INTERVIEW [ENGL.]

(L'interview ci-dessous reproduite est composée d'extraits de l'entretien accordé par Annie Belle aux journalistes italiens Manlio Gomarasca et Davide Pulici pour l'ouvrage "99 Donne: Stelle e Stelline del Cinema Italiano". Pour plus d'informations : Shop.Nocturno.it )

[...] Back to your beginnings, what about your first film ? 

I had a very good manager in France -he mainly worked with people in the music business, I was his only actress. One day, an English producer came to his office looking for a new actress to launch -he hadn't had any luck till then. When he saw my photo, he put me under contract for three years. I broke that contract after a year and a half (laughs)...he was always offering me the same nymphet role like the one I played in END OF INNOCENCE. There wasn't anything wrong with it...if only they had been done better. I mean, you can make a good erotic film, like EMMANUELLE for example, but in the films I was in the only important thing was to show some tits or an ass. Was END OF INNOCENCE you film debut, then ? It was the first film I did in Italy, but I had already done one in France with Jean Rollin, it was called LEVRES DE SANG. It was a horror, a vampire movie. I was the lead, the vampire girl...I remember being put in a casket -it gave me shudders. I was seventeen. Do you know Rollin has gained worldwide cult reputation ? I didn't know this, but I'm glad about it because Jean, who's passed away lately, was a good director, very talented in my opinion. He was continuously urged by the producers -they always wanted him to put at least one or two hardcore scenes in his films. So, after the shooting, they put hardcore inserts without the actors' knowledge. Luckily LEVRES DE SANG wasn't made for the porno circuits...it was a straight horror film that was also shown at the Sitges Fantastic Film festival, where it won some prizes...

[...] So END OF INNOCENCE is your second film. We can say it has been a very important movie for you: on one hand it has marked your future career as you moved to Italy afterwards, on the other it gave you the opportunity to meet two men who played a great part in your life: Pierluigi Conti (Al Cliver) and Ciro Ippolito. 

Certainly. When we came back to Rome I went to live with Pierluigi.. while I met Ciro again years later. We lost touch after that movie, I knew about him but we never had the chance to talk again until one day, eight years ago, I was walking down the street along the Tevere, when I heard the sound of a hooter. I thought it was someone trying to pick me up, I turned...and it was Ciro ! I jumped into his car and we had a good long chat. He was working on PRONTO...LUCIA... You were the lead in that one... You're right. Ciro was one of the few who realized that I could work outside the erotic genre as well. That film was very fun to do - I, a Parisienne, playing the part of a Neapolitan! (laughs) I loved it, that's the essence of an actor, having to change your skin from time to time...that's why I love psychology, too ! (laughs) 

I meant to ask -what can you tell me about Massimo Dallamano, the director of END OF INNOCENCE ? 

A great professional, a talented man, but he had to shoot films on a shoestring. Massimo really knew his job, but it's the same old story: it doesn't matter how good you are when you just don't have enough money to make a decent film. So he ended up doing stuff like END OF INNOCENCE, which is a simple story about this girl having her first sexual experiences in Hong Kong, an unpretentious film just concerned in showing tits.

[...] Did your love story with Pierluigi Conti begin on the set of END OF INNOCENCE ? 

Yes, we fell in love while shooting that movie, but I think it was something not really important for Pierluigi. He thought that after END OF INNOCENCE I would go back to France and we'd never see each other again. And it had to be that way, but after the lead actress in LAURE, Linda Lovelace, was fired after just a few days of shooting (the producer couldn't cope with her demands), they called me back. When I met Pierluigi again in the Philippines he looked at me in a strange way: "What are you doing here?" "What am I doing here? I'm working in this film! " Then we came back to Rome and went to live together.

Talking about LAURE, that was quite a pretentious film; among the cast there was Emmanuelle Arsan, the 'scandalous' writer... Yes, it's true. But the film was not that good...

First of all, is it true that the film wasn't really directed by Emmanuelle Arsan, but by her husband ? 

Yes, it had to be a secret, but it's the truth !

