Raffa (TV series)

Raffa
GenreDocumentary
Written by
Directed byDaniele Luchetti
Starring
Country of originItaly
Original languageItalian
No. of episodes3
Production
Running time180 minutes
Production companies
Original release
NetworkTheatrical release
Release6 July 2023 (2023-07-06)
NetworkDisney+
Release27 December 2023 (2023-12-27)

Raffa is a 2023 Italian documentary television series directed by Daniele Luchetti for Disney+, based on the life of Italian singer, dancer, actress, television presenter and model Raffaella Carrà.

Overview

Raffa explores the life of Raffaella Carrà in three parts, featuring numerous clips and photographs, and testimonials from friends and colleagues.[1][2][3]

Production

Carrà died of lung cancer on 5 July 2021.[4][5] On 8 November 2022, Disney+ announced the development of Raffa, a documentary series that would pay tribute to Carrà.[6][7] Produced by Fremantle, the series was directed by Daniele Luchetti, and written by Cristiana Farina, with the participation of Carlo Altinier, Barbara Boncompagni, Salvatore Coppolino and Salvo Guercio.[8][9] Filming began in November 2022.[6]

Part one covers Carrà's youth in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, as Raffaella Pelloni, the daughter of an absent father and a strong mother; her starring role in the 1965 American film Von Ryan's Express opposite Frank Sinatra; her 1970 guest appearance on the short-lived Italian variety show Io, Agata e tu which led to her success as presenter, actress and dancer on the Saturday night show Canzonissima from 1970 to 1971; and the scandal of Carrà being the first woman on Italian television to show her navel on television during the November 1971 performance of her new single "Tuca Tuca" on Canzonissima. Part two follows Carrà's music career and the international notoriety brought by her songs "Rumore" (1974) and "A far l'amore comincia tu" (1976); her success in Spain and South America in the late 1970s; the controversy created by RAI in 1978 when they broadcast Carrà's new Saturday night variety show, Ma che sera, in the early days of the kidnapping of former prime minister Aldo Moro, despite Carrà's protests; and her success as the host of the daytime talk show Pronto, Raffaella? (1983–1985), the first midday program ever broadcast on Rai 1. Part three sees Carrà move to Canale 5 in the late 1980s with the Raffaella Carrà Show and Il principe azzurro, and serve as host on Carràmba! Che sorpresa on Rai 1 from 1995 to 2002.[10]

The documentary collects over 1500 clips of archival footage, most of them from RAI,[11] and numerous testimonies from Carrà's collaborators and friends, including Renzo Arbore, Marco Bellocchio, Giovanni Benincasa, Barbara Boncompagni, Emanuele Crialese, Tiziano Ferro, Fiorello, Loretta Goggi, Sergio Japino, Loles León, Caterina Rita, Luca Sabatelli, Bob Sinclar and Enzo Paolo Turchi.[1][2]

Release

Raffa was released in Italian cinemas by Nexo Digital as a preview from 6 to 12 July 2023.[8][9] Lucchetti said, "I would like people to see this documentary in the theater, because we are used to thinking of Raffaella as an icon of the small screen, a TV diva. Seeing her spread across forty square meters of screen in the theater makes a different impression."[2]

On 27 December 2023, Raffa debuted as a three-part docuseries on the Disney+ video streaming platform.[12][13]

Reception

Mattia Carzagina of Rolling Stone Italia called Raffa, "a very rich film, full of beautiful things, but which deliberately does not solve the enigma of the icon of Italian TV ... Carrà herself did not reveal herself, until the end, not even to her closest loved ones".[11] Elisa Giudici of Rockol wrote, "Raffa is the story of a figure that has gradually become a pagan idol, scandalous and desired, capable of sending coded messages to queer people in Italy and at the same time consoling and keeping housewives company while they prepare lunch."[2]

Paolo Scotti of Il Giornale described Raffa as "a pharaonic full immersion in the Carrà myth", developed around the dichotomy between Carrà's professional persona and her personal life.[14] Davide Turrini of Il Fatto Quotidiano praised Luchetti's "cinematic, fabulous and winning intention" to compare and contrast Carrà's career and life in a way that "captivates and convinces with its vaguely original design".[10]

