Laura Betti

Acting

Laura Betti

Born — Died

1927-05-01 — 2004-07-31

Place of birth

Casalecchio di Reno, Emilia-Romagna, Italy

Known for

Acting

Credits

71 titles

Laura Betti (née Trombetti; 1 May 1927 – 31 July 2004) was an Italian actress known particularly for her work with directors Federico Fellini, Pier Paolo Pasolini and Bernardo Bertolucci. She had a long friendship with Pasolini and made a documentary about him in 2001. Betti became famous for portraying bizarre, grotesque, eccentric, unstable or maniacal roles, like Regina in Bernardo Bertolucci's 1900, Anna the medium in Twitch of the Death Nerve, Giovanna la pazza in Woman Buried Alive, hysterical Rita Zigai in Sbatti il mostro in prima pagina, Therese in Private Vices, Public Virtues, Emilia the servant in Pier Paolo Pasolini's Teorema for which she won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress, an…

Known for

Discorama poster
8.0

No synopsis available yet.

Discorama

1959

La Dolce Vita poster
8.0

Episodic journey of journalist Marcello who struggles to find his place in the world, torn between the allure of Rome's elite social scene and the stifling domesticity offered by his girlfriend, all the while searching for a way to become a serious writer.

La Dolce Vita

1960

A Bay of Blood poster
6.5

An elderly heiress is killed by her husband who wants control of her fortunes. What ensues is an all-out murder spree as relatives and friends attempt to reduce the inheritance playing field, complicated by some teenagers who decide to camp out in a dilapidated building on the estate.

A Bay of Blood

1971

Theorem poster
7.0

A wealthy Italian household is turned upside down when a handsome stranger arrives, seduces every family member and then disappears. Each has an epiphany of sorts, but none can figure out who the seductive visitor was or why he came.

Theorem

1968

The Witches poster
6.0

Five short stories loosely dealing with the roles of women in society. A superstar actress travels to a mountain resort, only to evoke jealousy from women and lust from men. A woman offers to take an injured man to the hospital. A widowed father and his son seek for a new wife/mother. A man seeks revenge for a woman's honor. A bored housewife tries to explain to her husband that he's not as romantic as he used to be.

The Witches

1967

Jane B. by Agnès V. poster
6.8

The interests, obsessions, and fantasies of two singular artists converge in this inspired collaboration between Agnès Varda and her longtime friend Jane Birkin. Made over the course of a year and motivated by Birkin’s fourtieth birthday—a milestone she admits to have some anxiety over—Jane B. by Agnès V. contrasts the private, reflective Birkin with Birkin the icon.

Jane B. by Agnès V.

1988

Film credits

2000s · 7 titles

Fat Girl poster
6.1

Anaïs is twelve and bears the weight of the world on her shoulders. She watches her older sister, Elena, whom she both loves and hates. Elena is fifteen and devilishly beautiful. Neither more futile, nor more stupid than her younger sister, she cannot understand that she is merely an object of desire. And, as such, she can only be taken. Or had. Indeed, this is the subject: a girl's loss of virginity. And, that summer, it opens a door to tragedy.

Fat Girl

2001

The Beaches of Agnès poster
7.7

Filmmaking icon Agnès Varda, the award-winning director regarded by many as the grandmother of the French new wave, turns the camera on herself with this unique autobiographical documentary. Composed of film excerpts and elaborate dramatic re-creations, Varda's self-portrait recounts the highs and lows of her professional career, the many friendships that affected her life and her longtime marriage to cinematic giant Jacques Demy.

The Beaches of Agnès

2008

Happiness Costs Nothing poster
3.9

A man in his forties has had enough. He leaves his loveless family, uninspiring job and fake friends and tries to find something more. He meets a young woman he falls for, but she puts him on the test.

Happiness Costs Nothing

2003

Raul - Right to Kill poster
9.0

In a fascist Rome anxiously awaiting Hitler's visit, Raul is a young man not aligned with the regime and beset by debts. In May 1938, Raul kills an old usurer and her sister: not out of necessity, but to investigate the concept of the "right to kill" ... who can motivate it and assume the right?

