Monica Bellucci can give a role intensity without much dialogue, and we value that physical confidence. Her Gothic appearances are enjoyable, but we would look beyond the elaborate costumes to the European films that ask more of her.
Fi1m perspective
In Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024), Monica Bellucci’s Delores wears a scarlet body-stocking held together with staples. We were amused by Colleen Atwood’s conspicuous fastenings, which make an already lurid outfit pleasingly absurd. It is familiar casting for an actor repeatedly chosen for sensuality and body language. Bellucci’s ability to suggest intensity without much dialogue deserves at least as much attention as the clothes, particularly when those clothes are doing so much to introduce her.
Her international film debut, Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), offers an earlier version of that Gothic setting. She plays one of Dracula’s brides in Francis Ford Coppola’s richly enjoyable romance, where the acting is uneven and the pace sometimes drags. Gary Oldman’s conviction keeps the costumes and effects from taking over entirely. We recommend it with those reservations, but a bride’s part in this elaborate production is a narrow basis on which to judge Bellucci.
Her French breakthrough in 1996 was followed by wider recognition with Malèna (2000) and Irréversible (2002). In Malèna, her intensity with minimal dialogue gives a clearer sense of what her physical acting can achieve. Irréversible makes more explicit physical demands, and her performance deserves consideration separately from the objections to the film’s violence and structure. Playing Persephone in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions (both 2003) brought franchise work alongside the European arthouse roles. The movement across languages and between intimate dramas and international productions makes it difficult to reduce her work to a single type of part.
Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice brings us back to the pleasures and limits of her ornate genre appearances. Atwood gives Delores a memorable outfit, while cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos lights the afterlife with flat fluorescent tubes, making its dead occupants look faintly seasick. These are enjoyable choices, but they cannot simplify a script trying to accommodate five plots, and the fun comes in bursts. For a fuller sense of what Bellucci can convey without much dialogue, try Malèna.
Biography
Monica Bellucci is an Italian actress. Born in Città di Castello, Umbria, she began her career as a fashion model with Elite Model Management before moving into acting.
She made her screen debut in the Italian television miniseries Vita coi figli (1991) and her feature film debut in Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). Bellucci gained wider recognition for The Apartment (1996) and subsequent roles in Malèna (2000), Irréversible (2002), The Matrix Reloaded (2003), The Matrix Revolutions (2003), The Passion of the Christ (2004), Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra (2002) and Spectre (2015). She played Delores in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024).
Her accolades include the David di Donatello, Globo d'oro and Nastro d'Argento awards, along with César Award and Saturn Award nominations.
