THEon June 18, 2023 Raffaella Carrà would have turned 80. to celebrate it, Nexo Digital brings the documentary to theaters from 6 to 12 July Raffa. A journey between public and private life in three hours that bears the signature of Daniele Luchetti. Coming soon also on Disney+ divided into three parts, the film is written by Claudia Farinathe deux ex machina of the cult series Sea out.
Raffa: Daniele Luchetti’s documentary at the cinema
Exactly two years after the disappearance of the great showgirl, the film in theaters today represents the unique opportunity to relive on the big screen – through the voices and stories of those who knew her and with precious archive images – the life, character and artistic career of the extraordinary Raffaella Carrà. Who has been able to enter the collective imagination with his disruptive energy, his kind ways and his innate class.
But who was really Raffaella Carrà? Which woman was hiding behind the image of the most famous and loved Italian star abroad?, behind the 60 million records sold, TV hits, films and international tours? The documentary wants to answer these questions, tracing iThe profile of a woman who has known how to become a symbol of freedom and equality between the sexes in the 70s, queen of public TV in the 80s and LGBTQ+ icon. Raffaella is a myth that overcomes all cultural and generational barriers and that audiences from all over the world have loved for over 50 years.
An icon of feminine modernity
Reserved by nature and very jealous of her private life, Raffaella Carrà is a woman who fought to establish herself in a world of men, but also a woman who loved and suffered greatly. The film traces the public and private life of the artist, starting from his childhood in Romagna marked by his father’s abandonment and his subsequent arrival in Rome. Student at the Experimental Cinematography Center, the future star makes a very early debut in the cinema and in 1960 she even touched the role of Rosetta in Vittorio De Sica’s masterpiece The ciociara.
Despite the good success on the big screen – and a “cover” flirtation with Frank Sinatra -, Raffaella passes very soon to television. Where, in 1969, she made her debut as the first woman on the show Me, Agata and youthrowing a new sparkling and very modern management style. The following year comes the “scandal” of Tuca tuca due to a too daring choreography but Raffaella, with the help of Alberto Sordi dancer, brings everyone together becomes a popular phenomenon. And the rest is history.
Raffaella Carrà in an image taken from the film “Raffa”. (Angelini)
A private portrait but also a story of Italy
Working on the dichotomy between the Pelloni woman (her real surname) and the public Carrà, Daniele Luchetti widens his horizon and, through the parable of our Raffa, wants to tell us something more. Especially in our country. In fact, it is inevitable that, in wanting to begin the story with his first steps still under the bombs, the director of The bag holder you also give us a cross-section of our history as Italians. As if the showgirl were the ferryman, from one decade to the next, of social and anthropological changes.
The documentary becomes like this – too thanks to the testimonies of Fiorello, Marco Bellocchio and Barbara Boncompagni – an extraordinary time machine. But without ever losing sight of the fulcrum of everything, namely Raffaella Carrà. As the director himself declared at the end of production «He was one of the great Italian pop phenomena, and this film is an attempt to put together as many pieces as possible to hypothesize a portrait of him. I think I have restored the complexity of a long and varied professional life, full of inventiveness and talent. I hope that whoever sees it will eventually feel free to finally be able to declare what I feel I can declare: that one can only fall in love with Raffaellasurrendering unreservedly to her energetic grace, officially declaring her an innovator, who has often changed her identity without ever betraying her own desires».
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