Raul - Right to Kill

2005

Renzo e Lucia poster
9.0

Loose adaptation of Italy's national epic, Alessandro Manzoni's “The Betrothed”. In war-torn 17th century Italy, shady feudal lord Don Rodrigo eyes young and beautiful Lucia, who loves—and is reciprocated by—commoner Renzo. The two lovers plan to marry in secret, but Rodrigo discovers it and they are forced to flee their village, becoming separated and each facing many dangers, including the Plague.

Renzo e Lucia

2004

Fratella e Sorello poster
10.0

The story of an unlikely friendship between two men: Giocondo, a wealthy upper middle class man passionately in love with Nono, a black strip-teaser who has ruined him; and the Snake, a male strip-teaser who has traveled all over the world on cruising boats, a tough guy made tougher after a treachery by one of his friends. They meet in jail, where they are kept for different reasons and a strong, brotherly link is born between them.

Fratella e Sorello

2005

Pasolini and the Secret Humiliation of Chaucer poster
6.0

Documentary about the making of Pier Paolo Pasolini's The Canterbury Tales (1972), and particularly focusing on the many edits and cut scenes that were made before the film's release.

Pasolini and the Secret Humiliation of Chaucer

2006

1990s · 9 titles

Gallant Ladies poster
4.0

Despite being busy with his profession of soldiery, Brantome manages to find much more time for amorous dalliances with the ladies of the 16th-century French court than for battles. Unfortunately for him, his true love, Victoire, is beyond his reach most of the time. He more than compensates for this in the arms of others.

Gallant Ladies

1990

With Closed Eyes poster
7.2

In the Tuscan countryside at the end of the 19th century, Pietro, the shy son of a tyrannical landowner, falls in love with Ghisola, a peasant girl with no family. His father has her sent away. Years later, the two meet again: still in love with her, Pietro would like to marry her, but she has become the mistress of a married man.

With Closed Eyes

1994

Un eroe borghese poster
6.7

1979. Lawyer Giorgio Ambrosoli is appointed liquidator of Banca Privata Italiana, the empire of mighty financier Michele Sindona. Teaming up with unassuming cop Silvio Novembre, Ambrosoli uncovers the real scope of Sindona's malpractice, exposing him as the middleman in a global network linking the Sicilian Mafia, Italy's ruling Christian Democrats, and CIA-backed covert operations across Western Europe. Isolated by his own government and pressured by mob hitmen, Ambrosoli refuses to back down, insisting he is simply 'doing his duty'.

Un eroe borghese

1995

The Great Pumpkin poster
6.7

An epileptic 12-year-old girl, Pippi, is hospitalized in the psychiatric ward instead of the neurological ward, due to an administration error. Out of this mistake begins the difficult journey towards being cured.

The Great Pumpkin

1993

La ribelle poster
4.8

Enza is a beautiful and lively Sicilian teenager who is starting out in life, but due to her naivety, she always ends up getting into trouble. She has no parents, but lives with her aunt and uncle together with her older sister who acts as her mother and tries to put her on the right path, even ending up in prison for some time. Enza, keeping faith with her rebellious nature, falls in love with Sebastiano, with whom she has her first sexual relations, but for him she also goes as far as stealing. All men are the same.

La ribelle

1993

Mario, Maria and Mario poster
5.8

Mario and Maria Boschi, a 30-year-old couple with small children, are hit by a crisis: husband and wife cannot agree on a party name. A colleague, also named Mario, makes an impressive speech, and Maria find herself increasingly attracted to him. She feels able to relate to him like she could to her husband in the old days. They spend the night together, and she falls ill. When she is asked by her husband to leave the house, she realizes that there may be a difference between real love and a vague need for understanding.

Mario, Maria and Mario

1993

Marianna Ucrìa poster
6.7

In 18th-century Sicily, deaf-mute highborn Marianna Ucrìa is forced to marry at age 13, bearing three children before even turning 16, when she finally gives birth to a boy. Despite everything, she'll find a way to emancipate herself from the oppressive social conventions of the time.

Marianna Ucrìa

1997

The Protagonists poster
5.3

An Italian movie crew goes to London to make a documentary about a murder case that took place a few years before.

The Protagonists

1999

Suffocating Heat poster
8.0

On June 30, 1990, in Rome, Marie Christine is getting ready to take her son Pietro and Paolo to their father for the weekend. As the Football World Cup is taking place in Italy, Rome is flooded with supporters; the traffic is chaotic and French-born Marie Christine, who works as a translator, finds a bag that belongs to Miriam, who must leave the next day. Marie Christine decides to find her to return her passport, but one Giuliano Ferrini tries to prevent this. So Marie Christine finds herself navigating through a hot Roman night in a city she doesn't know, among people she never dreamed could inhabit the same city.

