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Without a shadow of doubt she has been, and still is, one
of the most elusive figures of Italian cinema. Not that she is the only case,
but here we are talking about an actress who in her career has participated in
more than 80 films. Femi Benussi was for Italian cinema one of the undisputed
icons of the sex comedy. We find her name in evidence on many movie posters during
the first half of the 1970s. And with all that she did not go unnoticed, around
this figure there's always been an aura of mystery about her to date we know
well little. She moved away from the scene in the early '80s, very quietly. Her
departure was gradual, with her participation in movies over time became more
and more sporadic. Even though she took this regrettable course she would not
to be forgotten. She became part of the collective imagination of many men who
adored her and where she became one of the undisputed queens and to other
spectators who have been added over time to those that have discovered her
later, either by TV programming, videos or DVD and through that work of
re-evaluation of a film it was really hard for her to completely disappear. Especially
since today, through new technology we have access to her content and documents
that were previously objectively more difficult to find. If you have the urge
to try and the patience to do it, the web is an endless source of news, well
hidden by its vastness, just waiting to be given in evidence. And when that
happens sometimes you find yourself in front of the documents, as the article
published here, as well as having their undoubted charm and cinephile value
report with those now gone.
The interview in question was issued by Eufemia on Monday,
November 14, 1977 for the newspaper La
Stampa and was taken from its online store. I do not deny that as long as
I'm not aware I believed that it was not the only one granted by Femi as there
was the one released by Franco Grattarola for the magazine Cine70 December 29 2001. This was made when the actress's film
career was over by about 18 years and apparently it was not easy for the
interviewer to convince her to give it. The beautiful Istrian actress tried to
retrace her entire career. Of many films to which she lent her face and
especially her sex comedies, but said she did not have more memory of her
career, it seemed as if she had deliberately removed them from her memory,
emphasizing that she remembered little from her vast film career and did not
recall anything, as the movies were not worthy. A severity of herself was tied
to a sense of dissatisfaction, which seemed to hide her regrets. Of course,
mere conjecture, her character is so introverted and elusive that the idea that
one tries to make her return to a strongly idealized image is not allowed to
figure out who really is Femi Benussi.
In the answers, transcribed below, the actress to one of
the questions of the journalist of La
Stampa says of "On the screen the image that they want to offer the
audience, but it's not my ... my ... body .. . it is in contradiction with my
spirit ... " nothing more true and sincere, has given us the vision of her
body but not her soul.
As previously mentioned, in the interview granted to Cine70 she declares that during her
career she did not save anything, but in both the interviews highlights with
pride, contradicting the fact that she had been directed by Giuseppe De Santis.
She says this when the interviewer seems more interested in her sexy
performances, while in the other when she says that it was the director who had
been able to appreciate her more. The film in question was to really secure her
professional future. Her work behind the camera was for the last time, after eight
years away from the set by a neorealist director. The film was not as
successful as hoped, and certainly for the actress was a missed opportunity.
Finally, although they would still have many things to
say, as you will read in the interview she declares she moved to Rome and
consequently entered the film world in pursuit of a man she was in love with,
in the interview given in 2001 she fails to mention this anecdote by saying
that it was the theater that lead her to the eternal city. Obviously, one thing
does not exclude the other and draws attention to simple curiosity.
Below you will find the original cutout of the interview
taken by the newspaper, to facilitate the reading immediately after it is also
published the transcript of the same ...
Monday November 14, 1977 RELEASE SHOWS EVENING Year 109 •
Number 256
The interviews are wrong about the knowledge of the
occasion. Unless they played on well-defined concrete themes. Question:
"Madam, how much meat did you ate yesterday?". Answer: "Yesterday
I did not eat meat. Yesterday I read a book by Moravia." A reporter who
deals with shows is sufficiently a snob for dwelling on mundane meals. The idea
of an interest in food, even by a celebrity, doe not even pass through the
antechamber of the brain. Because the interview is wrong for the occasion to
gain knowledge? Because within minutes,
and dispersive technique, he has the presumption to reveal the character. As
another example, in case. Question: "Madam Ferrati, you have always loved
the theater ... theater is the component ...." Sarah Ferrati: "The
theater? I loved it and I always loved boxing." Alas, how I will behave
from now on? Character or specific questions? Reality or imagination? Or it is
prudent (perhaps wise) to be halfway?
