Marcello Mastroianni: mi ricordo, sì, io mi ricordo

Marcello Mastroianni’s life partner for many years, Anna Maria Tatò filmed him during the breaks between shooting his last film Viagem ao Princípio do Mondo (Voyage to the Beginning of the World, Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal/France 1997) while he was already seriously ill. Mastroianni’s recollections from this time also formed the basis for the book published the same year entitled “Yes, I Remember”. Interspersed with rare archive footage, including sequences that show him working on a never-completed Fellini film, Mastroianni talks about working in theater, about Visconti, his love of Chekhov, his brother Ruggero and his parents, early cinema experiences, the impressive energy of the 88-year-old Manoel de Oliveira and uncompleted projects. Mastroianni’s recollections show that he wasn’t just an extraordinarily talented actor, but also a very talented narrator. After a birthday serenade by the film team for his 72nd birthday, the film ends with Marcello Mastroianni in the Portuguese mountains, delivering Kafka’s parable on the brevity of life “The Next Village”. (Hans-Joachim Fetzer)