Debut and first films Pierro moved to
Rome and began a career in modelling, doing fashion spreads for magazines such as ''
Harper's Bazaar and Vogue Italia'', whilst looking for film work. Pierro's film career began with minor roles in several Italian films in 1976, most notably
Luchino Visconti's final film, ''
L'innocente (The Innocent''). Pierro got the part after meeting Visconti's assistant, Albino Cocco, whilst walking through
Cinecittà studios in Rome: "Visconti's assistant, a friend, introduced me to his boss who was looking for a young girl to play a lady companion, a secondary role, but of great importance to me. On a professional and private level, Visconti was unrivalled in all fields." Pierro subsequently appeared on the cover of the 9 December 1975 issue of ''Cinema d'oggi
(Cinema Today
), introduced as "The latest cinematographic discovery by Luchino Visconti." After appearing in The Innocent'', Pierro gave an interview in which she stated, Pierro mentioned she was going to appear alongside
James Mason and
Luciana Paluzzi in a film by Allen Reisner titled
Greenhouse Flower, but this project never eventuated. She played a maid in the 1976 film
I prosseneti (
The Panderers), written and directed by
Brunello Rondi. Pierro played an assistant physiotherapist in
Alfredo Rizzo's comedy
Sorbole... che romagnola (1976) and a newlywed in the 1976 Italian/Spanish
sex comedy Taxi Love, servizio per signora (a.k.a.
Taxista de senoras), directed by
Sergio Bergonzelli on location in
Pescara. Pierro appeared in
Dario Argento's
supernatural horror film Suspiria (1977) as an uncredited extra before her first prominent role, as the self-styled
stigmatic nun Sister Veronica in Walerian Borowczyk's 1977 film
Interno di un Convento (
Behind Convent Walls), based upon
Stendhal's
Promenades dans Rome (1829). Of Borowczyk casting her in the film, Pierro recalled, Borowczyk told Pierro that, as a fan of Italian
Renaissance painters, he found in her "the classic Italian figure." Pierro was greatly affected by the experience of meeting Borowczyk and appearing in
Behind Convent Walls: Meeting Pierro had a significant effect on Borowczyk's career as well. Borowczyk cast Pierro in almost all of his subsequent feature films, and it has been noted that Pierro effectively supplanted Borowczyk's wife Ligia Branice, who had appeared in her husband's
Goto, Island of Love (1968) and
Blanche (1971) as well as
Behind Convent Walls.
David Thomson wrote, Similarly, Kuba Mikurda (director of the 2018 documentary film
Love Express: The Disappearance of Walerian Borowczyk) wrote, According to Peter Tombs,
1979-1981 Working again with Borowczyk, Pierro played the Renaissance artist
Raphael's treacherous mistress
Margherita Luti in "Margherita," the first episode of the 1979 triptych anthology film
Héroïnes du Mal (
Immoral Women), a quasi-sequel to Borowczyk's 1973 erotic anthology film
Contes immoraux (
Immoral Tales). Taking place in early 16th century Rome, "Margherita" begins with Raphael (François Guétary) spying on Margherita - a baker's daughter - making love with her fiancé, Tomaso (Gérard Falconetti). While posing for a painting at Raphael's studio, Margherita is spied upon by the wealthy banker, Bernardo Bini (
Jean-Claude Dreyfus). After Raphael pierces his eye with a paint-brush, Bini sets out to seduce Margherita and, tempting her with jewels, have her poison Raphael with drugged cherries. Ultimately, Margherita takes advantage of Bini and Raphael's sexual obsession with her, outwitting both men before returning with Bini's jewels to her true love, Tomaso. According to Pierro,
Immoral Women strengthened the public association between herself and Borowczyk: Portraying Margherita as a doe-eyed
femme fatale outwitting the men around her, Pierro spends most of her time in
Immoral Women either naked or dressed in flimsy, transparent veils, and engaged in graphic
sex scenes. Pierro later admitted, Premiering in March 1979,
Immoral Women drew mixed to negative reviews, although Marina Pierro's performance received praise. Reviewing
Immoral Women for ''
L'Express'',
Michel Braudeau wrote, Describing
Immoral Women as "a surreal masterpiece and possibly Borowczyk's finest work" in the online film journal
Senses of Cinema in 2005,
Scott Murray wrote, "Marina Pierro, having now replaced Ligia Branice (
Goto, l’île d’amour,
Blanche, etc.) as the director's muse, glows in her finest performance." Describing Margherita as a
femme fatale, Murray wrote, Pierro's third film with Borowczyk was the 1981 horror film
Docteur Jekyll et les femmes (a.k.a.
