Lea Massari

Acting

Lea Massari

Born — Died

1933-06-30 — 2025-06-23

Place of birth

Roma, Lazio, Italy

Known for

Acting

Credits

62 titles

Anna Maria Massetani better known as Lea Massari (30 June 1933 — 23 June 2025) was an Italian actress. When she was 22, she changed her name to Lea Massari after the death of her fiancé Leo. She studied architecture in Switzerland. Massari became a celebrity in art cinema for two roles, the missing girl Anna in Michelangelo Antonioni's L'avventura (1960), and as Clara, the mother of a sexually precocious 14-year-old boy named Laurent (Benoît Ferreux) in Louis Malle's Murmur of the Heart (1971). She worked in both Italian and French Cinema. Her career includes Sergio Leone's debut Il Colosso di Rodi, and international commercial films such as Les choses de la vie. She was a member of the jury…

Known for

Spécial cinéma poster
9.5

Marcello Mastroianni, Isabelle Adjani, Alain Delon, Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen... the biggest stars in cinema were welcomed by Christian Defaye on his show Spécial cinéma. Between intimate confessions from actors and immersion in the world of the greatest filmmakers, Christian Defaye took viewers on a journey into the fascinating world of cinema for nearly thirty years.

Spécial cinéma

1974

Midi Première poster
9.0

Midi Première is a French variety show presented by Danièle Gilbert, directed by Jacques Pierre and broadcast from January 6, 1975 until January 1, 1982 on TF1. The program was generally broadcast between 12:15 p.m. and 12:55 p.m., then giving way to the 1:00 p.m. TV news. However, the broadcast schedule could change, depending on the guests, and the setting where the recording of the program was shot. Certain performances by artists who have become cult like the one where Ringo jostles with a demonstrator in interpretation (1977), that of Dalida with the title There is always a song with the soundtrack that does not start, twice, at the right speed (1978), Claude François and his Clodettes, who, in the provinces, are unable to join "the set" in order to interpret his song, the latter being taken by the crowd of delirious fans (summer 1977) . The group Supertramp performed there with the title "Dreamer" on March 8, 1975.

Midi Première

1975

Les Rendez-vous du dimanche poster
6.0

A talk show presented by Michel Drucker

Les Rendez-vous du dimanche

1975

Midi trente poster
6.0

No synopsis available yet.

Midi trente

1972

The Things of Life poster
7.1

The mind of Pierre Bérard, a successful middle-aged architect, is torn between his unstable present with Hélène, his younger lover, and his happy memories of the past with Catherine, his ex-wife; but his true destiny awaits him at a crossroads on his way to Rennes…

The Things of Life

1970

L'Avventura poster
7.5

Claudia and Anna join Anna's lover, Sandro, on a boat trip to a remote volcanic island. When Anna goes missing, a search is launched. In the meantime, Sandro and Claudia become involved in a romance despite Anna's disappearance, though the relationship suffers from guilt and tension.

L'Avventura

1960

Film credits

1980s · 5 titles

1970s · 26 titles

The Things of Life poster
7.1

The mind of Pierre Bérard, a successful middle-aged architect, is torn between his unstable present with Hélène, his younger lover, and his happy memories of the past with Catherine, his ex-wife; but his true destiny awaits him at a crossroads on his way to Rennes…

The Things of Life

1970

Murmur of the Heart poster
7.0

This loosely plotted coming-of-age tale follows the life of 15-year-old Laurent Chevalier as he stumbles his way over the burgeoning swell of adolescence in 1950s France. After having his first sexual experience with a prostitute and dodging the lips of a priest, Chevalier contracts a case of scarlet fever. When the fever leaves him with a heart murmur, Chevalier is placed in a sanatorium, along with his over-attentive and adulterous mother.

Murmur of the Heart

1971

Indian Summer poster
7.6

In Italy, the gambler and professor of poetry Daniele Dominici arrives in the seaside town of Rimini and is hired to teach for four months in the local high school replacing another teacher. His relationship with his partner Monica is in crisis and he spends most of the time with his new acquaintances and gamblers Giorgio, Marcello and Gerardo. In classroom, he meets the gorgeous nineteen years old student Vanina Abati, who is Gerardo's girlfriend.

Indian Summer

1972

The Night Caller poster
7.2

A serial-killer frightens Paris by phoning young ladies at night, telling them insults about their lives. Minos, as he calls himself, wants to prevent the world from free women and he targets at first these ones. Commissaire Letellier is given the investigation and he has hard work with the maniac.

