The discreet charm of irony. Milanese Franca Valeri

The multifaceted talent of Franca Valeri , who, from actress to screenwriter, from director to author, has revolutionized the world of entertainment, breaking the taboo on female comedy . Emanuela Fanelli discusses it in " Illuminate ," airing today at 9:10 PM on Rai Storia .

Franca Valeri, stage name Franca Norsa, knew from an early age that acting would be her path: already as a child, imitating her mother's friends and performing caricatures, she created "La Signorina Snob," which later became one of her signature characters, with which she shrewdly and ironically criticized the behavior of the Milanese bourgeoisie, to which she herself belonged. Due to her father's Jewish origins, the racial laws forced her to leave school at 18, but she still managed to enroll privately. Determined to achieve her goal, after failing the National Academy of Dramatic Arts in Rome, aware of her talent, she continued acting and performing in cabaret until 1949, the year in which she made her debut in Paris with the "Compagnia dei Gobbi."

Meanwhile, Franca had already invented her famous "masks": in addition to "La Signorina Snob," "La Sora Cecioni," and "Cesira the Manicurist," characters with which, with boldness and elegance, she revolutionized mid-20th-century comedy, until then strictly male-dominated. The documentary film dedicated to her begins as actress-narrator Emanuela Fanelli prepares to stage one of Franca Valeri's iconic monologues, "Una moglie felice." To do so, Emanuela studies her works and retraces her life, love affairs, and career, revealing the cultured and complex personality of this artist who used irony to deliver a refined and biting social critique of the mores of Italian society of the period. A multifaceted talent that has seen her in the role of interpreter, author and director not only of comedies, but also of films written and starring in them, TV programs and operas.

In this journey, Emanuela Fanelli travels through places dear to Franca, retracing the key moments of her life: from Milan to her theater dressing room to her villa on Lake Bracciano, where she spent her final years and where the "Associazione Franca Valeri - Onlus pro-assistenza animali abbandonati" (Franca Valeri Association - Onlus pro-assistenza animali abbandonati), founded by her to combat stray animals, is now based. Alongside the fictional sequences, the narrative is enriched with archive materials and contributions from numerous illustrious witnesses, including her daughter Stefania Bonfadelli, actresses Cinzia Leone and Gabriella Franchini, the director of Milan's Teatro Parenti, Andree Ruth Shammah, director and television host Pino Strabioli, director and artistic director Giorgio Ferrara, and friend Michele Della Valle, to create an intimate and unprecedented portrait of the unstoppable artist who made comedy history.