Suffocating Heat

1991

1980s · 12 titles

Jane B. by Agnès V. poster
6.8

The interests, obsessions, and fantasies of two singular artists converge in this inspired collaboration between Agnès Varda and her longtime friend Jane Birkin. Made over the course of a year and motivated by Birkin’s fourtieth birthday—a milestone she admits to have some anxiety over—Jane B. by Agnès V. contrasts the private, reflective Birkin with Birkin the icon.

Jane B. by Agnès V.

1988

Widow's Walk poster
5.7

Molinat is assigned to the case of a man found with a bullet in his ear on the shore of a little Atlantic coast resort he knows well. Indeed, he used to live there before his wife disappeared at sea, never to be found again. As the ocean rejects a new corpse everyday, the mystery thickens and the list of potential suspects grows longer. This slows Molinat's progress as much as the cumbersome Leroyer, sent in to spy on him and hopefully impede his progress. The tension mounts and the ring involving the three young ladies in the grey mansion, the village idiot and the real estate agent starts spinning out of control.

Widow's Walk

1987

Art of Love poster
5.3

Young student Claudine has a dream in which the Roman student Cornelius, fascinated by the beautiful wife of the commander, attends lectures on the art of love of great Ovid. Ancient tragedy repeats itself in a few centuries ...

Art of Love

1983

That Night of Varennes poster
6.9

During the French Revolution, a surprising company shares a coach, trying to catch up something - the time itself, perhaps.

That Night of Varennes

1982

Sweets from a Stranger poster
5.1

In Rome, a sadistic serial killer begins stalking and murdering sex workers, leaving the community terrified and the authorities struggling to stop the violence. After several attacks, four women—Lena, Angela, Nadine, and Stella—decide they can’t wait to be the next victims, and band together to protect each other and take a more active role in the search. As police pressure mounts and the women start digging for clues on their own, the hunt turns the city into a tense web of fear, rumors, and suspicion.

Sweets from a Stranger

1987

Class Relations poster
6.8

A young man, recently arrived in New York from Europe, becomes swept up in a series of events that are beyond his knowledge or control.

Class Relations

1984

The Defective Detective poster
7.2

Lewis plays a Las Vegas policeman visiting his ex-wife in France, only to be caught up in the shenanigans of a group of art thieves. His ex-wife has remarried and her husband is undercover among the art thieves, carrying out an assignment given him by his superiors in the police force. Inevitably, the current husband and the ex-husband are bound to clash.

The Defective Detective

1984

Whoever Says the Truth Shall Die poster
5.7

Philo Bregstein tells us this film looks at Pasolini's life and art to explain why he died. The film traces Pasolini's life chronologically - family roots, hiding during World War II, teaching, moving to Rome, being arrested and acquitted many times, publishing poems, getting into film, being provocative, and being murdered. Interviews with Alberto Moravia, Laura Betti, Maria Antonietta Macciocch, and Bernard Bertolucci are inter-cut with readings of Pasolini's poems and with clips from four films - primarily the Gospel According to St. Matthew - to illustrate his changing ideas and points of view. Bregstein makes a case for Pasolini's being lynched.

Whoever Says the Truth Shall Die

1981

Blame it on Paradise poster
6.5

A former convict discovers that his son has been adopted by a couple living on the mountains and tries to establish a contact with him

Blame it on Paradise

1985

Far from Manhattan poster
7.4

Christian, an art critic, must write a study on the painter René Dimanche in order to understand why he did not produce anything for eight years. He asks his friend Ingrid to help him break through this mystery.

Far from Manhattan

1982

I cammelli poster
5.9

Ferruccio, who knows everything about camels, and Camillo, who acts as his manager, go to Milan to take part in a telequiz.

I cammelli

1988

My Name Is Anna Magnani poster
8.7

Traces the life of Anna Magnani, her creations, her successes, her triumphs, her boycotted career, her nonconformism, her anxieties, her generosity ... Punctuated with photos that tell her career in theater and cinema, Extracts of films, this documentary portrait also gives the floor to his friends and relatives, from Roberto Rossellini to Marcello Mastroianni, through Federico Fellini.

