Monica Belluci: Italy’s Biggest Film Export..?

Her sleek looks and cat-like grace has stunned Italian film audiences for years, and her cross-appeal throughout Europe and especially France ensures that her fan base won’t disappear any time soon. Starring in such films as Irreversible (2002), Matrix Revolutions (2003), Malena (2000) and countless others, Monica Belluci has proven that she is not just another pretty face as she has acted with some of the heavy weights of the film industry like Gerard Depardieu, Bruce Willis and Matt Daman. Praised as much for her stunning sensuality (check her out in Braham Stoker’s “Dracula”) as for her cool acting, Monica Belucci has a yellow-brick road under her feet when it comes to her success in films and print.

But even though she has won dozens of awards and has been critically acclaimed in a number of films, state-side audiences aren’t quite convinced. More “commercial” ventures like starring roles in “The Brothers Grimm” (with Heath Ledger) and “Tears of the Sun” (with Bruce Willis), seem to have done nothing more than labelled her as a foreign import who speaks with an accent.

It wouldn’t be the first time a respected Italian actress faced the sticks and stones of Yankee critics.

Ten years ago Maria Grazie Cucinotta won rave reviews for her supporting role in the film “Il Postino” (The Postman”) a film which was nominated for an the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, as well as netting Cucinotta a “Donatello” award for Best New Talent. But like so many foreign actresses before her, Cucinotta’s success on the other side of the Atlantic didn’t get any further than a cameo role as a Bond villain in “The World is not Enough”.

The Italian film industry is concerned above all with images. And Belucci certainly is a good one. A successful print model long before she made the move into cinema, Monica Belluci doesn’t seem to have any problems with film critics and the press, and she certainly doesn’t lack for film roles (she made 3 films in 2006). Transplanting herself to France 12 years ago to be near her then-boyfriend/now-husband Vincent Cassell, the dark haired Venus has split her time between typical French fair like “How much do you love me?” with corpulent French heavyweight Gerard Depardieu to more mainstream films like the Spike Lee comedy “She Hate Me”.

Perhaps her limited appeal in the US can be attributed to a quote she gave the press in 2003 when she slammed American actresses for being “âÂ?¦skinnyâÂ?¦childish looking and scared to be real womenâÂ?¦” Belluci went on to say that she loved the fact she is naturally curvy, and describes herself as old-fashioned in the way she likes to be treated like a lady by men, but she believes this attitude is far better than her supposedly ‘liberated’ American counterparts. Want proof? Check out the film clip from her acclaimed foreign hit “Malena”.

Perhaps not yet a household name in America but certainly an icon overseas, Belucci is synonymous with all that is good about foreign films. A rare combination of talent and beauty, it’s just a matter of time before the right role will catapult her into the hearts and minds of American audiences.

American audiences who want more than a glimpse of Monica Belucci need only access her through www.movies.yahoo and plug in Monica Belluci into the search engine. Most of her films are available with subtitles.