maintained that women’s experience matters. My way of seeing things at my age must count, I don’t have to ask permission – says Monica Guerritore. Anna is mistakenly described as all fury and passioninstead he studied the characters as the people who love this job. Talent is nothing if you don’t have the keys to give it shape».
Anna: The cast
Monica Guerritore, in addition to directing the film, plays Anna Magnani. Tommaso Ragno is Roberto Rossellini, the great love of the Roman actressBeatrice Grannò the agent Carol Levi, Edoardo Purgatori plays Luca Magnani (adult), the actress’s sick son, while Francesca Cellini plays the screenwriter Suso Cecchi D’Amico. Matteo Cirillo is Federico Fellini, Lucia Lavia Ingrid Bergman and Giampiero Judica Tennessee Williams.