Stefania Sandrelli: men, make me laugh

She wears a soft and elegant suit, «ideal for a lady of my age who is not too slender». Don’t be fooled. Stefania Sandrelli has nothing of the elderly ex diva. The careful make-up, the loose hair, that ability to smile at life don’t make her all that different – ​​apart from the fact that she is very well dressed, with boots and a heater to warm up the cold day – from the woman who lies in the very Maja position desnuda in a full-wall painting. The painting, where she wears only a small bow to cover her most intimate area, dates back to the early 1990s and is the work of Salvatore Fiume, who then paid homage to Stefania. And she hung it in her living room, in front of a window overlooking the greenery of Rome. Cinema debut at 15: lolita who conquers Marcello Mastroianni by Italian divorce. Mother at 18: with a daughter – Amanda – “highly desired” by the already married Gino Paoli (in ’74 she will have a second child, Vito, with her husband Nicky Pende). At 37 The key by Tinto Brass, with a nude that has remained in the cinematographic memory: freedom is in Stefania’s DNA, even if «I never felt transgressive. The key, for example: I accepted because I wanted to play this very ironic character. I took a risk, I knew that on the screen my nude would dominate, it could distract the viewer. But I followed my wish, as always. Following the desire, he has now made his first film as a director, Christine Cristina, which will be released on May 7 – the same day in which the Italian Oscars, the David di Donatello, will be awarded, where she is nominated for the lead in Paolo’s Prima cosa bella Virzì – and it is the medieval story of a poetess (played by her daughter Amanda) determined to establish herself with the sole weapons of writing and the desire for independence.

How did he meet his Christine?
«My heart sank when I discovered, through a book, the existence of this Cristina da Pizzano, born in 1364: what courage, what strength! She is the strength of women ».

You already wanted to direct a film in the past, which you never made. How come?
“They didn’t make me do it. This time too it was not easy to make me listen, above all because I had decided to just direct, without acting. Gérard Depardieu, who was to have a part in Christine, had asked me to play his wife. But I don’t overestimate myself, I couldn’t do too many things together».

However, Depardieu does not appear in the film: why?
«We are very good friends, he was enthusiastic, he wanted to act and produce. When we met he was all nice, dressed well: he had adjusted himself, because he understood that we wanted to look into his eyes. The fact is that he has had this terrible vicissitude (the death of his son Guillaume, in October 2008, ed) and he is very tried, and in the end we didn’t feel like taking him. Instead of him there is Alessandro Haber ».

Instead Sting took it.
“He gave me a piece, Come Again: he and his wife Trudy are my friends, and I’m a huge fan of his.”

On May 7 he could win the David. But Micaela Ramazzotti is also a candidate, who plays her as a young man in Virzì’s film…
“You can’t reward just one, we are the same woman. To make the film, I put on a wig (the character is terminally ill with cancer, ed) and in the mirror I saw my mother: at that point everything was easy».

Did your mother have the same disease?
«Yes: she died in ’68. She was a very welcoming woman: whatever I had, she took me in her arms, and she passed it all on to me. She was witty, to the last. I didn’t understand then how one could be so lighthearted in her illness.’

Which mom is she?
“I hope I haven’t been invasive. When my children lived with me, at night I went to count their feet in bed: I was always afraid that someone was missing. But I did it secretly. In the new film by Luca Lucini, The woman of my lifewhere I have Alessandro Gassman and Luca Argentero as children, I finally let myself go and give vent to an intrusive mother ».

Have you ever been intrusive with men?
«I’ve always been very mild, I never wanted to change them. Even though I was very jealous, and even violent. I split Gino’s apartment, choosing the things most dear to him: electronic objects, the hi-fi. But he didn’t react, he knew it was his fault if I had reached that point ».

Did men want to change her?
«They had some aspirations. They told me: “You mustn’t do this”. But why, I asked, if I like it? They didn’t let me experience the relationship as I would have liked, it was as if they tied me up, they didn’t want me to do my job. But we loved each other so much.”