[...] Why do you say the movie was not good ? I think it's fascinating. The story was so-so. They had the money, the actors...and they messed it all up. It could have been much better. There's a scene, for example (maybe it's the best in the whole film), where Pierluigi and I are bathing naked in a swimming pool. It was night and there was vegetation all around us. It was a fascinating place, that might have been a spellbinding scene, really magic. Hot vapour, water, those tropical plants. All those things, natural settings, and all for free...and they just didn't make the most of them. 

Yet LAURE gave you a certain notoriety. And you were really gorgeous in it with your short, almost white hair. It was impossible not to be struck by it. 

Thanks very much. About notoriety, I really couldn't tell... I didn't care about it. I was an anti-diva, I was just interested in having fun, going out with friends...the rest was a job. To be an actor you have to be a careerist and I wasn't. There was an article on a newspaper, once, about me showing up at a press conference without make-up and with my hair still wet after a shower. I just didn't care about those things, I did not do this job to come and say "Here I am!" I avoided the Boheman period. 

But weren't you afraid that making another erotic film after END OF INNOCENCE would have identified your character with that kind of movies ? 

No, unfortunately I didn't realize it at the time. I was very young and unexperienced, and I just didn't think that there would have been people labelling me only because I took my clothes off in a movie. Some of them didn't understand that, once shooting was over, I was Anne Briand, not the character I played in the movie -they thought that I had to behave that way in my private life, too, while at home I just put myself in my own shoes...and all the rest of the clothes, for that matter! (laughs) 

[...] So after LAURE you moved to Italy... 

It was a beautiful period of my life. I lived with Pierluigi and we went about with lots of interesting people: Claudio Abato, the photographer, Mario Lenzi, a painter...we did a film with him, a really strange movie called MOLTO DI PIU', about life at Trastevere: it's the story of a group of actors and dancers who want to succeed in show business... and many others as well, half artists, half crazy. We all used to meet in an inn by via del Babbuino. It was very stimulating, and all I wanted to do was to go out with those people, not with the ones in movie business. 

[...] It must have been a very happy period, yet if I'm not wrong you also had serious problems at that time... 

Yes, I've had problems, due to alcohol. Pierluigi and I had serious drinking problems, but mine has been a different kind of dependence. He got stone drunk and went completely out of his mind, while my addiction grew in a much more subtle way. I see alcohol as a slimy snake, winding you slowly in its coils. You don't even notice. Then, one day, I realized that what should have been a simple glass of wine, at dinner, wasn't a 'simple glass of wine' any longer. Alcohol had become my drug, just like cocaine for others, and when this 'drug' becomes a necessity, something to screw up your courage, then you're caught. I was. I had become an alcoholic. 

Did you get out of it ? 

Yes, now I can say I did it, but it's been really hard...I had to pass through a number of treatments. I've been at the Gemelli hospital, where they helped me a lot, also psychologically. The Anonymous Alcoholics also gave me a hand. When I left Italy I had already reached a satisfactory stage. You know, I've just passed an exam on the subject, with full marks, thanks to my personal experiences among doctors, psychologists, etc. when I was addicted.

[...] Back to the movies, what films did you make after LAURE ? 

A not very good one called LA NOTTE DELL ALTA MAREA, a dull movie. Gerardo Amato was my partner in the film, it was a love story between a very young girl and an older man. It was a bit erotic, I mean I took off my clothes, but not much, really! We shot it in Canada and in Martinica. Then I did SWITCH which was directed by Giuseppe Colizzi. That was very funny, it was about the early local TVs. That was my first 'clothed' part...the first film where I didn't catch cold (laughs). Without joking, that was a nice story and I thought it was funny having been chosen by Colizzi, the man who launched Bud Spencer and Terence Hill. I mean, he made films for all the family, while I was the one doing 'adults only' stuff. It was a good opportunity for me, for the first time I could play a different part, a comic character which had not to strip or mime anything (laughs). 

Before SWITCH you made another one of those erotic-exotic flicks, SMOOTH VELVET RAW SILK. Laura Gemser told me you and Pierluigi quarrelled a lot on the set. 

