--- name: "Monica Vitti" canonical: "https://film.one/person/monica-vitti" fi1m_id: "monica-vitti" imdb_id: "nm0900143" tmdb_id: 41779 wikidata_id: "Q106881" roles: ["Actor"] born: "3 November 1931" died: "2 February 2022" reviewed_on_fi1m: 1 average_as: "actor" average_over: 1 updated: "2026-09-26T15:22:34.621781+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Monica Vitti ## Identity Monica Vitti - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/monica-vitti - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** monica-vitti - **IMDb ID:** nm0900143 - **TMDB ID:** 41779 - **Wikidata ID:** Q106881 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monica_Vitti, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q106881, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0900143/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/41779 Actor. Born 3 November 1931 in Roma, Lazio, Italy. Died 2 February 2022. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 3 November 1931, Roma, Lazio, Italy - **Died:** 2 February 2022 - **Active:** 1960–1964 - **Also known as:** 모니카 비티, Maria Luisa Ceciarelli, Моника Витти , モニカ・ヴィッティ, モニカ・ビッティ - **Frequently works with:** [Michelangelo Antonioni](https://film.one/person/michelangelo-antonioni.md), [Tonino Guerra](https://film.one/person/tonino-guerra.md) - **Venice Film Festival:** 1 Venice prize (1 won) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monica_Vitti, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q106881, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0900143/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/41779 ## Fi1m on Monica Vitti > Vitti spent four films with Antonioni standing still in empty rooms, and from 1968 she was funny in Italian comedies for years. Both were the same actor. Start with Antonioni; the comedies are where the rest of her is. The scene to start with is one in *L'Eclisse* (1962) in which nothing happens. Vittoria has left one man and not yet found another, and on her way home at night she follows a dog, and Vitti lets us see that she is enjoying it. Antonioni's films are known for long silences and people standing a long way apart, and she supplied both, but what she added was this: a woman who is bored and unhappy and also, plainly, amused by herself. Without that the films would be architecture. She made four with him between 1960 and 1964, *L'Avventura* (1960), *La Notte* (1961), *L'Eclisse* and *Red Desert* (1964), and they made her known far beyond Italy. In them she plays modern women who say little and are placed with great care against white walls, factories and half-built suburbs. Gianni Di Venanzo shot her in *L'Eclisse* in flat hard daylight so that her black dress is often the only dark thing in the frame; Carlo Di Palma photographed her four times. Her own account of the working method was unsentimental: "Michelangelo treats his actors as objects, and it is useless to ask him the meaning of a scene or a line of dialogue." Whatever he was doing, it worked. On screen she looks like the only person in the film who is thinking. Then, from 1968, she did what actors who have been called the face of alienation do not usually do. She was funny on purpose. *The Girl with a Pistol* (1968), for Mario Monicelli, changed what Italian audiences thought she was, and *Dramma della gelosia* (1970), for Ettore Scola, opposite Mastroianni and Giannini, was a success at home. She worked again and again with Monicelli, Scola and Alberto Sordi, and the male comics she was paired with did not push her to the edge of the frame. The deep, hoarse voice and the face she had once been told was too irregular for films turned out to be comic equipment. Not all of it travelled. *Modesty Blaise* (1966) tried to sell her abroad as something she was not and did not take, and the comedies are still little seen outside Italy, so her reputation there stops in 1964, which is the wrong place to stop. We have reviewed only *L'Eclisse*, so it must carry the weight, and it can. What moved us was small: she and Delon agree to meet again, and both look, for a second, as though they already know they will not. Nothing is said and everything is visible, and that is the whole of her work with Antonioni in one look. After the comedies came Buñuel's *The Phantom of Liberty* (1974), one film as director, *Scandalo segreto* (1990), which was received quietly, and then she withdrew in the 1990s. Watch *L'Eclisse* first and give it the patience it asks for. Then find *The Girl with a Pistol* and watch the same woman, in the same decade, refuse to stand still. ## Biography Monica Vitti was an Italian actress. Born Maria Luisa Ceciarelli in Rome in 1931, she trained at the city's National Academy of Dramatic Art and graduated in 1953. She