Sergio Castellitto makes forceful men worth watching through small, revealing habits. We like him best when those details do the work; in his own films, the insistence on feeling can be harder to take.
Fi1m perspective
A cardinal vapes in a courtyard. In Edward Berger's Conclave (2024), Sergio Castellitto's Tedesco wants the Mass in Latin but is happy enough with this modern convenience. We laughed at the vape, because such an ordinary habit makes the solemn candidate easier to recognise as a man with appetites of his own. Castellitto makes an emphatic character legible quickly, though here the writing has already helped by giving each candidate a readily identifiable trait.
The international supporting parts show only a portion of his work. The Star Maker (1995) and Mostly Martha (2001) helped establish his reputation before those larger productions came along. Across his Italian dramas and comedies, the recurring figure is rumpled, passionate and troubled by his own conduct. These parts give him more time to show a man struggling with himself than the immediately recognisable figures of his international work allow.
Directing gave that intensity more room, particularly in Don't Move (2004), in which he also plays Timoteo and shares the writing credit. Working from Margaret Mazzantini's novel, with Penélope Cruz in the cast and Gianfilippo Corticelli behind the camera, he uses widescreen compositions and a fractured chronology for an intimate drama. He commits himself fully to Timoteo, a character whose behaviour makes sustained sympathy difficult. The film can become sentimental, and we prefer his intensity when another director keeps it within firmer limits.
A smaller role does not necessarily mean a better setting for him. In Andrew Adamson's The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008), he plays King Miraz. Adamson stages the fighting confidently, but too much of the film is spent on battles and too little on people worth worrying about. We would not choose it as an introduction to Castellitto, given how often the action takes priority over the characters.
Berger's use of him is more persuasive. Ralph Fiennes gives Conclave its careful central performance, leaving Castellitto room to be more immediately expressive within the ensemble. The readily recognisable candidates help a quick thriller along, even when the film asks to be taken more seriously than its plotting deserves. Start there for Castellitto, provided a papal election potboiler sounds like a satisfactory evening rather than a promise of spiritual instruction.
Biography
Sergio Castellitto is an Italian actor, film director and screenwriter. Born in Rome in 1953, he trained at the Silvio D'Amico National Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 1978, and began his career in Italian theatre before moving into film.
He is known for roles in films including The Big Blue (1988), The Last Kiss (2001), Don't Move (2004), which he also directed and co-wrote, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008) as King Miraz, and Conclave (2024) as Cardinal Tedesco. He has directed several features, often collaborating with his wife, the writer Margaret Mazzantini.
Castellitto has received multiple Italian film awards, including David di Donatello prizes, and was part of the ensemble cast of Conclave that won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture in 2025.
