Nicoletta Braschi Movies
Italian actress Nicoletta Braschi is best known to international audiences for her collaborations with her husband, actor and director Roberto Benigni, and with American director Jim Jarmusch. A fine-boned beauty with a particular talent for portraying long-suffering women, Braschi first worked with Benigni on his 1983 comedy Tu Mi Turbi. Three years later, she collaborated with both Benigni and Jarmusch on the latter's Down by Law, playing a woman who falls in love with an escaped con (Benigni). Braschi also starred in Jarmusch's Mystery Train (1989), in which she played an Italian woman trying to get the ashes of her dead husband back to Rome.Braschi's two most successful collaborations with her husband have been Johnny Stecchino (1992) and La Vita è Bella (1997). The first, an Italian comedy that cast the actress as the girlfriend of a mobster (Benigni), was a huge hit in Italy, while the second, in which Braschi played the wife of an Italian Jew (Benigni) imprisoned in a concentration camp, was a lavishly praised success on both sides of the Atlantic that launched both Braschi and her husband into the international spotlight. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi
A love-struck poet travels into the heart of wartime Iraq in hopes of rescuing the woman he loves in Academy award-winning director Roberto Benigni's affecting tale of love and devotion. A kind poet and father to his daughters, a respected lecturer and literary figure to his students, and a complete nuisance in the eyes of his beloved Vittoria (Nicoletta Braschi), Attilio (Benigni) finds his life suddenly turned upside down when he learns that the object of his undying affections has been critically injured in a Baghdad bombing. Now, despite the chaos sweeping through Iraq, Attilio vows to risk everything in order to travel into the heart of Baghdad and deliver the medicine that will awaken the woman of his dreams from a potentially eternal slumber. Jean Reno and Tom Waits co-star in this heartfelt, seriocomic romance, which pits the uplifting power of love against the destructive force of bombs. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, (more)
- 2004
A woman is forced to stand up for herself and her co-workers in order to restore respect to the workplace in this drama. Anna (Nicoletta Braschi) works in the sales department of a large manufacturing concern; she's a single mother, often finding it difficult to meet the demands of her job and still have enough time to spend with her young daughter (Camille Dugay Comencini) and elderly father (Impero Bartoli). When a powerful multinational corporation buys the company, Anna notices a subtle but troubling shift in the way the firm does business. Like many of her co-workers, Anna finds herself being manipulated in small but significant ways, and she's soon shifted from her longtime job into a new and unfamiliar position working for a new boss (Stefano Colace) who does little to disguise his lack of respect for her. Anna finds her responsibilities increasing and her work days getting longer, adding to her stress both at work and at home, and when she's forced to time how long it takes loading dock workers to empty a truck (much to their annoyance), she decides its high time the employees stand up to their new employers. Mi Piace Lavorare ("mobbing") was inspired, in part, by a true story; real-life labor activist Assunta Cestaro appears in a supporting role. "Mobbing" is a slang expression used in Italy for harassment in the workplace. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Nicoletta Braschi, Camille Dugay Comencini, (more)
Academy Award-winner Roberto Benigni adapts the classic children's tale by Carlo Collodi for the big-budget family-oriented comedy Pinocchio. In his usual fashion, Benigni directs and stars, this time as the little puppet boy made out of wood. The familiar story begins as a log of pinewood falls out of a cart and lands in front of woodcarver, Geppetto (Carlo Giuffré), who carves the puppet out of longing for a son. When the puppet begins to come alive and cause trouble, Geppetto is arrested and Pinocchio is left to his own naïve worldview. After getting a stern warning from the Blue Fairy (Benigni's wife and producer Nicoletta Braschi), Pinocchio sets out to reunite with his father, become a real boy, and succumb to some desire for adventure. Along the way, he meets a number of characters played by mostly Italian stage actors, including Franco Javarone, Peppe Barra, and Kim Rossi Stuart. The popular Italian comedy team Fichi d'India plays the roles of the Cat and Fox. Released by Miramax in the U.S., the film received an English-dubbed soundtrack with the voice talents of Glenn Close, David Suchet, and Breckin Meyer as Pinocchio. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, (more)
In this WW II tragicomedy, famed Italian funnyman Roberto Benigni (The Monster) portrays Guido, who moves during the '30s from the country to a Tuscan town, where he is entranced by schoolteacher Dora (Nicoletta Braschi, Benigni's real-life wife). Dora likes Guido, but she remains faithful to her pompous fiancé, so Guido has an uphill struggle. Meanwhile, anti-Semitic attitudes lead to attacks against Guido's Jewish uncle (Giustino Durano). Leaping ahead to five years later, during WW II, Guido and Dora are married and have a son Giosue (Giorgio Cantarini). After they are imprisoned in a concentration camp, Guido goes to elaborate lengths to keep his son from understanding the truth of their situation. He tells the boy that they are competing with others to win an armored tank -- so everything from food shortages to tattoos is explained as necessary for participation in the contest. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, (more)
