Dir.: Anna Maria Tató; Phot.: Giuseppe Rotunno; Ed.: Anna Maria Tató; Mus.: Armando Trovaioli; Prod.: Mikado Film, Lungotevere Fiaminio 34, 00196 Rome (Italie), tél.: 06/3244989, fax: 06/3219489 / Istituto Luce, Via Tuscolana 1055, Rome, tél.: 06/7222493/96/97, fax: 06/7221127; Sales: Roberto Cicutto, Mikado Film .

Last year, during breaks in the shooting of Manoel de Oliveira's JOURNEY TO THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD in Portugal, Marcello Mastroianni presented himself before the camera of his longtime companion, Anna Maria Tató. The idea was to reminisce freely and record the conversations in the form of a confessional documentary. From the resulting six hours of footage, these 100 minutes include personal recollections of his first night of love, his first sight of mountains and the birth of his daughter along with movie memories of Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo and Gary Cooper. The reminiscences are random but poignant and delivered with Mastroianni's famous self-deprecating humour. He recalls his early stage work under Luchino Visconti, his first film job at Cinecittà, his affection for Vittorio De Sica and Marco Ferreri and the career-long friendship with Federico Fellini -- a friendship described as one based on mutual distrust. He discusses his Latin-lover image with irony (he always considered it inappropriate) and is equally bemused by his lackadaisical approach to acting, admitting to having chosen some movie roles solely on where they were being shot.

"Marcello used to say, 'I believe in nature, love, affection, friendship, my work and my friends. I love people and I love life. Perhaps that's why life has loved me in return. I think I have been a very lucky man.' And he reasserts all this in the film... in which he continually expresses his love of life and his devotion to the cinema. When Marcello decided to make this film with me last July, I was happy but, at the same time, I was worried about taking on such a responsibility. In the end it was the bonds forged over 22 years together that persuaded me to make it." -- Anna Maria Tató