“Did you see the girl Andrea Di Stefano came up with?” he says, echoing his Viviana’s thick Calabrian accent inLast night of love with Pierfrancesco Favino (in theaters). She is still blonde from the set of Rocco Siffredi; the director of the next film (top secret) asked her to wait for her color to return, he says that perhaps he likes it better, but he corrected the process and removed the orange also because in the role of a blonde, Linda Caridi had to walk the red carpet of the Berlin Film Festival, where he presented the thriller Andrea Di Stefano, which takes place in his city of Milan.

Favino is Franco Amore, who, after 35 years of honorary career with the state police, is in his last job before retiring. A night where everything falls apart. Linda is his wife, but not in her usual supporting role. Viviana is all for love. His strength and his weakness. She is sweet, funny and loving. It is she, with her endurance, who will make that night decisive. What about their lives?

There’s a certain comic talent to be seen: he could have used it more.

In the theater it worked out, there is a wider expressive space for exploration, but this has never happened in the cinema. Viviana is actually a 3D character because the story is very dramatic anyway, but Andrea’s script ties her to reality and we’re never really the same color. This woman also has an unintentional comic verve that stems from her optimistic pragmatism.

What movie references do you have in mind?

Nobody. Only the Calabrian hinterland of my roots. They are half Sicilian and half Calabrian. I spent the whole summer in Calabria, in Gallico Marina, which is directly opposite Messina; my Calabrian is a little sweeter than Viviana’s, with her we put pressure on the consonants, loaded them. It’s good when a character intuitively binds you to something that belongs to you; it was a language that brought me back to the body, the rhythm, the nerves typical of the women who are part of my family background and whom I learned naturally because I didn’t study them: I lived with them.

Eggplant parmigiana – your idea?

No, it was in the script, but I know all the steps to get it right. I made the image of Viviana myself, it is something between Grandma Maria, Aunt Mimma, my cousin Irina … I realized that in a rich dialect, thought flows differently than the logic of the Italian language: the rhythm in speech becomes the physical rhythm in posture, to tell the truth. This is a score that comes from that crackling dialect feature that is passion and self-sacrifice. I know very well this quality of love that cannot say no, I know well these women who sacrifice everything for those they love and protect. However, along with self-denial, they have a sense of strength that allows them to keep a clear head in an emergency. We should never generalize, but I recognize the line that surrounds the cultural, moral, emotional system, in Calabria it is very dramatic: these are women who yearn, who give so much, but at the same time never lose control, grip.. .

A phrase that still rings in your ears?

“Eat the bedda, eat what’s wasted” accompanied by a pinch. I have always been skinny.

He tours theaters with Il bambolo, dedicated to the theme of anorexia. Did he suffer from it?

Luckily, the idea for the project came from a text that Irene Petra Zani wrote just at the time I was giving theater workshops in the Eating Disorders Unit at Niguarda Hospital. I started on tiptoe, primarily within the clinical limit of immobility, so I used only my voice and minimal movement. This lab became an integral part of the therapeutic process because the feedback was good. Pathology leads to isolation and an obsessive approach to activity, but the theatrical dynamic breaks these patterns, and I have noticed that girls slowly move from isolation to relationships, even if only in the form of eye contact. When I entered the room there was a climate, when I left the temperature rose, there were smiles. Doll it is a text that uses the weapon of irony to penetrate directly and sharply into the painful truths of this pathology.

Returning to the film by Andrea Di Stefano, he plays next to the giant of our cinema.

Favino has a lot of skill both technically and artistically, he moves like a master in all sectors and departments, on set he really is a fish in the water and there is one thing I learned from him. During the scene in the car, when we first met, but should already say goodbye, we hold hands. My grip was very strong. At some point, I felt his grip loosen without losing contact with my hand: he was telling me something. There was an expressive space in this relaxation of tension, and I interpreted it as an invitation to linger, to breathe in: even in moments of violence – because this scene was made of urgency, drama and happiness – a hesitation space that allows the potential of this situation to be communicated in a more complex way. ; a relaxed and soft body can increase expressive potential.

Our cinema is still very masculine, just write in the search engine “the most anticipated films” and only the faces of the actors will come out.

Big changes never happen instantly, there can be intrusions of certain movements with visceral reactions of the abdomen, which are necessary anyway, because they dictate the course, but it takes time to really change the mechanism from the inside. But the process continues.

Can Viviana also change how directors and casting directors treat her?

It could provoke something, Andrea gave me a character where softness is not the only quality, he allowed me to bring instinct, stamina and strength to the game.

How is life?

In life, sweetness comes naturally to me, but it is often mistaken for fragility. Instead, it is important to communicate that the two qualities are not equivalent and it is not necessary that when there is one, there is also the other. I realized that in order to give way to my hardness, my centeredness, I must also communicate strength: I don’t need to be protected. But I think this is part of a larger discourse about the consequences of a patriarchal society that is still a very topical issue.

IN Supersex Who’s playing?

I play a softcore actress and I found the show’s approach interesting. At the center is the theme of consent: how far can one go in physical desire with strong participation?

She is very close to Chanel. Do you like fashion?

Yes, as a child, I created the A/W and P/E collections thanks to my grandmother Maria, who was a seamstress. Thanks to Chanel, I entered the world of a big fashion house a little more competently: having become better acquainted with the materials and craftsmen, I understood all the work done on each product, and now I look at the final product with the same passion, but with a more attentive look that appreciates and understands the communicative complexity of this object. As an actress, I’m also interested to see what quality the dress gives you when you put it on. In Viviana’s case, the fact that she wore this little red dress, rather than denim miniskirts or animal prints, influenced how I drew her to the scene.

Five years ago he shot Memories?, which has become a cult film by Valerio Mieli about love and memory. Can you give us a photo of this set?

I am responding to the photo of Daria D’Antonio precisely because I have a vivid and bright memory of this film. For the trust of Valerio and Luca Marinelli, for the topics covered, for the director’s language. I get regular waves of affection on Valentine’s Day, probably because they repeat it on TV. They write beautiful things to me, and I’m always interested in reciting this spell.