No...not that often...well, maybe once in a while (laughs). I felt at ease during the shooting, Laura is very nice and so was her husband, Gabriele Tinti; there was also that beautiful woman, Susan Scott -she's always been so kind to me. We all got along quite well. Brunello Rondi, the director, was an elderly, distinguished gentleman, polite and cultured...sometimes he looked uncomfortable with all those naked actors around him (laughs). He did not really tell us much about our parts. As it often happened with these films, directors never explained characters' motivations, they didn't direct their actors. I've never understood whether an actor was naturally good or...

[...] You and Laura were also in Aristide Massaccesi's THE ALCOVE. 

I liked that movie. Although it was just another erotic film I really liked it. First of all, there were Pierluigi, Laura, Lilli Carati and Aristide: we all knew each other well and we were very close. On the technical side, it had a good, very interesting story. Sex scenes were stylish, direction was solid. Well, to tell the truth I didn't like the rape scene because I thought it was a bit too voyeuristic, for Peeping Toms only (laughs). I mean, in that movie there are sex scenes and nude scenes which are very well done, really erotic even if you don't glimpse a thing. But if Aristide shot that scene it was because the audience wanted that scene. There's a market you have to reckon with and Aristide knows this; when he shoots a film he has to put a bit of pepper, a bit of salt, a bit of oil...spicing it all up to give them the right seasoning. Yes, you might say those were 'seasoned' films. Right, 'seasoned' films (laughs). 

What kind of director was he ? 

One who knows how to direct actors, even in a film which was made with very little money, in a 'let's do what we can' attitude. But Aristide always took care of actors, he talked to us. He was always there, by your side and explained exactly what he wanted. You know, he really knew his job.. .very professional. Furthermore, he was incredibly nice - that was perfect ! I don't want to make comparisons... it would be impossible... but it was just like working with such fabulous people as Ettore Scola or Marco Vicario, it's a pleasure to work with somebody who really loves and understands cinema, technically and psychologically. There wasn't any acting school in Italy at the time, anything like Actor's Studio, so if you were not lucky enough to find a good director, it was a disaster. I am sure that ifAristide, who always did everything himself in his films, had bigger budgets, better scripts etc....he would have been one of the greatest filmmakers ever. You know, even here in France I often find old Joe D'Amato films in video stores, and I think "Hey, look how far did he manage to get !" (laughs) 

When did you meet Aristide for the first time ? 

Well, I lived with Diego (Ed: Spataro) in that period. It was a horror movie...I don't remember its title, but I had a scene in which they put my head in an oven. 

Yes, that was ABSURD, the one with Luigi Montefiori; you played the baby sitter who's slaughtered by the monster. 

It's incredible, you remember everything. I can't even recall that film myself even though I was in it...No, wait a moment ! I remember a special effect... a pipe filled with fake blood and a member of the troupe with a syringe...he had to press it to make the blood spurt out from an actress' wound. Anyway, he was squeezing it with all his strength but the blood just didn't come out, then suddenly it all blew up and everybody was covered from head to toe with this red stuff...incredibly disgusting. Later they managed to solve the problem, but it was so comic (laughs)...I also had to suffer long make-up sessions to make my skin look as if it had been burnt; it was pretty tiresome, but all things considered it's been a funny experience.

[...] Let's put cinema aside for a moment and talk about your private life. When did your relationship with Diego Spataro begin ? 

Diego is another one of those people who have always been in movie business. He started as a producer, then he became a distributor. Diego and I had known each other from a long time, and I knew he liked me very much, but...well, let's say I did not give up immediately (laughs). We've been together for about three years. Then one day I said 'OK, it's over', I packed my bags and went away. I must say I did not behave well, that time...that was too much, leaving him at New Year's Eve. I am usually kind and sensible, but I was really resolute then, I left him with no explanations at all, and we should have gone to a party that very night...if somebody did the same to me, I don't know how I would react. Only some time later I realized what I had done... 

And what about the end of your love story with Pierluigi Conti ? 

Oh, it was very quiet. A day I just took my things and went away (laughs). My life has always been like that, leaving all of a sudden both men and countries. 

[...] Talking about people you had a relationship with, can you tell me something about what happened on the set of PRONTO..LUCIA which was directed by Ciro Ippolito, your partner at that time ? 

