Muoiono soltanto gli… by Margherita Ferrandino and Giovanni Veronesi was presented in the Auditorium’s Teatro Studio in a entertaining encounter with the great director Mario Monicelli, who is the heart of the 36-minute comedy and in which he laughs, jokes, reminisces about his work and speaks of latest film, his women and death. Intimate interviews with the director are alternated in the film by more significant scenes from his films, from The Great War to Big Deal on Madonna Street, from My Friends to Girl With a Pistol and For Love and Gold. “I’m not afraid of death because only assholes die and so far I’ve gotten by just fine”, said Mario Monicelli, ironic as ever, in an interview on the set of his latest film, Desert Roses, shot in Tunisia. In asking the questions, Veronesi is on the director’s same wavelength. When the director of Manual of Love asks him if he had a great love that changed his life, Monicelli answers: “There were four or five, but they didn’t change anything for me”. Veronesi and Ferrandino participated in the Q&A following the screening, along with Monicelli and Alessandro Haber, who has appeared in five of the master filmmaker’s films, including the latest, and who improvised a sketch imitating the harsh way in which Monicelli treats actors on set. “That’s because I despise actors,” answered Monicelli sarcastically. “They’re weaklings, they love being abused”.
Monicelli then related how cinema came into his life and became a passion. “I was five, it was 1920 and I used to go see silent films. I was born and raised with silent films, then the advent of sound came along and corrupted cinema. Today, if a director isn’t capable of shooting a scene and it comes out poorly, he puts some violin music over it and… it’s done”. The director also took questions from the audience, including from young actors wanting advice, and then was told that the great musician and conductor Lelio Luttazzi was in the hall as well. Luttazzi composed the music for one of Monicelli’s films, Joyful Laughter, starring Anna Magnani and Totò. After saying cynically that he thought the musician was death, given his absence from cinema for many years, Monicelli joked, “You’re a young man, you’re only 83,” adding that Joyful Laughter is one of his films most enjoys re-seeing. “I like it a lot precisely because of your music”.
When asked if he is truly immune to nostalgia, despite the passing of time, Monicelli responded: “I don’t regret anything because I feel good now. You feel the beauty of life and satisfaction even at 91. When I was 30, I didn’t have all these people around me who wanted to listen to me and spend all this wonderful time with me”.