Monica Bellucci: More than just a pretty face

By Erica Smith

You may not be familiar with the name, but the face is unforgettable. The name is Monica Bellucci. And she's more than just a pretty face.

Bellucci, 42, has had a paradoxical career. She repeatedly has been voted repeatedly one of "Maxim’s" hottest women, even after playing Mary Magdalene in Mel Gibson’s "The Passion of the Christ".

She thinks of herself as a daughter of Europe, and rightfully so. Born in Umbria, she has been in a number of successful European films and has also been nominated for France's Cesar award for most promising young actress for her role in “Appartment’L”.


Acting was never her plan, but something she landed after modeling to help get through law school. It was a small role in the 1992 film "Bram Stoker’s Dracula".

Despite all her success in French, Italian and American cinema, she does not consider herself a movie star. In a recent interview with E!’s Warren Curry, she says, “I’m not a movie star -- I’m just an actress. What I like is to have the possibility now to play very interesting, different characters. It’s not about the beauty, the charm or the sensual appearance; now it’s more about acting and that’s what I’m happy about.”

She takes projects that she thinks are interesting or challenging, looking foremost at the director and second at the script.

Besides being a model and the face of Dior, Bellucci remains an icon and an internationally-known beauty without playing all glamorous roles. In the 2002 French film "Irreversible", she is brutally raped in a subway. In "Brother’s Grimm", she plays a 500-year-old woman. She is versatile and open-minded when it comes to characters, allowing her to play so many different roles with ease.

When talking to Stefano Rizzi, a movie-goer outside Trastevere's Cinema Nuovo, he lit up at the name Monica Bellucci. "Yes I know her! She has been my favorite actress for as long as I can remember."

The same theater regretfully informs that they wont be showing Bellucci's most recent film "N (Io e Napoleon)" -- just more reason to check out the RomeFilmFest.

Bellucci stars in the Paolo Virzi-directed film with acclaimed French actor Daniel Auteuil as the exiled dictator. The film takes place on the island of Elba where a strongly anti-Napoleonic teacher falls in love with the baroness Emily, played by Bellucci. He takes a job as librarian to Napoleon, which inevitably leads to an up-close look at the real man, Napoleon, rendering many unexpected observations.

As Rome goes Hollywood this week, Bellucci may be found over cafe with the other big names or walking arm-in-arm with husband Vincent Cassel. Whether she thinks it or not, she will be a star of the event, and is sure to enthrall Rome.