Barbara Ronchi, currently nominated for David di Donatello in two categories, Best Actress protagonist for Elisa and Best Actress not protagonist for Diva Futura, met with the editing of Sentieri Selvaggi and the students of the School of Cinema to discuss the work of the actor, his idea of cinema and his artistic path. Speaking of his career, the actress immediately remembered two fundamental stages, his interpretations in September of Giulia Steigerwalt and in Rapito di Marco Bellocchio. The work before Steigerwalt represented Ronchi the first opportunity to play a leading role, and also earned her the first candidacy and victory as Best Actress protagonist to the David of 2023, while the work with Bellocchio was equally important for her actors growth, because: “Marco lets you be the author of the character loves the actors a lot and is curious to see how the characters he writes will be interpreted. It gives you space and confidence and advice always says them in the ear, gently. He doesn’t oblige you, but he asks you to try to find a key to interpretation together, he does typhoid for you. I think all the actors who worked with Bellocchio gave the best of them.”.
Ronchi then talked about the importance of choosing the role, explaining to always try scripts that thrill her: “I prefer the script rather than the character, if the script works and the character moves the story, that’s a screenplay that interests me.” Telling the actor’s work in relation to the script, he explained: “The scenes I like most are those in which the emotion of the character is not explicit, where not too precise directions of acting are given. It is good to be able to make a reading together, so we can all enter the world of the other. If we abandon rigidity, if we trust the actor’s abilities, very beautiful things can be born. Cinema is a work that is done together“. Ronchi has for this reason explained how important it is for her to work in harmony with the other actors, doing also many tests together: “I learn the script by heart, but then I tend to forget it, to see what happens. I do not prepare myself from home knowing that I will do this and this. I like to listen and respond to what the other actor gives me and that I in turn send him back. I can’t play alone. It is important to listen to the other. When two actors are not plastered, then they are singing two different songs.”.
Ronchi then told the 5 month preparation process for the film by Leonardo di Costanzo, in which he plays the protagonist Elisa, a woman locked up in prison for the apparently unmotivated murder, and of which he recalls little and nothing, of the sister: “In those months before I studied French, which I knew little and bad. Then with Leonardo we tried, first in Italian and then in French, to understand how this character should move within the story. We thus realized that it was essential that the character did not ask empathy to the viewer. Elisa was telling her story, but then the audience had to get their own personal idea about the story. What we were interested in was the assumption of Elisa’s guilt, and the reflection on the possibility of changing, of moving forward.”.
Speaking of his interpretations, Ronchi also specified his work for Familia, the film by Francesco Costabile in which he gives body and voice to the protagonist’s mother: “In interpreting a truly experienced character, I don’t feel the responsibility of bringing back the veracity of everything that has happened, to fully adhere to that character. I know the story, I know who I’m interpreting, but at some point I’m detached, to broaden the story and make that story become universal. In Familia then I realized that the story was told by the eyes of the son who wrote the book and that therefore the character of the mother was filtered out from his perspective“. Always about the work with Costabile, the actress also specified that: “We agreed to a true story of black news but we were also protagonists of a nightmare. We were supposed to be real but at the same time evanescent. The cinema of Costabile is naturalist but also approaches the dimension of the dream, has something inafferable“.
Ronchi then talked about some of the Italian and international actresses who are for her reference models, from Greta Gerwig, of which she particularly appreciates the work of the Ladybird and the Little Women, in Sandra Hüller, Renate Reinsve and Jesse Buckley, as well as colleagues and friends Valeria Golino, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Jasmine Trinca and Alba Rohrwacher: “I like all those actresses who are amazing, who have a personal talent, who invent their way of acting, without really imitating anyone.” The actress also praised some of the recent Italian films she loved, including La Grazia, Le città di plain, Le assaggiatrici, La chimera and all the cinema of Alice Rohrwacher. Finally, recalling the euphoria for the choice of Familia as a representative of Italy in the last edition of the Oscars, the actress concluded the meeting with an appeal to the world of Italian cinema: “I think we could get into shortlists, but you must be very supportive. If we had an industry that supports us we would get far away. We must be proud of what we do. We often think we are nothing but in Italy we have very good directors, actors and screenwriters, as well as competitive productions. We don’t have to be moguised by the narrative that a film only works if it’s cashed. The boxer does not reflect the value of the film. And in Italy we still have so much to tell“.
The article “Italian cinema has so much to tell”. Sentieri Selvaggi meets Barbara Ronchi comes from SentieriSelvaggi.
