L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 6 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS red a comforting message of love, safety and bonds that can win against distance. It really shows how these are the authentic, true relation- ships we must keep close to our hearts, that love is what really matters and that we c a n f i n d s t r e n g t h i n o n e another, also to fight against the virus: "I am afraid of everything, I don't go out m u c h , I f o l l o w t h e r u l e s . Being connected with people is important, but up to a cer- t a i n p o i n t . I d o w h a t t h e laws say and I am careful about what we can't do." It wasn't only a director and a great actress we spoke to during the press confe- rence, but also a son and a m o t h e r . D u r i n g t h e l i v e streaming from her home in Geneva ("all my awards are in the corridor"), the fami- lial, relational aspect of the movie came to light: "It's t r u e - s h e s a i d - I s t a y e d away from the set for many years, but I didn't even noti- c e i t . I n e e d e d t o t a k e a b r e a k f o r m y h e a d , f o r myself. I needed silence, to b e w i t h m y c h i l d r e n , t o watch them growing up. I embraced family life, as if I were a lady who worked, but then stopped for a while, thinking 'we'll see what hap- p e n s . ' B u t w h e n m y s o n came around with this story, a story I knew already and t h a t h a d m o v e d m e v e r y m u c h , I s t a r t e d t h i n k i n g about the time when I began w o r k i n g i n c i n e m a a n d about how important cine- ma is to me, and I felt the need to go back. Because the story was really worth it. It is an important story, for me, for my things." Edoardo — who already directed her with ability and tenderness in 2002's Cuori Estranei- Between Stran- gers, his cinematic debut presented in Venice, and a l s o i n 2 0 1 4 ' s V o c e Umana— Human Voice, for which Sophia won a David di Donatello — returned the favor with a surprise. When she explained a difficult scene set on a terrace, he revealed how "that scene is an homage to Una Giornata Particolare, my favorite m o v i e o f h e r s . I s e t t h e scene up there, with all that laundry hanging, to remind the public about it, but also to create an itinerary of my mother in movies. I never told her, really. It's a scoop!" Sophia thanks him, sweet a n d s u r p r i s e d : " I d i d n ' t expect that!" T h e i n t e n s i t y o f t h e i r relationship, both as mother and son, but also as director and actress, is clear also in what they say to the press. " W o r k i n g w i t h m y s o n i s always a challenge, because he wants me to reach high when I act, as high as he k n o w s I c a n r e a c h . B u t that's not necessarily easy," Loren says. "Nevertheless, w e b o t h k n o w t h a t , i f I m a n a g e t o g e t t h e r e , i t ' s going to be special for both of us. And I trust him, of course. I believe that, if a director manages to look at an actor with true love when filming, really focusing on what she or he can do, then that actor can do anything." Edoardo answers: "The rea- son we work well together is that, when we are on set, she isn't my mother and I'm n o t h e r s o n : s h e i s a n a c t r e s s , s h e i s M a d a m e Rosa, and I am the director. I know everything about her and she knows me like t h e b a c k o f h e r h a n d s o , sometimes, I only need to look at her and she under- stands straight away what I need." A complicity that beco- mes clear also during the p r e s s c o n f e r e n c e : " M y mother tackles every movie as if it were the first one, with anxiety and sponta- n e i t y . S h e d o e s n ' t t a k e anything for granted. Her commitment to the movie is always total, as if it were the first and only movie of her life, not one in a hundred. And the same will be true for her next movie and the one after that. This is what makes her the person and the artist she is." She smiles and looks down, visibly tou- ched. And then, a declaration of love: "Everyone asks me how working with her is. Truth is, nothing I say can e x p l a i n i t p r o p e r l y . S h e gives me strength, the con- nection we have is incredi- ble. I can't find the right words — maybe I'll get them right in 30 years time — to describe how we trust each other, the level of strength we give to each other. It's very special. And I get very emotional discussing this, but if I cry, I can't talk about it." W e a r e a l l a w a r e s o m e t h i n g e x c e p t i o n a l , magic even, has taken place. W e a r e a l l a w a r e t h a t L a Vita Davanti a Sé is a gift, and this becomes evident in a n o t h e r m o m e n t o f t h e i n t e r v i e w : " I w a n t e d t o b r i n g t o t h e s c r e e n w i t h accuracy situations I had never encountered in my carrier," Loren explains. "I a m t a l k i n g a b o u t t h e m o m e n t w h e n t h e f i r s t symptoms of brain cancer appear in Rosa, about the scene under the rain on the terrace and when she gets l o s t i n t h e o l i v e g r o v e . " W h e n a s k e d a b o u t h i s m o t h e r p l a y i n g a w o m a n who is slowly dying, Edoar- do says: "Now, it brings me to tears, but if you ask me how I managed to direct my mother in those scenes, the a n s w e r i s s i m p l e : t h a t wasn't my mother, it was Madame Rosa." To Edoardo Ponti, thou- gh, Madame Rosa is also a piece of his grandmother. Sophia explained how the character reminded her a lot of her own mother, who was a combination of irreverent vitality and fragility, too: " T h a t ' s h o w s h e w a s , a w o m a n w h o s p o k e a l o t , w h o w a n t e d t o b e h e a r d . She was an artist and could play the piano wonderfully. When the Americans arri- v e d , w e w e r e s u r v i v i n g thanks to her piano. She was fundamental for our family, because of her beauty and her talent." One last curiosity. It's not Naples on the screen, but Bari. Yet, to Sophia it's just t h e s a m e b e c a u s e " W h e n you were born in Naples, you never forget it and I am 1000% proud to be Neapoli- tan." Bari was chosen for its v i v a c i o u s c o l o r p a l e t t e , which includes the green of olive trees, the many nuan- c e s o f i t s a l l e y s a n d t h e warm oranges of its sunsets: "We needed to find — Ponti explained — a place that was a crossroad of ethnicities and cultures, a mosaic of religions, but also aestheti- cally warm, human, filled with light and colors. I wan- ted a lively background to s p e a k a b o u t p e o p l e w h o lived live to the full and Bari w a s j u s t p e r f e c t f o r t h e a t m o s p h e r e I w a n t e d t o create." B a r i ' s b e a u t y , w h i c h L o r e n d i s c o v e r e d a m o n g "silence, time, the sea" is set against the touching Io sì (Seen), performed by Laura Pausini, whose video has been directed by Ponti him- self and where Loren plays a cameo. The movie's sound- track, written by Diane War- ren, is also running for the O s c a r s . I n d e e d , L a V i t a Davanti a Sé has so many good reasons to win a sta- tuette. Continued from page 4 Loren plays the Role of Madame Rosa, a holocaust survivor. Photo: Regine de Lazzaris aka Greta/Netflix

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