Monica Bellucci and Tim Burton at the Venice Film Festival remind us that “love at sixty is a meeting of souls”

“THE’love at sixty, a meeting of souls». It is useless to look for a more beautiful description to tell the bond that unites Monica Bellucci (the words are hers) and the director Tim Burton. A relationship that had a not-so-romantic sprite as a matchmaker. The two in fact arrive in Venice to present the film as a world premiere and out of competition Beetlejuice Beetlejuiceof which I am an actress and director.

Tim Burton, 66, and Monica Bellucci, 59, are very shy. The director rarely gives interviews, especially to talk about love. He did reveal, however, that he often daydreams. And a daydream It must be what he is experiencing in this moment of sentimental happiness, because he had been dreaming about the splendid actress for a long time, for at least ten years, according to what he said in a 2013 interview with the French weekly Gala: “I’m crazy about Monica Bellucci. I dream of being stuck in an elevator with her. She’s so beautiful.”.

Their first meeting, fleeting but probably not distracted, took place at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006: he was to present Planet of the Apes with her partner, Helena Bonham Carter, Monica was with her husband Vincent Cassel.

Something changed with the second meeting, dated October 21, 2022at the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon, when the two were already single: he had ended his long relationship with Helena Bonham Carter; for her, her marriage to Cassel and her story with the artist Nicolas Lefebvre had ended. The director had gone to Lyon to receive an award, the actress to hold a masterclass and present the documentary The girl in the fountain. There, perhaps visiting together the Lumière Institute where the first film in the history of cinema was shot, Burton and Bellucci fell in love. For her it was “love at first sight”.

The first photos together in Paris published by Paris Match with the two of them arm in arm through the streets of Paris on Valentine’s Day they broke months of secrecy.

The confirmation, however, came only months later, with the admission of Monica Bellucci, who in the meantime Burton had wanted in the cast. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: «What I can say is that I am very happy to have met the man, first of all. It is one of those encounters that rarely happen in life. I know the man, I love him, and now I will meet the director, another adventure begins. I love Tim. And I have great respect for Tim Burton.”

There was no longer any need to hide: the couple now lives their relationship openly, moving between France, where she usually stays, and the United States, with increasingly frequent excursions to Italy.

For the moment they do not live together, but what counts is the maturity of the feeling that unites them and the deep affinities, which are now also professional, said Monica Bellucci: «When he offered me a key role in his film, I immediately said yes because I wanted to share with him, in addition to love, a work experience».

Since then, the actress has done nothing but confirm in every interview a full love: «I found in Tim a wonderful spirit, a spectacular soul, someone to share a dream world with.“, he had confessed to the Spanish edition of Harper’s Bazaar. Together, earlier this year, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on the occasion of the Emmys, she had reiterated: «If I’m with him it’s above all because his soul touches me».

Tim Burton spent fewer words, as is his style, but he never hid himself in his gestures. He accompanied her by the hand to the first red carpet together, at the Rome Film Festival in 2023 and for the first and only time he spoke about her: “It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”.

Expansive as rarely happens, with a lot of kiss for photographersthe director was seen in July, when Monica Bellucci received a lifetime achievement award at the Golden Globe, the German Academy’s prize in Rome.

To him, on that occasion, she addressed the most beautiful words: «Thanks to my family and to Tim for being here. Love at Sixty, a Meeting of Souls».

Monica Bellucci and Tim Burton

Jacob Raul

Monica Bellucci and Tim Burton

Monica Bellucci and Tim Burton

Jacob Raul

Monica Bellucci and Tim Burton

Monica Bellucci and Tim Burton

Jacob Raul

Source: Vanity Fair

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