My Name Is Anna Magnani

1980

1970s · 19 titles

A Bay of Blood poster
6.5

An elderly heiress is killed by her husband who wants control of her fortunes. What ensues is an all-out murder spree as relatives and friends attempt to reduce the inheritance playing field, complicated by some teenagers who decide to camp out in a dilapidated building on the estate.

A Bay of Blood

1971

1900 poster
7.8

The epic tale of a class struggle in twentieth century Italy, as seen through the eyes of two childhood friends on opposing sides.

1900

1976

The Canterbury Tales poster
6.1

Glimpses of Chaucer penning his famous work are sprinkled through this re-enactment of several of his stories.

The Canterbury Tales

1972

A Man Called Sledge poster
6.1

James Garner is Luther Sledge, the leader of a pack of rebels who are planning to steal a stash of gold. But after the thieves actually manage to get away with the bounty, they soon discover that the enemy lies within their midst. As they begin to bicker over who should get the biggest cut, the stage is set for a deadly showdown. Claude Akins and John Marley co-star in this Italian Western directed by Vic Morrow.

A Man Called Sledge

1970

The Cousin poster
5.4

Italian coming of age story about two cousins, Enzo and Agata, told in three stages.

The Cousin

1974

The Woman with Red Boots poster
5.7

An elderly millionaire manipulates an avant-garde writer and a happily married man.

The Woman with Red Boots

1974

Hatchet for the Honeymoon poster
6.4

A madman haunted by the ghost of his ex-wife carves a corpse-laden trail.

Hatchet for the Honeymoon

1970

Slap the Monster on Page One poster
7.7

Days before the general election, after a girl from a rich family is murdered in an attempted rape, the editor-in-chief of a conservative tabloid tries to derail the police investigation in order to help the right-wing candidates supported by his bosses.

Slap the Monster on Page One

1972

Butterfly on the Shoulder poster
6.0

On a stopover in Barcelona, Fériaud Roland discovers a corpse in the hotel room next door. He wakes up in a strange clinic without remembering who brought him there. The doctor insists he hallucinated, but it's not long before he obtains evidence that it wasn't a dream.

Butterfly on the Shoulder

1978

The Gang poster
6.1

In 1945, as World War Two comes to a close, five small time crooks unite to form a gang. After several bold robberies they become notorious as "the front-wheel drive gang". The police attempt to stop their crime spree with little success, but how long will their luck last?

The Gang

1977

ABCinema poster
6.0

No synopsis available yet.

ABCinema

1975

Sonny and Jed poster
5.8

As thoroughly unlikeable a robber as ever walked the West, Joe nonetheless robs from the rich and gives to the poor. Not only is he a murderous, ill-tempered sort, he is bad-mannered, too. When beautiful Sonny decides he should be her man and teach her how to be a proper outlaw, sparks fly.

Sonny and Jed

1972

Private Vices, Public Virtues poster
5.2

The setting is a Central European kingdom, near the turn of the century. Bored by his very proper wife, the youthful heir to the throne spends his time in amorous dalliances at a sprawling country estate. His wife departs at the arrival of his friends, and they organize a celebration which becomes a wild orgy and culminates in death and tragedy.

Private Vices, Public Virtues

1976

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

In the Name of the Father poster
6.4

In 1958 Angelo, a rich and spoiled boy, enters a religious school, where students are tired of its vice-rector, and the strict rules and old-fashioned teaching methods of priests. Soon, Angelo exerts strong leadership among his peers and incites turmoil among them, helped by intellectual Franco and shy Camma. They expel the prefect from the school, organize a Grand Guignol show, and disappear the corpse of an old professor.

In the Name of the Father

1971

Lovers and Liars poster
4.3

An American actress on vacation in Italy falls for her friend's married Italian lover.

Lovers and Liars

1979

The Murri Affair poster
6.6

Based on a true incident, this tells the story of a troubled young man who kills his sister's reactionary, violent and abusive husband and is eventually arrested for the murder. However, the dead husband happened to be a member of the Italian nobility, and the trial starts to turn into more of a prosecution of the defendant's socialist politics and the activities of his father, a well known liberal social reformer, than the actual crime itself.