Dr Jekyll and his Women,
Blood of Dr Jekyll, and
Bloodbath of Dr Jekyll). In Borowczyk's radical interpretation of
Robert Louis Stevenson's
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Pierro in a co-leading role plays Fanny Osbourne (named after
Stevenson's real-life wife), the fiancée of Dr
Henry Jekyll (
Udo Kier) and essentially an original character on the part of Borowczyk and Pierro. According to Pierro, it was the character of Fanny Osbourne that prompted Borowczyk to make the film: Borowczyk intended his film to be titled
Le cas étrange de Dr. Jekyll et Miss Osbourne (
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Miss Osbourne) and this was its title during production. Borowczyk's film - set in 19th century London - details the murder and debauchery that takes place in the home of Dr Henry Jekyll on the night of Jekyll and Fanny Osbourne's engagement party. By immersing himself in a bath filled with a chemical cocktail, Jekyll physically transforms to his alter ego, Mr. Hyde (Gérard Zalcberg). Hyde has none of Jekyll's restrictions of morality and he proceeds to rape, torture, and murder various guests, male and female alike. The story has a
twist ending of sorts when Fanny finally discovers her fiancé's secret. The film's extreme violence ensured it would run afoul of the censors of the time, but Pierro - a fan of horror films - believes the violence was justified by the narrative:
Docteur Jekyll et les femmes was shot in four weeks, a shorter time than had been planned, owing to budgetary issues. Swiss actor
Howard Vernon, who appeared in the film as Jekyll's scientific rival Dr Lanyon, later claimed, "Borowczyk was very much in love with the leading actress, Marina Pierro, an Italian girl." Udo Kier recalled in 2015, "Marina... I haven't seen her for a long time...but she was a beautiful, beautiful woman...beautiful body... I think that Marina, she worked a lot with Borowczyk, he taught her a lot because they knew each other quite well. I think of all the people [in the film], she was directed the most." Of her castmates and experience of the film shoot, Pierro herself recalled, Of co-star
Patrick Magee, Pierro recalled, The book
Borowczyk: Cinéaste Onirique was released in conjunction with
Docteur Jekyll et les femmes in 1981 and included a preface by Borowczyk's friend, the French Surrealist writer
André Pieyre de Mandiargues, who wrote, Pierro herself was quoted in the book, stating, Pierro's face was utilized prominently in advertising of
Docteur Jekyll et les femmes, including its trailer and posters; however, the title of the film itself became a source of contention, as Pierro has remarked:
Docteur Jekyll et les femmes won Walerian Borowczyk the award for "Best Feature Film Director" at the 1981
Sitges Film Festival. However, the film did not receive a theatrical release in America and it ran in Great Britain for only one week, without a press screening. The film was relatively obscure in the years following its release but it has enjoyed increasing critical esteem as part of renewed interest in the works of Walerian Borowczyk, and is often cited as one of the director's best films. A restored version of
Docteur Jekyll et les femmes was released by
Arrow Films in 2015 as
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Miss Osbourne, reflecting Borowczyk's preferred title and the importance of Pierro's character in the narrative.
