'Malena' Star Monica Bellucci (62) Says Aging in Hollywood Comes With a Surprising Upside

Monica Bellucci has been a fixture of European and international cinema for decades. She is the star of ‘Malena’, and in 2021 she received the David Special, a lifetime career achievement award from the Academy of Italian Cinema. Few actors are better placed to reflect on how long a screen career can last.

That perspective matters in an industry that often treats youth as currency. A recent Spanish write-up of her comments noted she was reflecting on the industry’s obsession with “artificial” youth. Bellucci, it turns out, has a very different view of time.

In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar España, published on Sept. 18, the 62-year-old actress said she sees getting older as “a wonderful gift.”

Her reasoning is blunt. She told the magazine, “either you grow old and accept the process with dignity, or you die,” adding that she would much rather grow old. For her, growing old means being fortunate enough to still be alive and have a future.

She also described what maturity adds. It brings a kind of detachment, she explained, and sometimes you stop being only an actress and become an observer of the world, which lets you see everything from another angle. As the years pass, she added, even good health or the smell of morning coffee becomes a reason to feel grateful.

That outlook feeds directly into her work. Bellucci stars in ‘The Birthday Party’ (also known as ‘Histoires de la nuit’), where she plays Cristina, an Italian painter who is the only neighbor of a family living on remote marshland. She said she could never have played the role at 30 or 40, even with layers of aging makeup.

Giving a character that much inner turmoil weight and truth, she explained, requires having lived and collected scars and experience. In the film, she said, her tired physique is a narrative tool, which she called a gift for any performer. She contrasted that with the glamorous woman she plays in ‘Seven Dogs’, where the genre calls for it.

The film comes with real pedigree. It is directed by Léa Mysius, adapted from Laurent Mauvignier’s novel, and premiered in the main competition at Cannes on May 22 before opening in France on Sept. 16. Mysius previously shared an Oscar nomination for the screenplay of ‘Emilia Pérez’.

Reactions to the thriller have been mixed. DMovies dismissed it as silly and unimaginative, though it singled out a scene in which Bellucci’s character tries to seduce one of the men as a highlight. On Letterboxd, the film holds an average rating of 3.04 out of 5.

Whatever the verdict on the film itself, Bellucci’s message is clear. She says actors need to keep reinventing themselves, and she appears to be doing exactly that, one new decade at a time.