That was very funny...a one-of-a-kind experience -a French playing the part of a Neapolitan, you know, it doesn't happen every day ! (laughs) That kind of films made lots of money in Southern Italy. It was a big hit so they called me back to do L’AMMIRATRICE with Nino D'Angelo, which didn't have the same success -anyway, they made lots of money with that one, too. L'AMMIRATRICE was a sad story -my brother died at the end of the film... 

No, it was you who died. 

Me ? Are you sure ? 

Absolutely. You had a brain tumour... 

Yes, you're right...I mentioned my brother because I still have in my mind the image of this kid kneeled by my deathbed (laughs). Thanks for reminding me about that, but you know, since I left Italy I did not watch my films, I did not collect them on tape and sometimes I make a mess with the plots. Wait a moment, I do have three of them, PRONTO...LUCIA, ZAMPOGNARO INNAMORATO and the one directed by Margheriti...what was that ? 

FUGA DALL'ARCIPELAGO MALEDETTO. 

Yes, that one ! I see you are an expert on my filmography (...) Antonio was a tough man and he wanted only tough people with him...myself included (laughs). Shooting in the Philippines wasn't easy at all. When we came back to our hotel after shooting and the tourists saw us with our army clothes all torn and covered with mud, they were so frightened and asked us what happened...they thought of a war. (laughs)

[...] The success of PRONTO LUCIA allowed you to work in a couple of other Neapolitan dramas, ZAMPOGNARO INNAMORATO and O'SURDATO `NNAMORATO... 

Yes, I was doubtful whether to accept them or not because in the very same period I had also been offered a role in a stage musical - the lead actress was Rosa Fumetto - in which I had to sing in French and dance (dancing was not a problem, it was my first job)...and I had to decline. I felt sorry about it. 

Only PRONTO LUCIA and ZAMPOGNARO INNAMORATO were directed by Ciro Ippolito...

Yes, I also had cameos in other films he directed, because Ciro liked to put his friends in his movies. I made a brief appearence in UCCELLI D'ITALIA and in Bolognini's LA VENEXIANA (Ciro was the producer). Even if we were not staying together anymore, we were still friends, and one can always count on him. He wasn't that bad as a director, either (laughs). 

[...] Ruggero Deodato's HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK is a very 'strong' and violent movie, in the wake of American thrillers like LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT. 

Yes, it was very cruel, but it wasn't bad at all because that final revelation about the unexpected revenge is really interesting ...like a game of switching roles. I'm satisfied with the film. I remember getting along very well with Giovanni Lombardo Radice, he was cultured, a real professional ...he loved theatre much more than cinema. David Hess, on the contrary, was very self-important because he was American, thus he felt superior to us. I often met this kind of people, for instance sometimes I worked in Italy with French actors who thought they were God the Father and treated everyone badly. In those occasions I felt ashamed of being French. These people think life is a neverending play and they just cannot drop their mask when they are not in front of the camera. Ruggero Deodato is a kind man who knows well how to direct actors. He has made lots of TV commercials, he knows what he wants and how to do it. 

[...] Let's talk about your experience with Ettore Scola... 

I made IL MONDO NUOVO with him. I played the part of Green Sock, one of the girls in the bordello...it was very funny and Jean-Louis Barrault was a wonderful partner. I looked great in that one... the cinematographer was Armando Nannuzzi, a master. A great experience. [...] 

Is there a movie you were really satisfied with ? 

Yes, it was called UN GIORNO ALLA FINE DI OTTOBRE (A Day Near the End of October). I won the San Valentino prize for it. A beautiful film, based on a true story; we felt very close to the subject because we were young and 1968 was still vivid in our minds. It was a very good story, about a rebel young girl from a middle class family who refused her social position. Then one day she met a man (the part was played by Pierluigi Conti), a doctor and they had a clash -she threw in his face the fact of him being a bourgeois...then they fell in love. It was great making that film, that part was so close to me...for the first time I had managed to come out of my cliché, I was not the usual sexy starlet anymore. They even wrote I was the new BB but I didn't care being 'the new etc' I was Annie and I just wanted to be an actress.

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