began her career on the stage before making her film debut in the mid-1950s. She is best known for her leading roles in four films directed by Michelangelo Antonioni: Claudia in *L'Avventura* (1960), Valentina Gherardini in *La Notte* (1961), Vittoria in *L'Eclisse* (1962) and Giuliana in *Red Desert* (1964). After these collaborations she appeared in comedies and other films, including *The Girl with a Pistol* (1968) and *The Phantom of Liberty* (1974). Vitti died in Rome in 2022. *Sources: nytimes.com, bfi.org.uk, theguardian.com, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (1) - *L'Eclisse* (1962), Fi1m 88, as Vittoria — [page](https://film.one/film/leclisse.md) ## Complete filmography (69) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Belmondo: The Incorrigible* (2022), Actor - *Exterior Day* (2022), Actor - *Morceaux de Cannes* (2021), Actor - *Couples mythiques du cinéma: Monica Vitti et Michelangelo Antonioni* (2018), as Monica Vitti - *Hollywood sul Tevere* (2009), Actor - *Autoritratto Auschwitz. L'occhio è per così dire l'evoluzione biologica di una lagrima* (2007), as Archive images - *A Thousand and One Monica* (2006), Actor - *Bellissime* (2004), as (archive footage) - *In morte di Federico Fellini* (1994), Actor - *Ma tu mi vuoi bene?* (1992), as Anna Masetti - *Secret Scandal* (1990), as Margherita · Director, Writer - *Francesca is Mine* (1986), as Francesca · Producer, Writer - *Return to Lisca Bianca Island* (1983), as Claudia (voice) (archive footage) - *Flirt* (1983), as Laura · Writer - *La fuggiDiva* (1983), as Monica Vitti · Director, Screenplay - *I Know That You Know That I Know* (1982), as Livia - *Unfaithfully Yours* (1982), as Renata Adorni / Grazia Siriani - *Che fai... ridi?* (1982), series, Actor - *The Mystery of Oberwald* (1981), as The Queen - *The Tango of Jealousy* (1981), as Lucia - *Hotel Room* (1981), as Flaminia - *I Don't Understand You Anymore* (1980), as Luisa Malpieri - *An Almost Perfect Affair* (1979), as Maria - *Tigers in Lipstick* (1979), as Maria / The Prostitute - *Per vivere meglio, divertitevi con noi* (1978), as Valentina Contarini (segment "Un incontro molto ravvicinato") - *My Loves* (1978), as Anna Lisa Bianchi - *State Reasons* (1978), as Angela Ravelli - *Il cilindro* (1978), as Rita - *L'altra metà del cielo* (1977), as Susanna Maccaluso - *Keep It To Yourself!* (1976), as Amanda / Lia - *Mimì Bluette... Flower of My Garden* (1976), as Mimì Bluette - *Duck in Orange Sauce* (1975), as Lisa - *Blonde in Black Leather* (1975), as Miele - *Midnight Pleasures* (1975), as Tina Candela - *The Phantom of Liberty* (1974), as Mrs. Foucault - *Stardust* (1973), as Dea Dani - *Teresa the Thief* (1973), as Teresa - *La Tosca* (1973), as Floria Tosca - *Orders are Orders* (1972), as Giorgia - *That's How We Women Are* (1971), as la suonatrice di piatti, Zoe, Annunziata, Teresa, Alberta, Eliana, Katherine, Erika, Palmira, Agata, Laura, Fulvia - *The Superwitness* (1971), as Isolina Pantò - *The Pacifist* (1970), as Barbara - *The Couples* (1970), as Adele / Giulia - *Ninì Tirabusciò: The Woman Who Invented the Move* (1970), as Maria Sarti aka Ninì Tirabusciò - *A Drama of Jealousy (and other things)* (1970), as Adelaide - *Help Me, My Love* (1969), as Raffaella Macchiavelli - *The Scarlet Lady* (1969), as Eva - *The Girl with a Pistol* (1968), as Assunta Patanè - *On My Way to the Crusades, I Met a Girl Who...* (1967), as Boccadoro - *Kill Me Quick, I'm Cold* (1967), as Giovanna - *I Married You for Fun* (1967), as Giuliana - *Modesty Blaise* (1966), as Modesty Blaise - *The Queens* (1966), as Sabina ("Fata Sabina") - *The Dolls* (1965), as Giovanna (segment "La Minestra") - *The Flying Saucer* (1964), as Dolores - *Red Desert* (1964), as Giuliana - *High Infidelity* (1964), as Gloria - *Follie d'estate* (1963), as ragazza snob - *Nutty, Naughty Chateau* (1963), as Éléonore - *Sweet and Sour* (1963), as Elle - *The Four Truths* (1962), as Madeleine (segment "Le lièvre et le tortue") - *L'Eclisse* (1962), as Vittoria — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/film/leclisse.md) - *La Notte* (1961), as Valentina Gherardini - *L'Avventura* (1960), as Claudia - *Il borghese gentiluomo* (1959), as Dorimente - *The Third* (1958), as Ofelia Granelli - *A Mink Coat* (1956), as Luisa Panetti - *Adriana Lecouvreur* (1955), Actor - *Laugh! Laugh! Laugh!* (1954), as Maria Teresa ## Gallery - !["Modesty Blaise" film van Amerikaan Joseph Losey. Filmopnamen te Amsterdam. Monica Vitti en tegenspeler Terence Stamp 12 juli 1965](https://film.one/media/person/3877473/gallery-f41f77e2bfdb.jpg) "Modesty Blaise" film van Amerikaan Joseph Losey. Filmopnamen te Amsterdam. Monica Vitti en tegenspeler Terence Stamp 12 juli 1965 — Jack de Nijs for Anefo, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Monica_Vitti_%281965%29_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - !