Claudia Cardinale, a retrospective at the MoMa and a book celebrate the Italian actress
A book edited by his daughter Claudia Squitieri (published by Cinecittà and Electa) tells the thousand faces of the "indomitable" diva. And the MoMA in New York pays homage to Claudia Cardinale with a retrospective that has seen, restored, Otto e mezzo (8½), The Leopard, Once Upon a Time in the West.
Beautiful, regal (it was Visconti who taught her how to take possession of the scene: she had to occupy it "in great strides, like a panther" ), extremely professional, the Italian actress Claudia Cardinale had a long career full of films that went down in the history of cinema. From February 3 to 21, a retrospective at the MoMa allows you to see her most important works (in the version restored by Cinecittà), while a book published by Cinecittà and Electa tells her on and off the set. Born in Tunis in 1938 into a Sicilian family, Claudia was noticed as she left school by René Vautier , who made her participate in the short film "Les anneaux d'or" , winner of the Silver Bear in Berlin in 1958.
« The eyes must say something that the mouth does not say »
But it is her presence in an emerald green bikini on the Venice Lido at the 1957 Film Festival that captures the attention of producer Franco Cristaldi , who will make her the star of Vides, controlling her career and private life through a 45-point agreement which it is referred to as a "super-Cardinal project" which establishes the type of dwelling, attendance, reading, diet and clothing. Visconti, who called her "today a splendid cat... until one of these days we will realize that she is a tiger" , and who runs "Rocco and his brothers" , "The Leopard", " Vaghe stelle dell 'Orsa" and gives her a cameo in "Family group in an interior" , teaches her, for the role of Angelica in "The Leopard" , a trick that she will often mention: "The eyes must say one thing that the mouth cannot he says... even if you laugh the eyes must not laugh" .
«When it came to giving a title to the tribute that Cinecittà wanted to dedicate to my mother, restoring some films and publishing a book for which I was entrusted with the artistic direction, the word "indomitable" emerged as evidence, it was an instinctive association» explains Claudia Squitieri . «Mom was already a complicated child for my grandmother to manage, she's a tank. Even in the period in which she lived her most regulated phase, the directors sensed in her this determination of a woman ready to break everything, they entrusted her with unconventional, non-submissive parts, and made her explode in the deranged and provocative laughter of "The Leopard". .
Pasolini notices her face as a "cat wildly lost in tragedy" , Fellini in "8 1/2" , as well as giving her a place in the collective imagination while driving a Porsche with Marcello Mastroianni in Rome by night magnified by black and white, is the first in Italy to restore her voice, hoarse, deep, managing to convince the production not to dub her. Arthouse films in Italy alternate with American films, up to the triumph of Sergio Leone 's "Once Upon a Time in the West" . In '73 the turning point: CC fell in love on the set of "I guappi" by the director Pasquale Squitieri , and after a few months she joined him in New York abandoning Cristaldi whom she had married in '66.
There are two distinct blocks in his life, the one in which he made five, six films a year, he loved travelling, he loved America for the liberties it could take... I was surprised to discover all his travels: Tokyo , Australia ... Then came the period of Squitieri , with whom he made 12 films. A period that on the one hand meant the downsizing of the housewife, cooking at home with respect to the worldly life that was the wife of a producer, on the other, especially in the first years of their history, it was a very passionate, fiery, liberating moment from a emotional, sensual, sexual point of view.
The third phase began in 1989, when she moved to Paris alone with me, fully affirming her motherhood» . Favorite movies? “His perspective has changed over time. Now she quotes "The Leopard" , "Once upon a time in the West" , but when I was little I remember her particular gratitude and affection for those cultured directors who formed her in the beginning, especially Bolognini who had directed her in " La viaccia" and Zurlini of "The girl with the suitcase" , but also Comencini , director of "the girl from Bube" » . Were you particularly close to any actress? «At the time there weren't two stars in the same film, he only shot once with Monica Vitti . The exception was "Le pistolere" of '71 with Brigitte Bardot : it was a wonderful encounter, they loved each other, they still write to each other. Although belonging to the same generation BB was slightly older and my mother never missed a film of hers when she still lived in Tunis, she was her model of an emancipated woman» .
CC style icon, from '61 to '68 impeccable in Nina Ricci , from '82 a loyal Giorgio Armani : why in 2018 did you put 120 dresses from the 50s-70s on sale at Sotheby's in Paris ? «With my mother's dresses, shawls, wigs, an apartment could be filled. We kept everything for a long time, but in reality it was impracticable, the clothes are inexorably ruined. It also seemed to us a way to make the Roman stylists of the time known in Paris, the Fontana sisters , Irene Galitzine , Balestra , Capucci ... » . Is it true that you took clothes off the set to continue to feel close to the characters you had played? «Yes, she didn't take away the clothes that appeared on the screen, but others that hadn't been used for filming, I remember so many Galitzines from the time of "The Pink Panther" , the corsets that had almost suffocated her on the set of "The Leopard" …. Visconti gave her the dance card that can be seen in the film, a real jewel, I think it belonged to Bulgari ».
Who were your mother's favorite photographers? «He had a very intense and lifelong relationship with Angelo Frontoni and Chiara Samugheo, who was a great friend of his. But my mother is such a miracle of photogenic that it's really hard to find a photo in which she isn't beautiful. For this reason, for the book we have decided to limit ourselves to three archives, the Luce archive of Cinecittà , that of Reporters Associati and that of the National Cinema Museum where the Frontoni archive is deposited» . How have you experienced the passing of the years? “Mom never had botox or plastic surgery. I think she lived the decline of beauty at its best, although it's hard to say because she lives all her battles on the inside and never complains. I believe that the meeting with Armani , which for her was a choice of identity, has accompanied her through her years. In general she is not a woman to regret, especially since she has had a life with the wind in her favor and has always been adaptable, and grateful » .
What does the Claudia Cardinale Foundation do? «Mamma has been working with Unesco for the defense of women and girls since 2000, and since 2013 she has been collaborating with Green Cross , with whom Leonardo DiCaprio also works, for the defense of the environment. The idea is to extend the Foundation's area of intervention to the Mediterranean , to foster culture and dialogue through the prism of art, with short films, installations, sound projects».