Francesca Bertini

In this entry of the blog, we are going to talk about one of the most popular celebrities of the Italian silent films of the 20^th century.

This actress was born in Florence, the 11st April of 1892, and she died in Rome, the 13rd October of 1985. She starred in more than seventy silent films and she also acted in some sound films.

The first years of her acting career took place in the city of Napoles, where she was highlighted as a very good actress while performing in the New Theater. It was her role in the film “Il trovatore (1910), which made a point in her career with the FAI company. In no more than ten years, she enchanted the Italian and foreign public  with her beauty and acting skills. She signed a contract with “Celio Film” to perform in the film “Idilio trágico” (1912) written by Emilio Ghione. After a while, Giuseppe Barattolo hired her to appear in his films (even calling his company “Bertini Films”). During her last years, she had a competitor called Lyda Borelli, but the image of Francesca Bertini always seemed more interesting for the male public.

She always acted with personality in all her roles, imposing a smart and elegant style. She had a good relation with the camera and the directors, as well as she gave the best of herself in every interpretation, above all taking care of her image.

In only one decade, she played more than seventy roles, the majority of her films were dramas that ended badly, passionate stories caused by women’s jealousy that leads them to suicide or to being murdered.

In 1921, when she was going to sign a contract with the Fox company in Hollywood, she decided to give up on playing role for a while, when she married Paul Cartier.

Her first appearance in a sound film was her role in “Mujer de una noche” (1930), that film was versioned in German, French and Italian. Four years later, L’Herbier was her director in the second version of Odette. Some years later, she made some short appearances in other films. During the Second Word War, she lived in Madrid, enabling her to participate in the film Dora, la espía (1943) in Barcelona, while she played a role in the theater (La dama de las camelias), which awarded her with a great success. She appeared for the last time in the film Novecento (1976) by Bernardo Bertolucci.

In 1983, Gianfranco Mingozzi shot a documentary about her life, called L'ultima diva, where he offers a very interesting image that helps us to understand her significance as an actress and one of the most glorious times of the Italian cinema. Regretfully, a lot of Francesca Bertini’s films have disappeared.