The Night Caller

1975

The Meetings of Anna poster
7.0

Detached filmmaker Anna Silver arrives in Germany to show her latest film; over the course of some days, she encounters a variety of new and old faces, some of whom make personal revelations to her to little affect.

The Meetings of Anna

1978

A Dog Called... Vengeance poster
5.5

A political prisoner in a South American dictatorship escapes and is pursued throughout the country by a bloodthirsty dog.

A Dog Called... Vengeance

1977

Christ Stopped at Eboli poster
7.2

In the fascist Italy of 1935, a painter trained as a doctor is exiled to a remote region near Eboli. Over time, he learns to appreciate the beauty and wisdom of the peasants, and to overcome his isolation.

Christ Stopped at Eboli

1979

And Hope to Die poster
6.3

Young pilot Tony Cardot goes on the run after inadvertently crashing his plane into a group of Gypsy children. He reaches Montreal and crosses paths with American gangster Charley Ellis, who forces him to join in his gang's latest scheme.

And Hope to Die

1972

The Silent One poster
7.3

Who is Anton Haliakov, who has just been abducted by the M.I.5 in London? A Soviet scientist apparently. But sixteen years before the man had another identity, Clément Tibère, and another nationality, French. So what led him to become Russian and to change identity? And why are the British secret services interested in him?

The Silent One

1973

Allonsanfan poster
6.9

After the 1815 Restoration, an aging revolutionary finds himself reluctantly involved in an attempted insurrection in Southern Italy while growing increasingly disillusioned with his cause.

Allonsanfan

1974

Impossible Object poster
4.7

Harry is a married writer who has an affair with a woman whose husband knows that she is unfaithful. As a result of his work, Harry has trouble distinguishing between fantasy and reality leaving us to wonder whether the affair is real or just a figment of Harry's imagination.

Impossible Object

1973

Chi dice donna, dice donna poster
6.2

Film in five episodes on the female universe. Among the women portrayed, neglected wives who become prostitutes, a worker who improvises a sexy bomb and a priestess who gives herself as wife to an emigrant.

Chi dice donna, dice donna

1976

The Probability Factor poster
4.2

Fred works for an insurance company as a computer engineer. He is bored with enduring the trials of his shrewish wife, so, after using actuarial tables to calculate the most common means of death, he cleverly prepares the family bathroom and brings about her demise. For a while he is content with his new freedom, but then he recognizes that a friend is in a similar situation.

The Probability Factor

1976

The Woman in Blue poster
5.7

Leading man Michel Piccoli plays Pierre, a young musician who briefly catches sight of a beautiful woman dressed in blue and soon spends all of his time trying to track her down. After roaming the streets of Paris in search of the mystery woman, he recruits an old friend to help find her.

The Woman in Blue

1973

Devil's Ransom poster
7.0

A rich industrialist is accused of a crime he didn't commit. But every single clue leads to him.

Devil's Ransom

1971

No artwork available
9.0

A young man struggling with reality and dreams finds himself caught between his fantasies and the harshness of everyday life. As he drifts through surreal encounters and romantic aspirations, he must confront the limits of his imagination and the disappointments of the real world.

Sale rêveur

1978

Violette & Francois poster
6.1

Violette and François are a couple with a child. As they cannot lead a good life with odd jobs, François starts to steal.

Violette & Francois

1977

The Son poster
5.5

Ange leaves New York to fly to his native Corsica. His mother is dying and Ange, who was not present when his father died, wishes to be present at her death. In Corsica Ange finds his brother Baptiste who married Maria, the woman he loved. He finds out that his father was killed, but nobody wants to tell him the name of the killer. And finally he finds two killers expecting him.

The Son

1973

Edipo Re poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Edipo Re

1977

Céleste poster
7.0

Georges Cazenave, a " politically committed" French TV reporter leads a good life. Besides having a regular mistress in the person of Hélène, he is a ladies man with "a girl in every port". But this comfortable situation is challenged the day he hires Céleste as his housemaid. A Portuguese immigrant, she soon appears to be a Marxist-Leninist activist, engaged in political groups working against the regime of Salazar, the dictator of Portugal. Geoges and Céleste fall in love with each other, which brings adventure in the reporter's hitherto superficial life, upset by a breakup with Hélène, the interference of the French Secret Service and a touch of terrorism.

