Unforgettable sex symbol and at the same time a woman full of fragility and conflicts. Laura Antonelli he lived an existence of a thousand contradictions. And it is precisely this oscillation between extremes that is at the heart of the documentary by Bernard Bédarida and Nello Correale, Laura Antonelli, the melancholic diva. A work that analyses in detail the different facets of the actress, from her debut to her death in Ladispoli on 22 June 2015, due to a heart attack.
When Laura Antonelli died, she had already abandoned the cinema for some time, living almost as a pauper and still deeply depressed by the consequences of a cosmetic surgery that went badly in 2000.
The documentary tells the desperate youth of Laura Antonelli, born Laura Antonaz, who was a refugee from Istria for a long time. After graduating from Naples, she moved to Rome where she was a physical education teacher at the art high school in Via di Ripetta before starting her career as an actress. It was the 60s and a beauty like hers certainly did not go unnoticed.
In 1972, the role of a lifetime: that of Angela La Barbera in the film Malice by Salvatore Samperiwhich earned her the David di Donatello and the Nastro d’Argento for best leading actress. From that moment on, it was a boom. Laura Antonelli became the secret dream of Italians, loved all over the world.
And it is also loved by stars like Jean-Paul Belmondo to whom he was tied, with ups and downs, for eight years. As he grew older, Antonelli began to suffer. On the occasion of the remake of Malizia, Malizia 2000, directed in 1991 again by Salvatore Samperi, he turned to a cosmetic surgeon for a small operation.
The doctor gave her collagen injections that caused edema that disfigured her. She asked for compensation, which never arrived. From there, the decline.
In 2009 she was also banned by initiative of the municipality of Ladispoli, to protect her from profiteers. Although authorized in 2010 to take advantage of the Bacchelli law to support artists, Antonelli refused because she was not interested in earthly life. And in a world of entertainment that was too frivolous and devoid of values.
The 2022 documentary is enriched by the testimonies from many personalities from the world of cinema who acted with her, including Jean-Paul Belmondo, here at his last interview, Giancarlo Giannini, Michele Placido, Claudia Gerini and Daniela Poggi. There are also interventions by Marco Risi, Francesca D’Aloja, Ivan Pavicevac and Simone Cristicchi.
