«Tinto is ready, come». The world of the Master of Eros, today, on the eve of an unforgettable birthday – 90 years old on March 26th – is a house in Isola Farnese, a village on the Cassia, half an hour’s drive from Rome, which the director He shared for years with his first wife Carla Cipriani – Tinta – who died in 2006 and with whom he now lives Catherine Varzi, the second wife, the final inspirational muse of a director who nurtured generations of yearnings and who remains a mythical figure even today, especially for those who were boys in the 80’s and 90’s, a mixture of sympathy, cigar and Hands on chest, witness to a time when everything seemed possible with the body. It is she who opens the door and introduces us to Master. However, the coffee is served by Maria, a young Polish film student, tall, blonde, statuesque, who confirms that we are indeed in Tinto Brass’s house. Born in Milan, but just a few days later in Venice, Tinto has had to cope with a brain hemorrhage, a stroke and two strokes in recent years. And yet here he is, sitting on his sofa, a light plaid covering his motionless legs and the ubiquitous cigar enveloping him in a cloud that makes him look like something out of a comic strip. Because “cigars are to cigarettes like truffles are to potatoes,” wrote Tinto in his autobiography A free passion, published by Marsilio in 2021.
Brass, I remember you at the 2005 Venice Film Festival, where you arrived uninvited in a boat full of scantily clad women. What is your relationship to the exhibition?
«The audience has always loved my films and they have also visited me at the Venice Film Festival. But the festival always ignored me. They are too critically conditioned and have a snotty nose».
Entire generations have grown up watching their films and still consider them legends – why does it still make sense to see one of their films?
“Because they are characteristic films. From the very beginning there were films that sang about freedom, women and sex. And the young people recognize that in me and in my pictures they recognize themselves again».
Some divide their careers into two parts: before and after their breakthrough in porn. Didn’t the critics like the first part of his filmography either?
“NO. They always thought I was an anarchist. Anyone who works is lost from the first film. But my films have always done well.
And yet you got off to a great start as a cinephile. At the Cinémathèque française in Langlois.
“Oh yes. I worked in Paris with Rossellini first. And then I started making my own films. I shot the first one with asses because the producer didn’t trust him. He said to me: ‘Shoot for a week , let’s see what you can do”. And when I edited it, he said to me: “Okay, shoot another week. I shot a total of three weeks».
Before directing, she suggested the screenplay to Fellini. How did the meeting go?
«Fellini found out about this project and wanted to meet me. I went to him in the Canova bar in the Piazza del Popolo and told him the story. He said to me, ‘Ah, yes, I’m doing a film like that too, but how do you do it with the money? Isn’t that expensive?” And I: “Well, I don’t know, it’s 40 million…”. And he: “Forty million? I thought 4 billion! This film can’t be made”. And so I did did.”
His first time?
“I was sixteen. At the lido. On the beach they explained the theory to me. Then I went to a casino in Venice. We were many friends, but when they asked us for documents, the others ran away and I was the only one left».
And how did it go?
“It was wonderful. From then on everything was a mess for me, so much so that I started selling books at Toletta to be able to pay for them».
What comes to your mind when you think of Venice?
“I’m very homesick. I remember the streets, the shops. I miss it a lot. It reminds me of so many things about myself. I’d love to go back, who knows.”
If he dies, where does he want to be taken?
“In Venice the ashes are scattered in the lagoon”.
He has two children, Bonifacio and Beatrice. What is your relationship with them?
‘I’m lucky. The daughter loves me. I don’t see the son, he has one more round. We went on a boat together, but there was already a contradictory relationship».
The same one she had with her father.
“I had heard about him just before he died and he said to me, ‘We need to talk.’ I regret not having made it in time ».
Was he lucky with women?
“Yes absolutely. Unfortunately, I can no longer fulfill all my wishes with Caterina. But she still gives me so much hope and so many illusions”.
Still imagine?
“Yes. I watch her undress like I used to watch the maids through the keyhole when I was a kid.
Her grandfather, a painter, Italico, was very important to her.
“He gave me the name Tinto. And also my grandmother, who was Russian from Odessa».
I’ll give you some names of actresses who have worked with you. Anna Admire yourself.
‘Very very good. He said he would come visit me soon, he never denied me, he always loved me.’
Stephanie Sandrelli.
“Great actress. For La Chiave, they suggested me Sandrelli, who had been somewhat forgotten. She was great with me. She came recently, it was an exciting afternoon».
Anna Galiena.
“He didn’t love me. On the first day of shooting, at the end of the first scene, I put my hands on her breasts, she electrocuted me. The film went on anyway, but the relationship didn’t work. But it was she who made herself suggested.”
Deborah Caprioglio.
“WHO?”
are you vague
“I had a fight with Tinta about Deborah. I didn’t remember the name. She was very warm and nice. And free, very free.”
Today it would be impossible for her to make a film. At the first scene, hordes of activists would arrive. What do you think?
‘Bad, absolutely. I have absolutely never molested anyone on set. Those who were there agreed, but always off the set. They made plans for later.”
The image you have of women today would be really hard to come by.
“It would be impossible for me to shoot under these conditions today. But I would find a way to make them available». And he says it while staring at the portrait of his wife on the coffee table in front of the sofa. Topless.
March 23, 2023
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