Marina Pierro

Marina Pierro (born 9 October 1956) is an Italian actress and film director who is best known for her artistic relationship with Polish filmmaker Walerian Borowczyk. Pierro and Borowczyks collaboration lasted approximately ten years and comprised five completed films (four of which were made when Pierro was in her twenties) and one foray into episodic television.Pierro began her screen career with minor roles in several Italian films in 1976, including Luchino Viscontis final film, Linnocente (The Innocent), and an uncredited appearance as an extra in Dario Argentos Suspiria (1977). Pierros first prominent role was as the self-styled stigmatic nun Sister Veronica in Walerian Borowczyks 1978 film Interno di un Convento (Behind Convent Walls). Borowczyk discovered Pierro in an actors yearbook whilst casting the film. Pierro admired Borowczyks famous 1975 film La Bête (The Beast) and upon meeting the director she discovered they shared an interest in art, particularly painting. Pierro perceived Borowczyk to be a non-conformist by nature but also a sensitive man. Borowczyk told Pierro that, as a fan of Italian Renaissance painters, he found in her the classic Italian figure.Pierro went on to play the Renaissance artist Raphaels treacherous mistress Margherita Luti in the first episode of Borowczyks 1979 anthology film Héroïnes du Mal (Immoral Women), a quasi-sequel to the directors 1973 erotic anthology film Contes immoraux (Immoral Tales).Borowczyk intended to make a film about the life of the Egyptian queen Nefertiti starring Pierro, but this film was aborted in the preparation stage. Instead, Pierros third film with Borowczyk was the 1981 horror film Docteur Jekyll et les femmes (a.k.a. Dr Jekyll and his Women and Blood of Dr Jekyll). In Borowczyks adaptation of Robert Louis Stevensons Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Pierro plays Fanny Osbourne (named after Stevensons real-life wife), the fiancée of Dr Henry Jekyll (Udo Kier) and essentially an original character on the part of Borowczyk and Pierro. Relatively obscure at the time of its release, Docteur Jekyll et les femmes has enjoyed increasing critical esteem decades later. A restored version of the film was released by Arrow Films in 2015 as The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Miss Osbourne, reflecting Borowczyks preferred original title and the importance of Pierros character in the narrative. (Pierro has remarked that the title Docteur Jekyll et les femmes is psychologically peurile and misinterprets the whole idea of the film.)Pierros fourth film with Borowczyk was 1983s Ars Amandi (Art of Love). In this film - based upon a poem by Ovid - Pierro stars as Claudia, the wife of a Roman commander, Macarius (Michele Placido), in Augustan Rome. Pierro also starred in Borowczyks final feature-length film, 1987s love poem Ceremonie damour (Love Rites) as Myriam, a mysterious and philosophical prostitute who meets and seduces the vain, naive clothes buyer Hugo (Mathieu Carrière) in the Paris Métro. The film is based on the novel Tout disparaîtra by André Pieyre de Mandiargues. This was the first and only time Pierro played a modern-day character in a Borowczyk film; her previous roles for the director were all set in historical periods of the past.However, Borowczyk and Pierro returned to a period setting for their final collaboration: “Un traitement justifié”, an episode of the French erotic television series Softly from Paris (a.k.a Série rose). Filmed in 1989 and first broadcast on 3 February 1990, Pierro plays an adulterous wife in an episode adapted from the fifth tale of the seventh night in Giovanni Boccaccio’s 14th century collection The Decameron. A jealous, middle-aged husband (Witold Heretynski) disguises himself as a priest, and hears his wife Biancas confession: she tells him she loves a priest who comes to her every night. The husband posts himself at the door to watch for the priest; meanwhile, Bianca takes advantage of a gap in the wall to bring her young lover - the next-door neighbor, who is not a priest - into her house for erotic encounters.Besides her work with Borowczyk, Pierros most notable role was in Jean Rollins 1982 French horror film La Morte Vivante (The Living Dead Girl) as Hélène, the friend of the titular character (played by Françoise Blanchard).Pierros appearances on screen have been fleeting since the 1980s, but she has directed three short films since - In Versi (2008, also starring), Himorogi (2012, also writer/producer), and Floaters (2016, also writer/producer). Himorogi is a homage to Walerian Borowczyk that features electroacoustic music by Bernard Parmegiani (who had provided music for Docteur Jekyll at les femmes three decades before) and is co-directed by Pierros son Alessio Pierro (the cinematographer of Pierros three short films). Himorogi is included as an extra feature in Arrow Films Blu-ray release of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Miss Osbourne; another feature is a video interview Pierro recorded in 2015, recounting her decade-long collaboration with Borowczyk.

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