Monica Bellucci

Monica Bellucci: In Europe, we have so many actresses like Charlotte Rampling and Catherine Denueve and Sophia Loren still playing sexy characters that are their own age. Here, it is so strange. After a while, even young and beautiful actresses don't work anymore.

Monica Bellucci: All my choices are a bit strange. In Malena, I have strong scenes. In Tears of the Sun I'm dirty and full of mud all over and I have tears all the time.

Monica Bellucci: We all need illusions. That's why we love movies.

Monica Bellucci: Men love what they can't have. When they tell me, "I could cut my veins for you" I just want to laugh. Because a woman wants to be loved. It's great when someone knows you very well. But you have to be able to live in reality as well, you know.

Monica Bellucci: I don't want to be glamorous. I like to take risks.

Monica Bellucci: I have nothing against nudity. I use my body like a dress.

Monica Bellucci: Modelling was something I did when I was young. It was fine, but if I was just a model now I would kill myself.

Monica Bellucci: I believe that time destroys everything. You can take one beautiful apple, red. After a while, it becomes shriveled and full of worms.

Monica Bellucci: Acting is not words. Holly Hunter didn't speak in The Piano (1993) and she won an Oscar.

Monica Bellucci: Beauty becomes alive and interesting when it's habited.

Monica Bellucci: (Talking about her daughter Deva) I didn't have familiarity with children. I'm learning day after day, with her. And what impress me the most is that she, Deva, is an individual person. But in miniature, she seems to be a special effect.

Monica Bellucci: It is a handicap if you're stupid, but not if you are intelligent and know how to use your beauty.

Monica Bellucci: I'm not scared by nudity, because for me, nothing is more beautiful than a body. You can have such an amazing emotion from a body. In Irréversible (2002), I treated my body like it was an object and it's great when you can have this kind of relation with your body, it's a part of your job, an object you can work with. When you can have this kind of freedom it's the moment where you can give your best as an actress.

Monica Bellucci: I feel fine and comfortable with myself, but not because I'm beautiful. I know many beautiful people and their lives are just so terrible. They feel so uncomfortable with themselves. Being comfortable is not about what you look like, but how you feel. I'm a lucky person because I've been loved a lot. I have a great family.

Monica Bellucci: When I eat with my friends, it is a moment of real pleasure, when I really enjoy my life.

Monica Bellucci: After love, the man sleeps, while the woman reflects.

Monica Bellucci: I live in Paris but I feel I am a daughter of Europe.

Monica Bellucci: When I'll be old, I'd rather watch my children than my films.

Monica Bellucci: My career, at the moment, is very exciting, but love comes first because it balances me.

Monica Bellucci: I listen to "young" music, the one from my age. I adore soul, rap and funky.

Monica Bellucci: I come from a Catholic religion, but I'm not Catholic.

Monica Bellucci: (about reality TV) I think this is something that touches every country - America, Italy, France, England, all over. You will see all these people, they don't know how to sing, they don't know how to dance, and still they become famous. You know, just celebrities. And I think this is a very dangerous process.

Monica Bellucci: This is what I like about America, because you have very big budget movie, and also independent movies, so you have many different choices. But I know that I'm European... Being European, it is not easy to find the right project, because you may look different, you sound different, and you have to find the right character.

Monica Bellucci: Being an actress is the sublimation of femininity.

Monica Bellucci: As a woman I am so curious about prostitutes because of the idea that they know men better than you. Also, it's such a strange way to live. But at the same time there are prostitutes who just want to be prostitutes, and this is this woman, nobody pushed her to do it. She's a prostitute because she wants to be a prostitute. It's her philosophy of life.

Monica Bellucci: The human intelligence has progressed at the technological level; not a the level of feelings.

Monica Bellucci: As a European, I need to stay in Europe and I make Italian movies, French movies. Then to come to America is something interesting for me.

Monica Bellucci: My body is so important to me... my face, my arms, my legs, my hands, my eyes, everything. I use everything I have.