Céleste

1970

Faces of Love poster
6.1

After 10 years separation from his wife, a film director (Jean-Louis Trintignant), imagines he can make up with her by giving her a part in his next film, an adaptation of Tshekov's "Three Sisters". He goes location scouting and stays in Bex, a Spa near Lake Leman, together with the three actresses : Julie, his ex-wife (Delphine Seyrig), the mysterious Cecilia, that his producer wants him to take (Lea Massari), and Esther (Valérie Mairesse), a teenager. They all stay in an old decaying hotel. In this isolated mansion the four of them will fight but also discover each other.

Faces of Love

1977

Stream Line poster
7.0

Rome, October 16, 1943. The Germans deport the relatives and friends of the little Giacomo Treves who fortunately escapes capture. The child is entrusted by a priest, Don Luigi.

Stream Line

1976

Bloody Murder poster
5.2

Hélène, an antique dealer and her husband Georges, a respected doctor, live in a beautiful property and gives everyone the image of conjugal happiness. The children, Daniel and Nadine, are busy with their studies and their loves. The bourgeois life of Hélène is troubled by the murder of her lover, Philippe, a friend of her son. She finds the body when she goes to one of their appointments. In shock, she still thinks to take away the address book of the victim where her name appears - object compromising for her marriage. The police are interested in her. A stranger blackmails her. She is caught in a gear that she can not get out of. She then suspects that all is a revenge from her husband.

Bloody Murder

1974

Antonio Gramsci: The Days of Prison poster
6.9

Antonio Gramsci, sentenced to twenty years in prison by the fascist tribunals, relives the stages of his political career and private life.

Antonio Gramsci: The Days of Prison

1977

Le Divorcement poster
8.0

In this rambling comic tale about a man and a wife, with four children, who calmly announce to the children that they want to divorce one another, it is impossible to tell who is dissatisfied with whom about what. They had seemed to be a perfect couple. Their flabbergasted children have mixed feelings, and the most difficult thing about the divorce, besides understanding why it is taking place at all, is deciding what will happen with the couple's numerous pets.

Le Divorcement

1979

Paolo e Francesca poster
10.0

No synopsis available yet.

Paolo e Francesca

1971

1960s · 16 titles

L'Avventura poster
7.5

Claudia and Anna join Anna's lover, Sandro, on a boat trip to a remote volcanic island. When Anna goes missing, a search is launched. In the meantime, Sandro and Claudia become involved in a romance despite Anna's disappearance, though the relationship suffers from guilt and tension.

L'Avventura

1960

The Colossus of Rhodes poster
5.9

While on holiday in Rhodes, Athenian war hero Darios becomes involved in two different plots to overthrow the tyrannical king, one from Rhodian patriots and the other from sinister Phoenician agents.

The Colossus of Rhodes

1961

Paris Pick-Up poster
6.7

On Christmas night, an ex-convict meets a beautiful, married Italian woman who has a lot of things to hide.

Paris Pick-Up

1962

The Unvanquished poster
6.6

In this drama that alludes to the Algerian War with France of the 1960s, Thomas is a deserter from the French Foreign Legion who is on the run from authorities. He helps damsel in distress Dominique, who has been taken hostage by a group of terrorists. Thomas is wounded but manages to escape after killing the guard who inflicted the injury. Dominique gives Thomas money to escape to France after he secures her freedom, but he is caught between the Foreign Legion and the terrorists seeking revenge.

The Unvanquished

1964

The Camp Followers poster
6.7

In WWII, Lieut. Martino and his men are assigned to lead a group of prostitutes through the mountainous ways to serve in brothels for Italian soldiers in Albania.

The Camp Followers

1965

A Difficult Life poster
8.0

Silvio refuses to fight for the fascists and joins the resistance with Elena. After the war, his vitriolic newspaper articles cause him to be sentenced to imprisonment.

A Difficult Life

1961

From a Roman Balcony poster
6.6

The ironic study of a young man's poignant adventures and sensual adventures...based on "Roman Tales" by Alberto Moravia.

From a Roman Balcony

1960

The Four Days of Naples poster
7.6

September 1943. After Italy surrenders to the Allies, people in Naples believe the war is finally over, but soon they realize Germans are still in control — and as ruthless as ever. Armed with makeshift weapons, civilians rise up en masse against the invaders — and overwhelming odds.

