Monica Vitti was born in 1931. Growing up in a stern and stressful household, acting quickly became a getaway for her. In 1953, she graduated from the National Academy of Dramatic Art in Rome and wasted no time, starting her movie career one year later and developing an artistic bond with Michelangelo Antonioni. Together they made some of the most influential modernist films of the 1960s (L’avventura, Red Desert). Vitti went on to work with several other respected directors, making 55 movies over 35 years and receiving innumerable awards and honors. She died in 2022, at age 90. This 14-film series includes new restorations of some of Vitti’s most crucial pictures. —Henry McGrath