Monica Bellucci Steps Into Uncharted Territory With ‘Ketticè’

Monica Bellucci has spent decades mastering the art of reinvention—from arthouse provocations to Hollywood spectacle. Yet when she arrived on set for Giovanni Tortorici's Ketticè, she found herself in unfamiliar terrain: dressed in pyjamas and slippers, a knife in hand, playing a woman stripped of the feminine veneer that has defined much of her on-screen presence.

"I've never done anything like that," Bellucci told Variety ahead of the film's premiere at the Locarno Film Festival. "This woman has abandoned her femininity."

Set in Palermo in 2012, Ketticè follows a teenage boy named Giulio who becomes increasingly lost in the world around him, including after meeting a spirited girl named Ketty. His mother—Bellucci's character—exists in a state of quiet rage, embodying the frustrations simmering beneath the surface of a crumbling aristocratic household. She is unhappy, bitter, and desperate for an outlet.

Embracing the Tragicomic

Bellucci's approach to the role required shedding the polished personas audiences know from Malèna, The Matrix, or her turn as a James Bond antagonist. Instead, she inhabits a woman caught between domestic paralysis and explosive emotion—threatening her husband with that knife, screaming constantly, yet never quite able to enact the escape she craves.

"She tries to counterbalance her frustration by eating little cakes and screaming constantly," Bellucci explained. "Sometimes, the situation becomes almost comical. There is a real generational incomprehension between her and her son."

Tortorici, the film's young director, elicited what Bellucci describes as her most realistic performance, one that even those familiar with aristocratic circles recognized as true. "When I showed the film to people who also know this world, they told me they found a lot of truth in her performance," Tortorici said, according to Variety.

While Bellucci has demonstrated comedic range before—in Call My Agent! and Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra—she has largely gravitated toward exploring darker material: the seduction and subsequent destruction in Malèna, the brutal violence of Irréversible, or the spiritual extremity of The Passion of the Christ. Ketticè occupies a different register: tragicomedy with existential weight, where humour and despair coexist.

Working Across Generations

This year has seen Bellucci collaborate with an unusually high concentration of emerging filmmakers. Beyond Tortorici, she worked with Maria Sole Tognazzi, Léa Mysius (whose Cannes premiere The Birthday Party gave Bellucci a role wholly unlike her previous work), and the directing duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah on Seven Dogs.

"It's interesting because there's really an exchange," Bellucci reflected. "They come with their own universe, point of view and excitement, and I come with my experience."

She praised Tortorici's command on set, describing him as deceptively calm. "Giovanni looks so calm and sweet, but on set, he was a tiger—in a good way," she said. "He knew where he was going."

Bellucci's selections remain driven by instinct rather than calculation. Even a single scene with David Lynch on Twin Peaks held appeal because of the creative exchange it promised. At this stage of her career, she prioritises roles that surprise her, material that challenges assumptions about what she can do.

Age as Opportunity, Not Limitation

At a time when many actors see their options contract, Bellucci is expanding hers. She reflects on how aging has paradoxically opened doors: The Birthday Party, she notes, would have been impossible to perform authentically at 30 or 40. The role required a lifetime of lived experience.

"Our bodies change, of course, but we can express other aspects of life that we couldn't before," she explained. "I needed more experience to portray these kinds of emotions."

She also acknowledges the broader shift in the industry. "Today, we actresses are so lucky to have the chance to keep working even as adult women. In the past, it was impossible to have a career after 40. It's slow, but things are changing."

Yet for Bellucci, acting remains subordinate to a larger philosophy. "I love what I do and I'm very grateful that I still have the chance to do interesting things," she said. "But life is more important. Life is stronger than art."