Mario Monicelli

Lore & Background

Monicelli was born in Rome to an upper-class family from Ostiglia, in the province of Mantua. He was the second of five children of Tomaso Monicelli, a journalist, and Maria Carreri, a housewife. Raised in Rome, Viareggio, and Milan, he later studied at the University of Milan and the University of Pisa. In 1934 he shot his first cinematographic experiment, a short film inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart, with Alberto Lattuada and Alberto Mondadori. He co-founded the newspaper Camminare, writing film criticism, and the publication was shut down by the Ministry of Popular Culture for its left-wing ideals.

Reader's Guide

Monicelli made his official directorial debut in 1949 with Steno on the film Totò cerca casa. His career includes masterpieces such as Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958), which helped start the modern commedia all'italiana, and The Great War (1959), which won a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and received an Academy Award nomination. He received two more Academy Award nominations for I compagni (1963) and The Girl with the Pistol (1968). My Friends (1975) was one of the most successful films in Italy, and Caro Michele (1976) won him the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 26th Berlin International Film Festival. His later work includes Il Marchese del Grillo (1981), which earned him a third Silver Bear for Best Director. Monicelli's films often mixed humour, irony, and a bitter understanding of the human condition, and he is regarded as a key figure in Italian cinema.

Did You Know?

• Monicelli's first cinematographic experiment, Cuore Rivelatore (1934), was branded as an example of 'paranoid cinema' and not shown at the Littorali national cultural festival.
• He delayed his graduation from the University of Pisa until he was drafted into the army, later doubting the worth of his degree.
• His father Tomaso Monicelli committed suicide in 1946 after being blacklisted for criticizing the fascist regime.
• The film Toto and Carolina (1955) underwent three revisions by censors because the policeman was played by Totò, which was seen as pillorying the police.