MONICELLI, MARIO

(1915-)

Screenwriter and director. One of Italy's most prolific and consistently popular directors, Monicelli has worked in many genres but has come to be regarded above all as a master practitioner of thecommedia all'italiana.

Interested in cinema from a very young age, Monicelli began making 16 mm films while still a student in Milan.I ragazzi di via Paal(The Boys of Via Paal, 1935), a full-length feature shot in 16 mm and financed by his cousin, Alberto Mondadori, won first prize at theVenice Festivalin 1935, allowing Monicelli to begin serving an apprenticeship at the Tirrenia film studios, where he acted as assistant to established filmmakers such as Gustav Machaty,Mario Camerini, Giacomo Gentilomo, andAugusto Genina. By the early 1940s he had also begun screenwriting, an activity he continued in the immediate postwar period, working on the scripts for a host of films that includedGennaro Righelli'sIl corriere del re(The King's Courier, 1947), Mario Camerini'sLa figlia del capitano(The Captain's Daughter, 1947), andRaffaele Matarazzoi's unsuccessful attempt to revive theZa-la-Mortcharacter,Lafumeria dell'oppio(The Opium Den, 1947). He also collaborated on the screenplay ofGiuseppe De Santis's hugely successfulRiso amaro(Bitter Rice, 1949) and onPietro Germi'sGioventu perduta(1947) andIn nome della legge(In the Name of the Law, 1948). While working on a number of films withRiccardo Freda, Monicelli met fellow scriptwriter and future directorSteno(Stefano Vanzina), with whom he began writing and codirecting a series of films that included some of the very popular social farces featuringToto, among themGuardie e ladri(Cops and Robbers, 1951), which received the prize at Cannes for scriptwriting.Then withToto e Carolina(Toto and Carolina, made in 1953 but not released till 1955 due to problems with censor-ship) Monicelli began his long-term collaboration with the screen-writersAge e ScarpelliandRodolfo Sonego, with whom he would produce many of the key films of thecommedia all'italiana.

National box office success and international renown came withI soliti ignoti(Big Deal on Madonna Street, 1958), a funny heist-gone-wrong movie that masterfully brought to the fore the considerable comic talents of both a youngMarcello MastroianniandVittorio Gassman. The film was a huge hit and marked the birth of what from then on became known as "comedy Italian style." Monicelli repeated his enormous success withLa grande guerra(The Great War, 1959), a powerful tragicomic antiwar film that paired Gassman withAlberto Sordiand that came to share the Golden Lion at Venice that year withRoberto Rossellini'sIl Generale della Rovere(General della Rovere, 1959). In 1963I compagni(The Organizer, 1963), a film recounting the birth of the Socialist movement in Turin in the 1890s, found a lukewarm response in Italy but was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay.

There followed a host of clever bittersweet comedies including the picaresque misadventures ofL'armata Brancaleone(For Love and Gold, 1966), andBrancaleone alle crociate(Brancaleone at the Crusades, 1970). The political satireVogliamo i colonnelli(We Want the Colonels, 1973) was followed by the extremely popularAmici miei(My Friends, 1975) andCaro Michele(Dear Michael, 1976), a successful adaptation of a popular novel by Natalia Ginzburg that was awarded the Silver Bear at Berlin. However, Monicelli's most significant and provocative film during this period was undoubtedlyUn borghese piccolo piccolo(An Average Little Man, 1977). Adapted from a novel by Vincenzo Cerami and starring Alberto Sordi in what was perhaps one of the most powerful roles of his crowded career, the film recounts the story of a meek and mild public servant who turns into something of a monster as he seeks to exact revenge for the accidental shooting of his teenage son during a botched bank robbery. Although misunderstood by some as an apology for vigilante violence, the film earned Monicelli aDavid di Donatellofor his direction.

In the 1980s, again with Sordi, Monicelli madeIl marchese del Grillo(Marquis Del Grillo, 1981), which won the Silver Bear at Berlin, but his attempt to repeat the extraordinary popularity of the earlierAmici mieiwith the sequel,Amici miei atto II(My Friends,ActII, 1982), was less successful.Le due vite di Mattia Pascal(The Two Lives of Mattia Pascal, 1985), an adaptation of Pirandello's novel made in separate versions for television and the big screen, also proved to be something of a flop, but in the same yearSperiamo che sia femmina(Let's Hope It's a Girl, 1985) both was popular at the box office and won seven David di Donatello awards and threeNastri d'argento. In recognition of his extraordinary contribution to Italian cinema, in 1991 he was awarded a Golden Lion at Venice for career achievement. In the following years he has continued to turn out caustic social satires likeParenti serpenti(Dearest Relatives, Poisonous Relations, 1992) andPanni sporchi(Dirty Linen, 1999) and in 2000 returned to the small screen with the popular miniseriesCome quando fuori piove(Hens, Ducks, Chicken and Swine, 2000). More recently he has collaborated with a number of other committed film-makers on the socialdocumentaryUn altro mondo e possibile(Another World Is Possible, 2001), before braving the desert sands to filmLe rose del deserto(Roses of the Desert), a bittersweet satire about Italy's invasion of Libya during World War II.