["Modesty Blaise" film van Amerikaan Joseph Losey. Filmopnamen te Amsterdam. Monica Vitti en tegenspeler Terence Stamp 12 juli 1965](https://film.one/media/person/3877473/gallery-8fa08fc166a0.jpg) "Modesty Blaise" film van Amerikaan Joseph Losey. Filmopnamen te Amsterdam. Monica Vitti en tegenspeler Terence Stamp 12 juli 1965 — Jack de Nijs for Anefo, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Monica_Vitti_%281965%29_%28cropped%29_2_%28cropped%29_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Monica Vitti](https://film.one/media/person/3877473/gallery-88279c945c06.jpg) Monica Vitti — Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Monica_Vitti_1990.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - !["Modesty Blaise" film van Amerikaan Joseph Losey. Filmopnamen te Amsterdam. Monica Vitti en tegenspeler Terence Stamp 12 juli 1965](https://film.one/media/person/3877473/gallery-2c637c684a13.jpg) "Modesty Blaise" film van Amerikaan Joseph Losey. Filmopnamen te Amsterdam. Monica Vitti en tegenspeler Terence Stamp 12 juli 1965 — Jack de Nijs for Anefo, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Monica_Vitti_en_Terence_Stamp_%281965%29.jpg/1280px-Monica_Vitti_en_Terence_Stamp_%281965%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Monica Vitti](https://film.one/media/person/3877473/gallery-18f80ed16f18.jpg) Monica Vitti — Image via TMDB - ![Monica Vitti](https://film.one/media/person/3877473/gallery-632f58622d2c.jpg) Monica Vitti — Image via TMDB - ![Monica Vitti](https://film.one/media/person/3877473/gallery-6f24254173f8.jpg) Monica Vitti — Image via TMDB - !["Modesty Blaise" film van Amerikaan Joseph Losey. Filmopnamen te Amsterdam. Monica Vitti en tegenspeler Terence Stamp 12 juli 1965](https://film.one/media/person/3877473/gallery-6926deb94afe.jpg) "Modesty Blaise" film van Amerikaan Joseph Losey. Filmopnamen te Amsterdam. Monica Vitti en tegenspeler Terence Stamp 12 juli 1965 — Jack de Nijs for Anefo, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/82/Terence_Stamp_en_Monica_Vitti_%281965%29.jpg/1280px-Terence_Stamp_en_Monica_Vitti_%281965%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Scena del film "Amori miei" - Regia Steno - 1978 - Gli attori Enrico Maria Salerno e Monica Vitti seduti su una panchina Luogo e data della ripresa: Italia, 197](https://film.one/media/person/3877473/gallery-277929598770.jpg) Scena del film "Amori miei" - Regia Steno - 1978 - Gli attori Enrico Maria Salerno e Monica Vitti seduti su una panchina Luogo e data della ripresa: Italia, 197 — Non identificato; Steno (Vanzina, Stefano) (1915/ 1988), regista, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Enrico_Maria_Salerno_e_Monica_Vitti%2C_%22Amori_miei%22%2C_1978.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Monica Vitti](https://film.one/media/person/3877473/gallery-d0e08507e199.jpg) Monica Vitti — Image via TMDB - ![Monica Vitti](https://film.one/media/person/3877473/gallery-7e3ef9cab5d3.jpg) Monica Vitti — Image via TMDB - ![Monica Vitti](https://film.one/media/person/3877473/gallery-22284f6014bb.jpg) Monica Vitti — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### BAFTA Film Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated - 1961: Best Actress in a Leading Role (nominated), for *L'Avventura* ### Venice Film Festival — 1 won - 1995: Lifetime Achievement (won) ### Berlin International Film Festival — 1 won - 1984: Outstanding Artistic Contribution (won) ### Other awards — 10 won - Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres 1995: Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres (won) - David di Donatello for Best Actress 1979: David di Donatello for Best Actress (won), for *Amori miei* - David di Donatello for Best Actress 1976: David di Donatello for Best Actress (won), for *Duck in Orange Sauce* - Nastro d'Argento for Best Actress 1976: Nastro d'Argento for Best Actress (won), for *Duck in Orange Sauce* - David di Donatello for Best Actress 1974: David di Donatello for Best Actress (won), for *Polvere di stelle* - David di Donatello for Best Actress 1971: David di Donatello for Best Actress (won), for *Ninì Tirabusciò: la donna che inventò la mossa* - David di Donatello for Best Actress 1969: David di Donatello for Best Actress (won), for *The Girl with the Pistol* - Nastro d'Argento for Best Actress 1969: Nastro d'Argento for Best Actress (won), for *The Girl with the Pistol* - Targa d'Oro 1963: Targa d'Oro (won), for *Three Fables of Love* - Nastro d'Argento for Best Supporting Actress 1962: Nastro d'Argento for Best Supporting Actress (won), for *La Notte* *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/monica-vitti