Italian Cinema Today

Her beauty captured the attention of producers on two continents, but her talent kept her working through seven decades. Born Virna Pieralisi in Ancona on Nov. 8, 1936, Virna Lisi began acting as a teenager and was cast in her first starring role in the 1953 melodrama “...e Napoli canta!” (Napoli Sings). Although the role opened doors, most directors were not yet able to see beyond her striking beauty and therefore cast her in roles based more on her looks than her acting ability. One of those early parts was as an extra opposite Alberto Sordi in Antonio Pietrangeli’s 1956 “Lo scapolo” (The Bachelor) .  In 1961, she starred in Francesco Maselli’s drama “La donna del giorno” (The Doll That Took the Town) as Liliana, a struggling model who makes up a story about being assaulted by three men. The film was released in the United States, where Hollywood executives saw her and believed they had discovered the European version of Marilyn Monroe.  Lisi made her American debut a few y...

Virna Lisi's last film, "Latin Lover" is released today in theaters across Italy. Directed by Cristina Comencini, the all-female ensemble comedy tells the story of four sisters, ten years after the death of their father and famous actor, Saverio (Francesco Scianna), forced to face secrets buried in the past. There is the Italian daughter Susanna (Angela Finocchiaro), the French daughter, Stephanie (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi), the Spanish daughter, Segunda (Candela Peña), who is married to an unrepentant traitor and the youngest Swedish daughter (Pihla Viitala), that didn't see her father often. Then there is a possible fifth daughter, an American, Shelley (Nadeah Miranda) awaiting a DNA test. Virna Lisi plays the role of the first Italian wife, Rita. None of the daughters experienced a truly great father, but each has mythologized and loved him in different periods of his triumphant career.