Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni – a true love story

“He had incredible charm,” she announced on the set of Quotidien on Wednesday, May 15. Showing Marcello MioBy Christophe Honoré, which she will present this Tuesday, May 21, at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, Catherine Deneuve paid tribute to Marcello Mastroianni, with whom she had a four-year affair, and welcomed her daughter, Chiara. For the purposes of the feature film, the latter slips into the shoes of his father, who died of pancreatic cancer on December 19, 1996. Having met Jan Barthes, Catherine Deneuve remembered her former companion as a “genius, shy and very funny” man. Chiara Mastroianni, for her part, highly appreciated her father’s “great humility” and his “curiosity towards others”.

Supper

The story between the two legends of the seventh art begins in the fall of 1970, during a dinner hosted by Roman Polanski in London. Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni were among the guests. The actor with newly shaved hair for the needs of the film is causing confusion. So much so that the heroine Donkey skin (1970) does not immediately recognize this. But the current passes between them. The meal is “pleasant, even happy,” Catherine Deneuve will say An illustrated evening. The following summer, the two actors became closer while filming the movie Lisa: (1972), by Marco Ferreri. on a series of photographs revealed by Paris game they find themselves accomplices on the island of Cavallo, which is located between Corsica and Sardinia.

Catherine Deneuve, blonde as wheat and impeccably suited, stares intently at her playing partner, clad entirely in jeans. “It was their shared desire not to leave each other that made them the star couple of the movie,” we read Paris game, October 9, 1971. Mastroianni plays a kind of modern-day Robinson who decides to live on a desert island with his dog. A beautiful young woman dressed in white comes to disturb his solitude. “It’s a romantic story,” he said. It shows that in the middle of the 20th century we can still die of love.” And already, we discover the beginning of the idyll.

“The movie ended, Marcello stayed in my life”

One is in the midst of a divorce from photographer David Bailey. The second is married to Italian actress Flora Carabella, whom he met while playing in a play. A tram named desire, in 1950. The couple separated in 1970, but never divorced because of the actor’s Catholic culture. Despite this context not conducive to romance, Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni gradually fall under each other’s spell. The actress even puts the name of her lover in Nadine Trintinan’s ear. She will play her husband It only happens to others1971. “The film ended, Marcello remained in my life,” Catherine Deneuve confides. An illustrated evening.

A year later, the couple welcomed their daughter, Kiara. This is Marcello’s second child, already fathered by Barbara, from his 1951 marriage to Flora Carabella. In total, Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni will appear in five films. We see them in each other’s arms at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival, but soon their romance faces a major obstacle: Marcello Mastroianni’s marriage, which she does not want to break up. Two years after the birth of Kiara, Catherine Deneuve and her partner broke up. “Our life together ended in failure, and… I don’t like failures,” the actress said at the time. Not having the same education, the same roots, the same language, yes, so many pitfalls…”

“Best Friends in the World”

However, the two actors are on good terms and continue to raise their daughter together. Except for a few collisions. In 2020, Chiara Mastroiani was especially remembered in the columns of the magazine. He, a titanic argument. A conflict that arose between his parents when he was 10 years old. They were at the cinema at the time to watch the film AND: (1982). “At the beginning, when ET is being chased through the woods, I’m obviously in tears and my parents are starting to worry,” says Chiara Mastroianni. My father says we cannot stay. “He is very bad”; my mother says the opposite. “We endure.” We stayed. He couldn’t bear to see me in this absolute sadness. While he was convinced. it’s okay to cry in the cinema.”

A decade later, Kiara Mastroiani expressed her desire to become an actress herself. And again is subject to mixed reactions. On the one hand, his mother is “panicking”. Catherine Deneuve would have preferred him to become an “archaeologist”. On the other hand, the father bursts with joy. “When I told him, he threw a party,” confided Chiara Mastroianni Keeper , in April 2012. It’s like we were running a family restaurant, and I said I’m taking over the business.” Despite these differences, Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni remained close until the latter’s death. A year before his death, he praised his former partner’s “charm” in columns Gala. “We remained best friends in the world,” he added. The former couple also appeared together at Cesar’s ceremony in 1993. The actress, for her part, never stopped praising her former partner’s “simplicity”, “naughtiness” and “generosity”.