The Murri Affair

1974

Woman Buried Alive poster
3.5

Duke Philippe marries Cristina, the daughter of a fisherman. But his brothers, seeing that they would be cut from the family inheritance set to go to Cristina, decide to get rid of her by imprisoning her in a tower and making the duke believe she died.

Woman Buried Alive

1973

Stop the World... I Want to Get Off! poster
7.8

Young protesters live together in a commune in Milano. One has a ventriloquist ability and is signed by national TV becoming a superstar in commercials aimed for kids. One by one his commune friends leave the protest to enter the business world except for one.

Stop the World... I Want to Get Off!

1970

1960s · 11 titles

La Dolce Vita poster
8.0

Episodic journey of journalist Marcello who struggles to find his place in the world, torn between the allure of Rome's elite social scene and the stifling domesticity offered by his girlfriend, all the while searching for a way to become a serious writer.

La Dolce Vita

1960

Theorem poster
7.0

A wealthy Italian household is turned upside down when a handsome stranger arrives, seduces every family member and then disappears. Each has an epiphany of sorts, but none can figure out who the seductive visitor was or why he came.

Theorem

1968

The Witches poster
6.0

Five short stories loosely dealing with the roles of women in society. A superstar actress travels to a mountain resort, only to evoke jealousy from women and lust from men. A woman offers to take an injured man to the hospital. A widowed father and his son seek for a new wife/mother. A man seeks revenge for a woman's honor. A bored housewife tries to explain to her husband that he's not as romantic as he used to be.

The Witches

1967

Oedipus Rex poster
6.8

In pre-war Italy, a young couple have a baby boy. The father, however, is jealous of his son - and the scene moves to antiquity, where the baby is taken into the desert to be killed. He is rescued, given the name Oedipus, and brought up by the King and Queen of Corinth as their son. One day an oracle informs Oedipus that he is destined to kill his father and marry his mother. Horrified, he flees Corinth and his supposed parents - only to get into a fight and kill an older man on the road…

Oedipus Rex

1967

Ro.Go.Pa.G. poster
7.2

Four short films by four different directors dealing with the principles of modern life. "Illibatezza" (Rossellini): The hostess Anna Maria, to dissuade an aggressive suitor who prefers maternal tendencies, assumes an unscrupulous attitude, obeying the suggestions of her distant boyfriend. "The New World" (Godard): The deflagration of an atomic bomb causes strange effects on the inhabitants of a city. "La ricotta" (Pasolini): During the filming of a film about a religious subject, the extra Stracci dies hanging on the cross due to an indigestion of ricotta. "Il pollo spante" (Gregoretti): While an expert illustrates to a board of merchants the most modern techniques to increase sales through the discovery of the secret self of the average consumer, the human story of a bourgeois who, following these suggestions, focuses on the purchase of a plot of land in the countryside.

Ro.Go.Pa.G.

1963

Escape by Night poster
7.0

In Nazi-occupied Rome, a beautiful bootlegger, to the chagrin of her lover, gives sanctuary to three escaped POWs: an American pilot, a Russian sergeant and a British major.

Escape by Night

1960

Caprice Italian Style poster
6.1

The film consists of six short stories created by different directors, but all the stories share one thing: a warm irony to current events.

Caprice Italian Style

1968

Paulina Is Leaving poster
4.0

Paulina leaves the apartment where she lives with her two brothers, Nicolas and Olivier. Her departure is mark by chaotic and sometimes brutal confrontations. Thrust into a world of madness and violence (or is it gaslighting?), Paulina is shuttled from a psychiatric institution to a brothel, while her brothers become resistance fighters in some enigmatic version of France.

Paulina Is Leaving

1969

What Are the Clouds? poster
8.5

Some puppets come to life in a theater with no windows. This time the puppets interpret William Shakespeare's Othello.

What Are the Clouds?

1968

La ricotta poster
6.4

Pier Paolo Pasolini's contribution to the omnibus film "RO.GO.PA.G" casts Orson Welles as a director attempting to make a film of the crucifixion of Jesus-all while he, the cast, and crew behave in the most un-Christlike ways imaginable.

La ricotta

1963

The Earth As Seen from the Moon poster
8.1

Ciancicato Miao and his son, after the death of his wife and mother by mushroom poisoning, are dedicated to find her replacement and have no luck until they find a mysterious deaf mute green-haired woman.

The Earth As Seen from the Moon

1967

Series credits

Behind the camera