After the passage in Italian cinemas, participation in the Rome Film Festival and a long international distribution, «Alberto Sordi Secret», the first docufilm dedicated to the private life of Alberto Sordi, directed and written by Igor Righetti, journalist and presenter, cousin and biographer of the actor, has arrived in Italy on Prime Video.
«In the docufilm – said Righetti – nothing is fiction, the fruit of imagination: I draw on memories experienced firsthand and those handed down by my father Alessandro and my grandfather Primo, Alberto’s uncle, through episodes of family life lived together with him. For the first time, in the film, his parents, uncles, grandparents and friends appear. The narrative reaches up to adolescence and the return to Rome of seventeen-year-old Alberto after the period spent in Milan because the most serious mistake that can be made, and unfortunately has been made by others, is to try to imitate him. There was only one of Alberto Sordi.”
«Alberto Sordi Secret», produced by Massimiliano Filippini and CameraWorks, with photography by Gianni Mammolotti, music by Maria Sicari and costumes by Stefano Giovani, is an independent project that has already received 36 awards in Italy and abroad. The work, also made in English and Spanish, was born from the book «Alberto Sordi Secret (hidden loves, foibles, regrets and slander)», written by Igor Righetti and published by Rubbettino with the preface by the critic Gianni Canova, and now in its 12th reprint.
At the base there is also a request from Sordi himself: not to make his private life public while he was alive, but to preserve memories and anecdotes for the future. The cinematic reconstruction is intertwined with the testimonies of relatives, friends and personalities from cinema, television and entertainment, including Pupi Avati, Rosanna Vaudetti, Elena de Curtis, Patrizia and Giada de Blanck.
The scenes from the 1920s and 1930s are shot in black and white, 4:3 format, with period costumes. The reconstruction is accompanied by testimonies from friends, relatives and entertainment and cultural personalities. The narration, entrusted to the voice of Dado Coletti, integrates unpublished materials from the Istituto Luce and family photographs. The docufilm shows places never open to the public, including the villa of Castiglioncello, the estate of the real Marquis del Grillo in Fabriano and the birthplace of his mother Maria Righetti in Sgurgola.
The story deals with little-known aspects of Sordi: the conflictual relationship with his father Pietro, who was against his career; the attraction to nobility; the relationship with sex experienced as a sin; jealousy for possessions; the loves never revealed; antiques and the collection of unread books; dedication to the profession; the choice to have few friends; the affection for animals and the passion for homes. Righetti starts from childhood and adolescence to tell what the public doesn’t know.
The docufilm aims to transmit to the new generations the memory of Sordi, who is also known and appreciated abroad. The soundtrack is «Alberto Nostro», a Roman ditty written and performed by Righetti and Samuele Socci, with an arrangement by Phil Bianchi. Through memories, fragility, contradictions and a spirit of observation, the docufilm shows the roots of Sordi’s ability to tell the vices, virtues and transformations of Italy, and keeping its memory alive.
The presentation took place in the Chamber of Parliamentary Groups, in a meeting promoted by the president of the Culture Commission Federico Mollicone and opened by the commissioner Paolo Trancassini.
