Monica Bellucci

Interview, Oct, 2000 by Graham Fuller

YOU KNOW THE FACE, NOW REMEMBER THE NAME

From the moment Monica Bellucci pours her statuesque body into a black sheath, her role in this month's thriller Under Suspicion is predictable. As the trophy wife of Gene Hackman's double sex-murder suspect, all she has to do is look sultry or evince wifely distress. Yet Bellucci hints at morbid preoccupations and gives her under-written part a deceptive edge. She makes us wonder if this oddly aloof woman, who has long banned her husband from their marital bed, is an adulteress or an ice queen with an Electra complex.

Hollywood latched onto the grave beauty nine years ago: Bellucci played one of the sexy succubi who ravished Keanu Reeves in Brain Stoker's Dracula. Now there's a genuine buzz around her: She'll next star in Giuseppe Tornatore's Malena for Miramax. As a model, Bellucci stood out because of her connection to the camera. Whether she'll be the next Loren or Lollobrigida is moot. Right now it's enough to recognize that Bellucci is more than merely bellissima.

Graham Fuller Is Interviews Film Writer at Large.