Best actress according to the Bif&st 2024 for My place is here Ludovica Martino talks to us about the patriarchal family in the film and her own, where men are not in charge and one is free to live life to the full.
He just won, al Bif&st 2024il Mariangela Melato Award for best leading actress for his interpretation ne My place is herebringing the awards given to the film to 2 Cristiano Bortone e Daniela Portowhich won the Giuliano Montaldo Award for Director. Let's talk about Ludovica Martino, who is neither a novice actress nor a little-known face. Alternating between cinema and TV, and via streaming, the actress starred in God help us, Don Matteo and above all in Shame on Italyfor which he won a Silver Ribbon it's a Cheep d'Oro. We saw her for the first time on the big screen in Ithe Championand we remember her in Under the Riccione sun it's not The best daysand even if we missed something, we can say with certainty that the film that brought her to Bari International Film Festival it is one of his best performances. First of all Ludovica she is the female protagonist of the film, and therefore carries the story forward (along with Marco Leonardi). And then he learned to master the post-World War II Calabrian dialect. His character is called Marta and she dishonored her family by becoming pregnant even though she was unmarried. Thus, the only way she can rehabilitate herself in the eyes of the people of the small town where she lives is to marry an older man and take care of the latter's daughters and house. In her, however, flows the blood of rebellion and a sacrosanct feminism that leads her to seek emancipation through professional fulfillment.
Let's meet Ludovica Martino in the Hotel delle Nazioni in Bari. Outside the sky is clear and the day is magnificent, while inside the lights are soft and the light blue of the walls makes you think of an old science fiction film. There Martino her hair is tied and she is dressed casually. The color of her hair and her complexion make her almost Titian-esque and, since in the film she becomes friends with a man named Lorenzo, despised for her homosexuality, we ask him to explain what impact she has on the character of Marta the friendship with Lorenzo.
“Lorenzo represents the novelty” – he says – “as well as the initiative and a possibility of changing the cards on the table, because Marta initially he is very compliant. My character has a very broad emotional arc, initially imprisoned in a reality from which he would like to escape, but perhaps he doesn't have the courage to do so nor the tools. Maybe he is Lorenzo his tool, his lifeline, his chance to glimpse a light and a new future after a terrible loss. Lorenzoabove all, it is the weapon with which to fight his condition of submission and shame”.
My Place is Here is definitely something new for you and I imagine that Marco Leonardi, who is a sensitive person as well as a talented actor, has been a good working partner.
In Marco I found a person who was ready to welcome others. She never said to me, “I am Marco Leonardi, while you are a young girl. Now let's dedicate ourselves to this scene, after which I'll mind my own business and go home.” Despite the many work experiences, the years of career and the important films that she has made, Marco he came to the set with the curiosity of a person my age and with the experience of an adult actor, and with incredible humanity and sincere respect towards me. I didn't expect it or demand it, and at a certain point we truly became friends. I felt I had found a shoulder, which was certainly not implied. If he hadn't been so polite and humble, perhaps I wouldn't have reached this level of understanding of Marta. It's as if she opened channels for me that would otherwise have remained a little more closed. Having such a good person and such a gifted actor in front of you helps a lot. In our profession, kindness seems obvious but it is not at all. In the world in general, hello, but in our environment we often come across somewhat arrogant actors who love to make other people uncomfortable.
Marta lives in a patriarchal society and her hell is her family. Don't you think that growing up in such an environment is detrimental to a person?
Regardless of the character that each of us has, what happens during childhood marks us forever, and in fact we pay the price. There are things that then become our fears, our insecurities, our low self-esteem. Furthermore, everything that the family of origin creates, imposes and inculcates is very often automatically replicated. I don't like patriarchy, and it probably also depends on the fact that my family has never had this approach. My mother is truly the most open person in the world: I have talked to her about sex since I was little, she has always explained everything to me. My father is a little more rigid, not because he has prejudices or believes that a daughter should be closed at home, but in the sense that he is more shy, he is ashamed and embarrassed to make certain conversations, so he sends my mother ahead. My parents always allowed me to go on trips with friends, and when I said, “I want to go alone,” they didn't object. In short, I have never been one of those daughters locked in a gilded cage. I was always told, “Go, get dirty, live, go live, go figure out what you want.”
So you don't know what a patriarchal family might be like…
Let's say I know a little because my grandmothers told me about it. Luckily my parents had a more open upbringing, and when I hear about violence against women or femicide, I wonder how it is possible that a man is allowed to behave in a certain way towards a woman. My mother would never let a man treat her badly: she is a person with great dignity and strong self-respect, and in fact she taught me to always put myself before a love or a boyfriend. So I see unacceptable things that don't exist in my universe. They only exist in my grandmothers' stories or in what I unfortunately see when I move in contexts different from the one in which I lived. The box that we women have recently opened is like Pandora's, and unfortunately patriarchy still exists, even in our own environment or in contexts very close to us.
I believe you are part of a generation that truly rejects prejudices, chauvinism, injustices. If you think about it, we've been taught that men and women are different since before we were born. Think of the pink bedroom for a little girl and the blue bedroom for the boy…
My friends who have children tell me that starting from kindergarten there is no longer this division of colors. The teachers themselves refuse it, and the families who manage to emancipate themselves do not buy things for boys or things for girls for their children but are very careful. They also care a lot about their children's nutrition, which is decidedly healthy compared to the rubbish of the 90s and 80s. Finally, still with regard to gender, they do not prohibit males from playing with Barbie dolls and females from having fun with toy cars. In this sense our generation has a completely different awareness.