The Four Days of Naples

1962

I Want Him Dead poster
6.3

After his sister is kidnapped and murdered, a gunslinger's plans for vengeance involve assassinating two generals to prolong the Civil War.

I Want Him Dead

1968

Made in Italy poster
6.1

A group of Italians take a flight to Sweden: among them there are the tourists, and the immigrants.

Made in Italy

1965

Conquered City poster
6.0

Filmed in 1962 but not released in the US until 1966 (with 20 of its 108 minutes removed), Conquered City is an all-star World War II drama financed in Italy and filmed in Greece. An Athens hotel, full of refugees and expatriates of all nationalities, is captured by Allied troops in the closing days of the War. British Major David Niven has been ordered to prevent a cache of weapons hidden in the hotel from falling into the hands of renegade troops. He cannot allow himself to trust anyone--not even the most innocent-looking (or attractive) of guests. Originally titled La Citta Prigioniera. Conquered City was released in English-speaking countries outside the U.S. as Captive City.

Conquered City

1962

Weeping for a Bandit poster
5.8

José María "El Tempranillo" fleeing from justice, takes refuge in Sierra Morena. After a period of hard learning, he becomes the leader of a group of bandits.

Weeping for a Bandit

1964

Garden of Delights poster
5.9

Charlo and Carla are on their honeymoon. She is three months pregnant. He, furious about his marriage of convenience, recalls the past and ponders on The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch, dear to the Surrealists. While she is bleeding, he spends the night with a beautiful stranger...

Garden of Delights

1967

Volver a vivir poster
9.0

A former soccer player is morally and mentally destroied by the death of his wife. But when he gets the chance to train a team he regains his life by making victories and also finding another love.

Volver a vivir

1968

Dreams Die at Dawn poster
10.0

Five Italian journalists live the last hours of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.

Dreams Die at Dawn

1961

No artwork available
NR

Alceste hopes to be able to live his life without hypocrisy. However, he does not realize that social habits and the necessities of life do not fit the way of conceiving his existence.

The Misanthrope

1967

1950s · 3 titles

Series credits

Spécial cinéma poster
9.5

Marcello Mastroianni, Isabelle Adjani, Alain Delon, Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen... the biggest stars in cinema were welcomed by Christian Defaye on his show Spécial cinéma. Between intimate confessions from actors and immersion in the world of the greatest filmmakers, Christian Defaye took viewers on a journey into the fascinating world of cinema for nearly thirty years.

Spécial cinéma

1974

Midi Première poster
9.0

Midi Première is a French variety show presented by Danièle Gilbert, directed by Jacques Pierre and broadcast from January 6, 1975 until January 1, 1982 on TF1. The program was generally broadcast between 12:15 p.m. and 12:55 p.m., then giving way to the 1:00 p.m. TV news. However, the broadcast schedule could change, depending on the guests, and the setting where the recording of the program was shot. Certain performances by artists who have become cult like the one where Ringo jostles with a demonstrator in interpretation (1977), that of Dalida with the title There is always a song with the soundtrack that does not start, twice, at the right speed (1978), Claude François and his Clodettes, who, in the provinces, are unable to join "the set" in order to interpret his song, the latter being taken by the crowd of delirious fans (summer 1977) . The group Supertramp performed there with the title "Dreamer" on March 8, 1975.

Midi Première

1975

Les Rendez-vous du dimanche poster
6.0

A talk show presented by Michel Drucker

Les Rendez-vous du dimanche

1975

Midi trente poster
6.0

No synopsis available yet.

Midi trente

1972

Anna Karenina poster
5.8

In Imperial Russia, Anna, wife of the officer Karenin, goes to Moscow to visit her brother. On the way, she meets charming cavalry officer Vronsky, to whom she's immediately attracted. But in St. Petersburg’s high society, a relationship like this could destroy a woman’s reputation.

Anna Karenina

1974

Io, Gigliola poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Io, Gigliola

1966

The Brothers Karamazov poster
9.4

Italian adaptation of Dostoevskys famous novel.

The Brothers Karamazov

1969

No artwork available
NR

Virginia is shocked to learn that her 25-year marriage to Maurizio has been marred by infidelity. She finds comfort in her two daughters and in Silvano, her longtime admirer, a cellist in the local symphony orchestra.

Una donna spezzata

1989