Some Like It Hot: Monica Bellucci

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It has been said that beauty is excrescence, superabundance, random ebullience, and a sheer delightful waste to be enjoyed in its own high right. No other medium celebrates that philosophy of outward beauty more than the very movies that we see. Occasionally my immersion when viewing a movie will be broken not because the story it is trying to tell isn’t competent or the direction not focused but because the principle actor or actress just doesn’t look the part. As in they are just too damn pretty. Too damn attractive. I know it is a standard prerequisite for most, if not all actors to be good looking but when everybody in a movie is basically a model it can be jarring. Surreal even.

In the world of movies everybody is oblivious to fact of just how gorgeous they are and if you think about it, it’s down right bizarre how movies in general filter the look of normalcy from everything. So when an actor or actress rises above or stands out further from that good looking fraternity, that’s kind of a big deal. Folks, let me introduce to you my big deal. Her name is Monica Bellucci.

It has been said that beauty is excrescence, superabundance, random ebullience, and a sheer delightful waste to be enjoyed in its own high right. No other medium celebrates that philosophy of outward beauty more than the very movies that we see. Occasionally my immersion when viewing a movie will be broken not because the story it is trying to tell isn't competent or the direction not focused but because the principle actor or actress just doesn't look the part. As in they are just too damn pretty. Too damn attractive. I know it is a standard prerequisite for most, if not all actors to be good looking but when everybody in a movie is basically a model it can be jarring. Surreal even.

In the world of movies everybody is oblivious to fact of just how gorgeous they are and if you think about it, it's down right bizarre how movies in general filter the look of normalcy from everything. So when an actor or actress rises above or stands out further from that good looking fraternity, that's kind of a big deal. Folks, let me introduce to you my big deal. Her name is Monica Bellucci.{{page_break}}

Unlike other actresses highlighted in our SLIH series like say Noomi Rapace whose beauty in my opinion blossoms from her actual acting chops, Monica Anna Maria Bellucci's beauty is on full display from the git go. She's literally stunning. There is no denying how attractive she is. This just isn't a woman you are going to bump into at Walmart while you're perusing for a new purchase in the Blu-ray section. With her long dark hair and dark eyes this Italian actress is probably only known by American movie goers for her small role as Persephone in the Wachowski brothers' sci-fi action sequels: The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions where the extent of her acting consisted of just looking ridiculously hot in a latex dress as well as keeping her breasts from completely popping out.

But don't let her minor part in those movies cloud your judgment of her acting skills or lack there of because people…she can actually act. My first time seeing her was in Giuseppe Tornatore's Malena where she played the part of a beautiful young wife to Nico, a soldier who goes off to war in 1940 leaving her alone in a Sicilian town where the women are jealous of her and the men's lust knows no bounds. Her story is seen through the eyes of a twelve year old boy who is mesmerized by her beauty as he witnesses her trials and tribulations through time. With her husband seemingly killed in the war he witnesses her decline as she fends for herself to make ends meet and lift herself from poverty by whatever means, which eventually results in dire consequences for her. An enjoyable movie with a great performance by her.

While watching Malena I was as enthralled by her as the men and that twelve year old in the movie were. The woman is simply gorgeous. I'm trying really hard in not sounding like a male chauvinistic pig and pigeon holing her as just a sex object because she is not just a sex object but damn if she just doesn't exude that. I have made a point to see her in every movie she has done and while the majority of them are of differing quality what never changes is the magnetic pull that she calmly projects and that undeniable aura of grace. Her beauty reminds me of another actress from yesteryear, that of Sophia Loren.

" In 10 years I've done so many things. In the beginning I didn't know if I was still a model, if I was an actress. I knew I wanted to be an actress, but it was so difficult to be believed. Now things are going better and better and the proposals I have are much more interesting than five years ago. It's like getting older is getting better." -Monica Bellucci

Here's hoping she keeps plugging away doing more movies as I personally can't get enough of her.

 

Notable Monica Bellucci Movies:

  • Le Pacte Des Loups  (aka Brotherhood of the Wolf)
  • Irreversible
  • The Passion of the Christ
  • Malena
  • Shoot 'Em Up
  • L'Appartement

My first experience with Monica Bellucci was a mixed one. She was a slutty program in The Matrix: Reloaded, and considering the other female characters in the film weren’t particularly fetching to young, teenage Sean, I was intrigued. Despite her feminine wiles, she was bogged down in the mess that was The Matrix: Reloaded. She was apparently in the third film as well, but I had that part of my brain removed on account of the horrors I suffered during that train wreck. Thankfully, she made it through unscathed and went to go on to be a smoking hot babe in other movies.

I’ve only seen a small handful of the aforementioned ‘other movies,’ but she’s been a stone cold fox in each of them. Sexy, slutty computer program (The Matrix: Reloaded)? Check. Sexy lactating prostitute (Shoot ‘Em Up)? Check. Sexy evil witch (Sorcerer’s Apprentice)? Check. And she’s no stranger to nudity, either, and has appeared in both film and print in various degrees on undress on many occasions. And the best part is that she even looks good pregnant!

Monica Bellucci is like your friend’s hot mom. She may be in the latter half of her forties, but she’s still got it going on! I’d be damned if I wouldn’t tap that like an overeager frat boy at a kegger. Her boobs are great, she has that perfect Italian coloration, and if forty-six year old Monica Bellucci is any indication, she’s still got plenty of years left before she stops being sexy. – Sean

Let it be said that we here at Flixist listen to our people, we're awesome like that. If by chance there are any attractive, talented film actresses you’d like to see in a future installment of Some Like It Hot, check out the Some Like It Hot thread in the forums and us me know whatcha want. There's plenty of love to go around for everyone.

Previously on Some Like it Hot

Lizzy Caplan

Rosario Dawson

Emma Stone