Germany – Exhibition "Anouk, Alain, Jean-Louis and the others"
French actresses and actors have regularly attended Italian film sets. Even if they are still rare during the ‘50s - Isabelle Corey in Souvenirs d’Italie (It Happened in Rome, Antonio Pietrangeli, 1957) or Jacqueline Sassard in Nata di marzo (March’s Child, still Pietrangeli, 1959) or a very young Brigitte Bardot-, their presence will expand in the following decades, accompanying the mutations of Italian cinema.
An “Italian clan” made by French protagonists soon occupies the Italian scene: Alain Delon, revealed in Rocco e i suoi fratelli (Rocco and His Brothers, Luchino Visconti, 1960), Jean-Paul Belmondo, young protagonist of La viaccia (The Lovemakers, Mauro Bolognini, 1961), Anouk Aimée, one of Fellini’s muses, Dominique Sanda, the intense Micòl of Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini (The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, Vittorio De Sica, 1970), Catherine Spaak, exciting and unconventional girl of the ‘60s.
But, beyond styles and ages, some of them got a long drive in Italian cinema. As Jean-Louis Trintignant, «Italian» actor for more than twenty years, from the private student of Estate violenta (Violent Summer, Valerio Zurlini, 1959) to the depressed screenwriter of La terrazza (Scola, 1980).
As Bernard Blier, the perfect Italian ordinary man, or as Jacques Perrin, from the sensitive and suffering boy of Cronaca familiare (Family Diary, Zurlini, 1962) to the famous director of Nuovo cinema Paradiso (Cinema Paradiso, Tornatore, 1988).
And then, Michel Piccoli, Philippe Noiret, Jean Sorel, Annie Girardot, Fanny Ardant, who can be considered Italian in the hearth, not only in art. And many others, until the recent appearances of Lambert Wilson, Juliette Binoche, Isabelle Huppert or Daniel Auteuil, who nowadays enrich this beautiful French-Italian family.
All the film stills come from the Centro Cinema Città di Cesena archives. The exhibit, curated by director Antonio Maraldi, is set at the Kulturzentrum Moritzhof in Magdeburg until November 29th.