Monica Belluci proves she’s still in shape as she shares bikini photos from her recent beach vacation
A household name in Italy and the rest of the world, Monica Bellucci is a top-notch model and actor. She had her breakthrough role in the arthouse movie The Apartment in 1996, which earned the star a César Award nomination for Most Promising Actress. However, Bellucci’s breakout was in Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula, as it was the movie that introduced Bellucci to Hollywood and gave her some exposure.
Nevertheless, the star’s most memorable performances to date are arguably the tragic Malèna and the controversial Irreversible, which remain talked-about films even today. Later came her roles in American blockbusters like Spectre, for which she oozed charm and made history by becoming the oldest — and, arguably, one of the most elegant — Bond girl seen on screen. To celebrate her compelling career, we look back at the best Monica Bellucci movies so far.
Directed by Jan Kouen, Dobermann centers around the titular, ruthless criminal (Vincent Cassel), who leads a series of brutal bank robbers. However, after a complex bank robbery, they are hunted by the police in Paris, with sadistic Cop Christini (Tchéky Karyo) leading the mission.
Although not the very best of Monica Bellucci’s features (namely for its formulaic narrative, among other aspects), Dobermann is nonetheless an entertaining watch thanks to its style and performances. With an expected strong on-screen presence, Bellucci brings to life a fierce and fearless young woman who is a crucial part of the story, as she is the right hand for the film’s central character. Dobermann is visually rich and immersive, with Kounen’s direction capturing the plot’s gritty essence quite well.
This sequel of Lelouch’s classic A Man and a Woman stars Jean-Louis Trintignant and Anouk Aimée in the lead roles and focuses on an old man looking back at memories of a former lever. Through the film, audiences are invited to take a glimpse into their affair as youngsters, tackling themes of love, time, and memory.
Bellucci is Jean-Louis’ daughter, Elena, stepping into the shoes of the character with warmth and tenderness and adding emotion and vulnerability to the film. At its core, The Best Years of a Life is a great meditation on relationships, showcasing themes of love across different life stages and how they evolve with time. The chemistry between the two leads, played by Trintignant and Aimée, is also worth noting.
The twenty-fourth installment in the James Bond series centers around Bond’s quest to uncover the meaning of a cryptic message from the character’s past. He heads on an adventure to uncover the existence of the organization named SPECTRE and learns about who’s behind his anxieties and most recent missions.
Spectre is hardly the best Bond film of the bunch with many considering it a complete miss for a number of reasons. However, the Daniel Craig-led picture is still worth the audience’s time, if not only for Bellucci’s charming Bond girl, Lucia Sciarra, the widow of one of Bond’s latest kills. Although her character was unfortunately underused, Bellucci made history by gracefully becoming the oldest Bond girl in the franchise’s decade-long story at the delightful age of 50.