- 1997
In this bittersweet coming-of-age comedy, seven-year-old Piero (Matteo Campus) lives in Livorno, a city along the coast of Tuscany, in a low-rent shantytown the locals call "Ovosodo" (which literally translates as "hard boiled eggs"). Piero is forced to grow up at an early age after the death of his mother, leaving his father to raise him and his mentally challenged brother on his own. As Piero turns 13 (now played by Malcolm Lunghi), his dad -- a second rate criminal with no gift for staying out of jail -- complicates matters by bringing his new (and pregnant) girlfriend Mara (Monica Brachini) to live with the family. Despite his difficult childhood, Piero is a bright boy, and he is encouraged to pursue greater educational opportunities by Giovanna (Nicoletta Braschi), a widow who teaches at his school. Piero gains a friend at his new school, Tommaso (Marco Cocci), a rich but troubled boy, and a few years, later the 18-year-old Piero (Edoardo Gabbriellini) finds love with a girl named Lisa, though sadly it's not destined to last. Ovosodo won the Special Jury Prize at the 1997 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Edoardo Gabbriellini, Malcolm Lunghi, (more)
- 1996
This drama, set in 1938, chronicles a month in the life of the Portuguese journalist Pereira. He is first seen as a lonely, widowed, and overweight editor of the culture page of a second-rate Lisbon newspaper. Earlier in his career, he had been a news reporter. Pereira is fascinated with old literature; he is also obsessed with death. He hires himself an assistant, Monteiro Rossi, to prepare obituaries for old writers before they die. The young man and his girlfriend are both passionate fighters against the dictatorship in Portugal. They, along with a German Jewish woman, help to draw Pereira out of his dusty old books and spark his interest in the current political turmoil of Europe. Eventually they strongly encourage him to use his position to post notice of the impending dangers to the public. At their urging, Pereira is emboldened to publish his translation of an anti-German French short story. Although he sneaks it past the censors, his editor catches it and Pereira is in deep trouble. Meanwhile Rossi leaves his job to join the underground revolutionaries. Pereira keeps sending money to Rossi's girl, but he doesn't become totally committed to the cause until he meets up with the philosophical cardiologist who narrates the tale. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni
- 1995
- NR
Pier Paolo Pasolini was a beloved Italian filmmaker, poet and novelist whose murder in 1975 threw the whole nation into shock. This drama attempts to document the killing and the aftermath while exploring the true motives for the killing. The film opens as the police are in hot pursuit of a car racing along the waterfront of Ostia. At the end of the chase they end up arresting one Pino Pelosi, a male prostitute who confesses to bludgeoning the director to death and running him over with a car. The initial evidence goes along with Pelosi's story. Intermingled with the drama is actual police and press footage of the murder scene, the trial and other related events. As the court goes to trial, it soon becomes apparent that Pelosi is not telling the whole truth. Despite the findings of the media, the police and the lawyers seem to be in an inordinate hurry to close the case and dismiss it as yet another gay killing. Although the film avoids making elaborate postulations about the whole truth of the killing, it does not deny the fact that Pelosi did not act alone. Unfortunately, though Pelosi was imprisoned for his crime, he refused to reveal the identities of the others involved. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Carlo DeFilippi, Nicoletta Braschi, (more)
- 1994
- R
Grossly mistaken identity provides the impetus in this Italian farce. Loris is an anti-social fellow with a high sex drive. During a party he is pointed towards an "easy mark." Unfortunately he approaches the wrong woman. When he discovers his mistakes, he nervously apologizes for the attempted liberties. A run-away chain-saw becomes involved and the frightened woman ends up filing a police report. Her report leads police boss Frustalupi that he has finally found the crazed sex killer the "Mozart of vice" whom Frustalupi has hunted for the last 12 years. Situations go from bad to worse as the police begin surveillance upon Loris whose every action becomes misconstrued by them. Things get even stickier when they put policewoman Jessica on the case as undercover bait. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, (more)
After the death of Peter Sellers in 1980, writer/director Blake Edwards assembled a new "Pink Panther" film from outtakes of Sellers as Inspector Clouseau from previous movies in the series (the result was called The Trail of the Pink Panther) and later made two attempts to revive the series with another actor. In this case, Edwards cast Roberto Benigni as Jacques Gambrelli, a hopelessly inept French policeman who turns out the be the illegitimate son of Inspector Clouseau. Gambrelli becomes involved with the investigation of a kidnapping involving the beautiful Princess Yasmin (Debrah Farentino) literally by accident, when he crashes into a car driven by Police Commissioner Dreyfus (Herbert Lom). Gambrelli soon becomes smitten with Yasmin, while the investigation suggests that the kidnapping was set up by her mother, the Queen (Shabana Azmi), and her lover, General Jaffar (Aharon Ipale). Claudia Cardinale who played a different character in the original Pink Panther returns, while Burt Kwouk returns as the violent Korean manservant Cato. Roberto Benigni's Gambrelli proved no more successful at the box office than Ted Wass's Clouseau-like Clifton Sleigh in The Curse of the Pink Panther (1983), though after his multiple-Oscar winning success with 1998's La Vita e Bella, Roberto's probably gotten over it. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Roberto Benigni, Herbert Lom, (more)
