Lina Wertmüller
| Lina Wertmüller | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
Arcangela Felice Assunta Wertmüller von Elgg Español von Braueich 14 August 1928 Rome, Italy |
| Occupation | Screenwriter, film director |
| Spouse(s) | Enrico Job (died 4 March 2008) |
Lina Wertmüller (Italian: [ˈliːna vertˈmuller]; born 14 August 1928) is an Italian screenwriter and film director. She was the first woman nominated for an Academy Award for Directing Seven Beauties. She is also known for her films The Seduction of Mimi, Love and Anarchy and Swept Away.
Wertmüller was born Arcangela Felice Assunta Wertmüller von Elgg Spañol von Braueich in Rome in 1928 to a devoutly Roman Catholic Swiss family of aristocratic descent. She was a rebellious child, and was expelled from more than a dozen Catholic schools. Though her father wanted her to become a lawyer she enrolled in theatre school.
After graduating from school, her first job was touring Europe in a puppet show. For the next ten years she worked as an actress, director and playwright in legitimate theatre. During this period she met Giancarlo Giannini, who later starred in many of her films.
Through her acquaintance with Marcello Mastroianni, she met Federico Fellini and, in 1962, Fellini offered her the assistant director position on 8½. The following year, Wertmüller made her directorial debut with The Lizards (I Basilischi). The film's subject matter—the lives of impoverished people in southern Italy—became a recurring motif in her later work.
Several moderately successful films followed, but not until 1972 did Wertmüller achieve lasting international acclaim with a series of four movies starring Giancarlo Giannini. The last, and best-received of these, was 1975's Seven Beauties (Pasqualino Sette Bellezze), which earned four Academy Award nominations and was an international hit. Wertmüller was the first woman nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director. Jane Campion, Sofia Coppola, and Kathryn Bigelow are the only other female directors nominated (with Bigelow the first to win).
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