1982 In 1982, Pierro had a notable role in cult filmmaker
Jean Rollin's French horror film
La Morte Vivante (
The Living Dead Girl) as Hélène, the friend and
blood-sister of the titular character (played by French actress
Françoise Blanchard). Blanchard's character, Catherine Valmont, is a recently deceased heiress who returns from the dead with an insatiable appetite for human blood; Pierro's character Hélène, initially repulsed, decides to procure human victims for her undead friend. Pierro had met Rollin briefly at the 1981 Sitges Film Festival, where
Docteur Jekyll et les femmes was shown in competition and Rollin's film
Fascination was also screening. The following year, Rollin was looking to cast the role of Hélène in
The Living Dead Girl, and a friend suggested Pierro for the part. Rollin later stated that Pierro had a fiery temperament that was good for her character. Interviewed in 2002, Pierro's co-star Françoise Blanchard recalled, Pierro herself recalled,
The Living Dead Girl was relatively successful and won a prize at Italy's Fanta Film Festival the year after its release in 1982. In that same year, Pierro appeared in two episodes of the Italian 3-part television
miniseries La quinta donna (
The Fifth Woman), starring
Klaus Maria Brandauer,
Turi Ferro, and
Aurore Clément. In 1982, Pierro posed in a nude photoshoot for an issue of the Italian edition of
Playboy magazine. Pierro's fourth film with Borowczyk was the 1983 Italian/French co-production
Ars Amandi (
Art of Love). In this film - based upon the writings of
Ovid - Pierro plays Claudia, wife of the Roman commander Macarius (
Michele Placido) in
Augustan Rome. While her husband is in
Gaul, Claudia takes as her lover Ovid's young student Cornelius (Philippe Taccini). The film's coda takes place in the present day, with Pierro playing Claudine Cartier, a young archaeologist en route from Rome to Paris. Doing publicity for the film, Pierro stated, "
Art of Love gives women a true sensuality, at least equal to that of men... Macarius symbolizes moral order and I symbolize free love." The film had a troubled production involving conflict between Borowczyk and the film's producers: a misunderstanding led to the addition of
hardcore scenes during post-production, which caused trouble with the Italian film censors. Advance publicity for
Art of Love was not good: the film represented France in the
San Sebastián International Film Festival in September 1983, but going into general release the following month, the film was a commercial flop. Pierro, however, has contended
Art of Love is one of Borowczyk's best films; upon the film's UK home video release in 1993, Pierro pointed out how its humour has been overlooked: Following
Art of Love, Borowczyk intended to make a film about the Egyptian queen
Nefertiti starring Pierro. According to Pierro, Borowczyk was passionate about the project after he discovered a resemblance between Pierro and a bust of the queen. Borowczyk delivered a press conference on the subject of the film and scouted filming locations in
Tunisia, and Pierro discussed the film in interviews: The Neferiti project was aborted during pre-production, and Pierro took some time off films to appear in
avant-garde theatre in Rome. She also spent time writing pieces for theatre as well as a screenplay loosely inspired by
Joseph Sheridan le Fanu. The film is based on the novel
Tout disparaîtra (
Everything Must Go) by André Pieyre de Mandiargues,
In Versi is a 25-minute film starring Pierro and is set in the library of the
Abbey of Saint Scholastica, Subiaco.
Himorogi is a 17-minute homage to Walerian Borowczyk that features allusions to his films as well as an
electroacoustic music by
Bernard Parmegiani, who had provided music for
Docteur Jekyll at les femmes three decades before. The film was co-directed by Pierro's son, professional artist Alessio Pierro, who was also the cinematographer of all three of Pierro's short films. In his official website, Alessio Pierro describes Borowczyk as "an exceptional teacher" who was important for his formation by exploring various techniques of cinema and painting with him. Marina Pierro's 9-minute film
Floaters is a portrait of Alessio Pierro.
Himorogi was presented at the 2012
Rome International Film Festival. It is also included as an extra feature in Arrow Films' Blu-ray release of
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Miss Osbourne; another feature of the release is a video interview Marina Pierro recorded in 2015, recounting her decade-long collaboration with Borowczyk. In 2009, Pierro's book
Nubi Ardenti (
Fiery Clouds) was published by Cupressus. The book is a selection of poems written by Pierro between 1976 and 2009. Pierro has stated she is writing a book titled
Ali d’inchiostro (
Wings of Ink) about "the artistic path" that united her and Borowczyk, and she is also working on a film project based on a story by
Gustav Meyrink. When asked why she does not act anymore, Pierro replied, Despite her prominence in Borowczyk's filmography, Pierro is not seen or referred to in
HBO Europe's feature-length documentary
Love Express: The Disappearance of Walerian Borowczyk (2018), which ignores the 1977-1985 period of Borowczyk's career and the films therein (most of which Borowczyk made with Pierro). Nevertheless, Pierro has remained a staunch defender of Borowczyk, stating, ==Filmography==