- 1991
- R
Comedian Roberto Benigni wrote and directed this Italian farce, in which he stars as Dante, a bus driver who is the exact double of the infamous gangster Johnny Toothpick (Benigni again). After Dante meets Johnny's girlfriend Maria (Nicoletta Braschi), he travels to her Palermo villa, where it quickly becomes apparent that Maria is setting up Dante to take the fall for Johnny's illicit behavior. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
- Starring:
- Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, (more)
- 1991
- R
Three very odd relationships provide the basis for this thought-provoking Italian anthology that is overseen by director Bernardo Bertolucci. The first tale, "The Blue Dog" centers on a barber who becomes the fixation of a mysteriously devoted dog with an unusual blue spot upon his head. In "Especially on Sunday," a traveler encounters a woman and a man beside a river and offers them a ride. The woman is quite the coquette and she chattily explains that she is visiting her companion, who suffers from a debilitating breakdown. They all stop for lunch and her friend begins telling them a disturbing, surreal tale. The third tale "Snow on the Fire," features a repentant woman who confesses a dark secret to the town priest. It seems the old woman has grown addicted to watching her son make passionate love to his new bride, who knows that she is watching and seems to enjoy it all the more. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Philippe Noiret, Chiara Caselli, (more)
From director Bernardo Bertolucci, The Sheltering Sky is a filmed adaptation of the novel of the same name by Paul Bowles. Debra Winger and John Malkovich star as Kit and Port Moresby, a married American couple who globetrot to North Africa in the late '40s with the hopes of re-sparking their love and adding some zest to their lackluster lives. Along for the ride is the pair's friend George Tunner (Campbell Scott), who soon begins having an affair with Kit. As they struggle through the numbing heat of Africa amidst the sudden love triangle, each of the trio sees his and her beliefs and lives challenged. The Sheltering Sky earned a Best Director nomination for Bertolucci at the 1991 Golden Globe Awards. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Malkovich, Debra Winger, (more)
Written and directed by the ever-unpredictable Jim Jarmusch, Mystery Train is comprised of three short anecdotes involving foreign tourists in Tennessee. Each story is set in a fleabag Memphis hotel which has been redressed as a "tribute" to Elvis Presley. Story one involves two Japanese tourists whose devotion to '50s American rock music blinds them to everything around them. Story two finds eternal victim Luisa (Nicoletta Braschi) sharing a room with stone-broke Dee Dee (Elizabeth Bracco) and having her problems solved by a spectral vision of the King. And story three offers the further misadventures of Dee Dee, her no-good boyfriend, and her dysfunctional family. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Masatoshi Nagase, Youki Kudoh, (more)
- 1988
Father Maurice (Walter Matthau) is called on to perform an exorcism of a demon from a fat lady in this offbeat comedy. What emerges is Giuditta (Roberto Benigni) a narcissistic, fun-loving devil with a penchant for nonsensical sayings, and the devil attaches himself to Father Maurice for a series of comedy gags. Giuditta falls for the gambler Nina (Nicoletta Braschi) and impedes the priest's romantic progress with the beautiful Patrizia (Stefania Sandrelli). Maurice discovers that Nina and the expressionless Cusatelli (John Lurie) are two demons sent to retrieve the wayward Giuditta. Matthau and Benigni provide the majority of the laughs with Benigni doubling as director and devil. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Roberto Benigni, Walter Matthau, (more)
Jim Jarmusch follows his groundbreaking Stranger Than Paradise with another rambling, character-driven film with a twisted sense of humor. Set in a seedy New Orleans summer, Down By Law details the meeting of three unlikely convicts and their just as unlikely escape. Zack (Tom Waits) is an out-of-work DJ who is accused of murder when a body is found in the trunk of a stolen car he was hired to drive across town. Jack (John Lurie) is a pimp set up for a fall by a competitor. These two sullen souls are locked in a cell with Roberto (Roberto Benigni), a cheerful Italian immigrant who happens to have killed a man. The chemistry between the members of this loosely bound "team" is fascinating: Zack and Jack are forever laughing at Roberto, yet they rely on his energy and good will to escape their dire situation. The three mismatched miscreants eventually bust out of jail and head into the Louisiana bayous. Tired and hungry, they separate to search for food: Waits goes one way, Lurie another, and the frightened Benigni decides to risk stepping into a ramshackle diner. Somehow or other, he winds up in the arms of gorgeous Italian girl Nicoletta Braschi -- and is even able to provide new clothes and escape routes for his astonished comrades! ~ John Voorhees, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tom Waits, John Lurie, (more)
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