Marcello Mio: Chiara Mastroianni in Her Father's Clothes Celebrating His 100th Anniversary at La Croisette

“Who did this to you? Is it for photos?" Catherine Deneuve asked her daughter, Chiara Mastroianni, as she entered a café. It’s the dichotomy of real-life and fictional questions, and for the cinephiles who have decamped to La Croisette this May, a much deeper understanding of the premise of the aforementioned lines will be gained. 

Receiving its world premiere in the main competition at the 77th Cannes Film Festival on May 21, Marcello Mio, the French-Italian comedy picture, directed by Christophe Honoré, is arguably engendering the highest intrigue out of any film in the running for the most prestigious filmic accolade, the Palme d’Or. 

In the 76th edition, director Alain Cavalier's iconic photo of a young Deneuve in 1968, standing on the Pampelonne beach near Saint Tropez as the cameras roll on La Chamade, was elected for the festival's official poster, and so it's fitting her once-husband Marcello Mastroianni, the humorous and self-effacing leading man who would have been 100 this year, is commemorated through Marcello Mio.

As Chiara, the daughter of Marcello, replies to her mother, it becomes apparent that she isn’t dressed for a photoshoot but, to a degree of shock, she declares that she would rather live her father’s life, wholeheartedly replicating his dress, title as an actor, and even taking his name. In the film, this unorthodox way of living has been prompted by her life being in turmoil, but it’s evident to her friends and family that it is not a phase – so much so that they start to believe it, calling her “Marcello”.

In the environs of international cinema today, the general public would idolise Marcello Mastroianni's masculine yet self-deprecating demeanour. He often pretended that he didn't really know what he was doing, which was very endearing to female stars, both offscreen and onscreen. To a large degree his clothing aesthetic reflected his personality. He exuded natural sophistication with a cigarette nearly always dangling from his lips, as well as his trademark black tailored suit and French-cuffed white shirt, but never looked like the Italian matinee icon was trying too hard. In the opening scenes in the café of Marcello Mio Chiara wears this garb, along with a black tie, black-framed glasses and a custom Borsalino fedora, which Federico Fellini had ordered for Mastroianni to sport in his masterpiece film 8 ½. 

In one scene, Chiara is seen applying a fake moustache in front of a dressing mirror. In both Divorce Italian Style (1961) and the Vittorio De Sica-directed Marriage Italian Style (1964), Marcello dons a striking version. The picture of Loren resting her face on his back and Marcello, dressed in a pale-coloured double-breasted suit, tie, and white shirt, gazing over the city from a terrace in Marriage Italian Style, deserves special attention for its sartorial lustre. In La Dolce Vita, we catch a glimpse of the white gabardine suit, likely designed by Brioni, and notably styled by the great Italian costumier Piero Gherardi. And like in La Dolce Vita, Chiara is slumped on the beach and wearing a dark knitted long-sleeved polo shirt with a large collar, two-button V-shaped placket, and double-French cuffs. The accessories consist of a black sheer neckerchief and brown penny loafers. 

And it’s poignant; the movie cover of Marcello Mio is of Chiara dressed immaculately in water, which can only relate to the iconic scene where he leads Anita Ekberg by the hand back to the bank of Trevi Fountain in La Dolce Vita.