Meanwhile, here I am, under the eyes of Femi Benussi, who
is making a film in Turin, " Le avventure del ragionier Galletti alla
ricerca della donna ideale," directed by Salvatore Bugnatelli. By the way,
Mrs. or Miss? (Not bad, a reasonable curiosity, the acquisition of a real fact.
Good start). "Miss." However! So, you never married? (Bravissimo. Dig
around the same topic, with enthusiasm and irreverence. And 'more than fair.
The other party will remain disoriented. They can obtain surprises. Who knows,
a lover in the closet! Insist). "Definitely not". It would be like
admitting that she ... because if I'm not mistaken she is in her thirties, plus
forward and reverse ... and it would therefore have to confess that one has not
been able to find a husband. Femi Benussi was not capable. Unbelievable.
"Look. I could find husbands, as many as I want. But I do not want one. I
do not care. I had my love. Rather, you know that in 1964 I was the youngest actress
of the Rijeka theater?. But without a husband. "But I left everything to
move to Rome following a man to whom I was in love." And why did you not
marry? Because? "Not all flirting flows into the wedding, even a child
will explain. It was a beautiful love which lasted three months and then it
stopped. Meanwhile my life was changed". Duped in love. "Of course
not she mocked. We parted without tragedies. An inconvenience of life. In fact,
I left for Rome." (In Rome, beckoned the cinema ... come on, take the
plunge). Where I discovered the cinema. Excuse me. I mean: she revealed.
"But in films I did not succeed." She shot 60 films, starring in 25,
and yet she criticizes the cinema? "I did not feel good enough for film. I
thought that actresses had to be beautiful. I was ignorant of my colleagues."
(The beauty probably hides a complex). Ah, she feels bad. "On the screen
the image they want to offer the audience is not mine." What is your view?
"My physical ... ... it is in contradiction with my ... spirit." A
terrible war. She will have sore muscles. "A little 'all over my body."
Everything, Everything? "Well except my breasts." Well, legs, etc.,
are not to be used in this away. "Legs?. Let me find a lot of things in
her perfectly efficient body. And legs ... honors her legs. Rather, all these
sexy film that she shot ... "I do not exaggerate. I also worked with De
Santis. Pasolini sent me the script for “Uccellacci uccellini” Sure. But it is
always, how to explain?, donated much. I could choose other roles? "I have
no choice, I agreed. Mine is a profession not like any other. If I refused it
was for money, because the pay was low." Then they pay well. The role was
sought. "You know how many films I shot in 1975? Fifteen. And in 1976?
Eight. And in 1977?
Guess how many I shot in '77? We are in November and this
is the first. You understand? The first". The beautiful Benussi is in
crisis? "It is a blow to the film and then I have a crisis. If by the end
of the year I understand that cinema does not give me more to eat, and it
changes lives." What will you do? "I do not know. I know of other
crafts. I could be a good housewife ... I wanted to be a writer ... it's too
late to start over ... I do not know". Let's move on to the love? "I
am disenchanted, I do not think about anything, I live alone with a dog. A dog
is my partner. And to say that I was willing to sacrifice everything for love.
I am a sentimentalist. The sentimental always remain screwed. Now I want to get
across. "We do this wrong. I speak as a man. "What did you
understand? Become tougher. Take, not give". She is a very desirable
woman. For her, sex is important, right? "It is by far after the
sentiment. I would never go crazy for sex. Refusal for adventure is an end in itself. Apart from the fact that
I'm monogamous. Heart, brain and sex: inseparable. "She will have her own
idea of a man. "I missed the father figure. And I want the man-hero,
male, strong, noble, generous, proud, romantic .... " And tell me: had she
found it, at least once? "No not yet". Trust, Miss Benussi, life goes
on. I am absolutely certain, something, soon, will happen. Do not despair. A
hero ... a hero there, somewhere.
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