But maybe they had some reason to be jealous? For example, is it true that you had a love affair with Luigi Tenco at the time of Paoli?
«It was a friendship, maybe he would have wanted a little more. It was such a time, and I was a very willing creature. However I always did everything in good faith. Luigi knew very well that for me the important person was Gino, however… it is obvious that I was fascinated».

And with his fellow actors?
“Almonst never. Gérard was an affectionate friendship, but that’s enough. Yes, an on-set flirt with Sami Frey in the beginning. Then «I went to count my children’s feet at night, in bed. there was an elderly man, Georges Wilson of the Comédie française, who stalked me, and Tognazzi defended me».

With Robert De Niro you filmed Novecento. Is it true that he flirted with actresses?
“With less. I got ahead of him. I met him at dawn, in the car that took us to the set: I looked at him and said: “How cute you are!”. And he got smaller. Not because he’s shy, though: he’s a great trend ».

Did Italian actors court you?
“They have always treated me with great affection and esteem. Maybe there was an attraction from someone, I could tell, but I was so young they considered me untouchable. I have always felt very protected. I’m not the lively Teresa, when i turned I knew her well (a girl willing to do anything for success, ed) I knew what the undergrowth of the cinema was like, the lounges, the available girls… However, I was lucky enough to enter through the main door. Luck is a fundamental component of my life and my career».

The first fortune of his career?
«Having given up on La Scala».

In what sense?
«I wanted to become a ballet dancer, I studied seven years. But in the meantime I was doing some small beauty contests: in Viareggio we were 4-5 pretty girls, I was the brunette of the group. She saw me Paolo Costa, a photographer, and he did a service for me The hours, which was then a serious newspaper (born in 1953 as a current affairs and entertainment magazine, later it became a porn magazine, ed). Germi saw it and looked for me Italian Divorce».

And this changed her life: the beautiful little cousin for whom Mastroianni kills his wife. A challenging character for a fifteen year old.
«I was little, but I also had a good temper! Germi was very sweet, but occasionally he raised his voice. And I answered him, I faced him. In the end he came to apologize to me».

Why was he angry with her?
«It was hot there in Sicily, and I, who had never done cinema, went between one take and another to get ice cream, to see the shop windows. He chewed on his cigar and when I returned he screamed. Then, there was a break in filming. During that time I changed, suddenly my breasts exploded, and then I decided to go blonde. How she screamed when she saw me!’

You have always said that you also had to identify physically with your characters: how do you do it now that the years go by?
«I hate to turn ugly all of a sudden, although until today I always find myself improving. Sure, I see myself, but I have one advantage: I like older people. And anyway I don’t let myself go, I put on makeup, I make myself a little pretty. I put on some cream: I don’t choose the more expensive ones, but the ones I like in flavour. I taste them, I lick them, and if they are not too sweet or sour I put them on».

Actresses complain that after 40 they can’t find work. She, on the other hand, is never unemployed: why?
«Perhaps because I sipped the protagonist characters: I prefer to work behind the scenes. Normally, actresses chase after the main characters, and at a certain age… fat. For me, on the other hand, a small part in a good film is more important than a crazy role all to myself, where I show how good and beautiful I am. Just as I always want to do different things, it’s the only way for me to capture the emotion. This is why when Francis Ford Coppola, whom I admire very much, asked me to remake Seduced and Abandoned, I couldn’t accept. I have to get excited, and let myself be guided by instinct. And I’m doing well, because I’m very lucky.”

Are you always this optimistic?
“When I have good news, I feel lucky. If I experience less pleasant things, however, I never consider myself unlucky.’

Not even at the end of love?
«I felt bad, never unlucky. I loved the fathers of my two children very much. But the greatest love seems to be Giovanni (Soldati, writer and screenwriter, son of Mario, ed): we’ve been together since the beginning of the 80s».

What do the men she’s liked have in common? «
If I don’t laugh with a man, I can’t even touch him. They told me that Paoli is gloomy, but it’s not true: we had those laughs, nights laughing, even crying a little sometimes. He was buff at times, as well as funny and ironic. Like John, and like the majority of men».