Marcello Mastroianni is recognized all over the world as an icon of a country -Italy- and a period he ”suited” like nobody else. Brilliant charmeur, elegant by his very nature, unique, gentle, the genuine frailty of a reliable man could be perceived in him before the actor.
In his career he went through three consequent moments: before La Dolce vita, during La Dolce vita -when he became Marcello, so baptized in the Trevi Fountain by Anita Ekberg- and after La Dolce vita. Fellini’s film was a dividing line for cinema, Italy and for himself.
As the critic Tullio Kezich pointed out, in the years when a great anger was building up in the society worldwide, Mastroianni in his own way made his revolution, rebelled against the star system, playing only roles upsetting his myth. Do the USA proclaim him Latin lover? He plays the role of an impotent in the movie Il bell’Antonio! And in the same way for forty years, together with De Sica, Scola, Ferreri, Petri, Angelopoulos, Wenders, De Oliveira.
“I wouldn’t seem snob, but I do appreciate how the French says “to play a role”. They say ‘jouer’, that also means to play a game. This is a wonderful job, they pay you to play” (a pun. In Italian “recitare” = “to play a role” and “giocare” = “to play a game”).
The exhibit -through rare pictures, posters, memorabilia belonging to Centro studi Mastroianni, Centro Cinema Città di Cesena and Cineteca di Bologna- let us get into this fascinating actor’s surprising game.