It’s been a few years since Alba Rohrwacher visited the film festival. Once again, one could almost say. Because hardly any international guest enjoys coming to Munich as much as the Italian actress. Almost every year there is a film with her at the film festival, wonderful works like “Lucky Like Lazzaro”, “Hungry Hearts” or “Land of Wonders”.
One would almost like to believe that it would no longer be possible without them. Of course it’s possible, she doesn’t always have time to go to festivals: the daughter of a German father and an Italian mother, who was born in Florence, works a lot and is one of the most famous cinema faces in Italy. She also likes being in Munich because she has friends here, she revealed during the visit mentioned above – she gave interviews in a small hotel in Lehel.
At first glance, Alba Rohrwacher does not necessarily correspond to the image one has of a film star, she seems too delicate and fragile, almost inconspicuous. Sitting across from her confirms this impression. But she has an incredible presence in front of the camera, you can hardly take your eyes off her: she regularly turns the inside of her characters out, she portrays women who are at odds with themselves and their environment. “When I take on a character, I’m no longer afraid,” she said in an interview at the time. When playing, there always has to be a middle ground for her: “You have to surrender to the role and still be very conscious of what’s happening around you.”
The actress convinces in audience hits and art house films
The 43-year-old can look back on almost twenty years of film career, she convinces in art house films and hits with the public. Among other things, she was part of the ensemble of “Perfetti sconosciuti”, the Italian comedy phenomenon, which has been filmed all over the world, including in Germany as “The Perfect Secret”.
She has also shot in Germany, in 2012 she played an Eastern European prostitute in Doris Dörrie’s film adaptation of the Ferdinand von Schirach short story “Glück”. “I understand German, but I don’t speak it very well,” she revealed at the interview in Lehel, which is why an interpreter was at her side. But then she answered in a wonderful mixture of Italian, German and English.
Her latest film “The Peacock Paradise” is again a purely Italian production, directed by the Roman Laura Bispuri. She has worked with her on several occasions, as well as with her sister, the director Alice Rohrwacher. In the new film, Alba Rohrwacher embodies a woman who drives to a family celebration with her husband and daughter – they take the peacock they keep as a pet in the back seat of the car.
The Adelina she plays feels similarly out of place; she wears a flashy leopard skin jacket, although she doesn’t want to attract attention. She also constantly holds her hands to her protruding ears, although they are not protruding at all. And she is least happy about the good news she has to announce.
Alba Rohrwacher becomes on Sunday, June 26, the screening at the Astor cinema to visit; the film festival gives her the Cine Merit Award on the occasion. This prize is awarded every year, the festival wants to use it to honor “outstanding personalities in international filmmaking for their services to the art of film”. Most recently, stars such as Emma Thompson, Antonio Banderas, Isabelle Huppert, Ralph Fiennes and Ellen Bursty received it; so there was always a bit of Hollywood flair in Munich. Alba Rohrwacher may not be able to keep up there, she is too closely connected to European cinema for that. Of course, she is still a worthy winner. Filmfest boss Diana Iljine knows this too, and praises her “reduced, precise acting and her changeability”.