Lorenzo Ciofani of Cinematografo wrote that the series narrated Carrà's life in a "layered and never hagiographic" way, and "without eluding the traumas and mysteries". He noted that "Raffa courageously embraces a novelistic ambition" coherently describing "a pragmatic and disciplined self-made woman who is also a romantic and melancholic anti-heroine", also showing the audience her negative characteristics, as "they are left in full light by Carrà herself, a wise and martial self-administrator".[15] Paola Jacobbi of Harper's Bazaar wrote, "Luchetti and his authors open a glimmer of light on a deeply neurotic Raffa, [...] who hid her fragilities behind and inside her work, her perfectionism, the glitter of the limelight".[16]

References

  1. ^ a b Leombruni, Lucrezia (5 July 2023). "Raffaella Carrà, l'italiana universale che continua a far 'rumore'" [Raffaella Carrà, the Universal Italian Who Continues to Make 'Noise']. DIRE (in Italian). Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d Giudici, Elisa (5 July 2023). "Raffa, recensione: il corpo misterioso di Raffaella Carrà" [Raffa Review: The Mysterious Figure of Raffaella Carrà]. Rockol (in Italian). Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  3. ^ Santacatterina, Manuela (15 June 2023). "Raffa: il trailer del film di Daniele Luchetti dedicato alla Carrà" [Raffa: The Trailer of the Film by Daniele Luchetti Dedicated to the Carrà]. The Hollywood Reporter Roma (in Italian). Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  4. ^ "Addio a Raffaella Carrà, aveva 78 anni" [Farewell to Raffaella Carrà, Queen of TV. She Was 78 Years Old]. Rai News (in Italian). 5 July 2021. Archived from the original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  5. ^ "Raffaella Carrà, la malattia nascosta e l'ultimo desiderio sulla bara" [Raffaella Carrà, Her Hidden Illness and Last Wish]. TgCom24 (in Italian). 6 July 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2025.
  6. ^ a b Uzzo, Cecilia (8 November 2022). "Raffa, la docu-serie dedicata a Raffaella Carrà" [Raffa, the Docu-series Dedicated to Raffaella Carrà]. TV Sorrisi e Canzoni (in Italian). Archived from the original on 5 July 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  7. ^ Rogolino, Letizia (9 November 2022). "Tutto quello che sappiamo su Raffa, la docu-serie Disney+ su Raffaella Carrà" [Everything We Know About Raffa, the Disney+ Docuseries About Raffaella Carrà]. Elle (in Italian). Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  8. ^ a b Editorial Staff (15 June 2023). "Raffa, le immagini del film Disney+ sulla Carrà" [Raffa, the Images of the Disney+ Film on Carrà (Trailer)]. Ciak (in Italian). Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  9. ^ a b Entertainment Editorial Team (8 June 2023). "Cinema, esce in sala Raffa il doc di Luchetti sulla Carrà: 'Di lei ci si poteva solo innamorare'" [Cinema: Luchetti's Documentary Raffa on Carrà is Out in Theaters: 'You can only fall in love with her']. la Repubblica (in Italian). Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  10. ^ a b Turrini, Davide (5 July 2023). "Raffaella Carrà non è come te l'aspetti (nel documentario di Daniele Luchetti): l'abbiamo visto per voi e ve lo raccontiamo" [Raffaella Carrà Is Not As You Expect (in the Documentary by Daniele Luchetti): We Saw It for You and We Tell You about It]. Il Fatto Quotidiano (in Italian). Archived from the original on 5 July 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  11. ^ a b Carzagina, Mattia (6 July 2023). "Il mistero (irrisolto) di Raffa" [The (Unsolved) Mystery of Raffa]. Rolling Stone Italia (in Italian). Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  12. ^ Palmer, Roger (15 November 2023). "First Look at Italian Disney+ Original Series Raffa". What's On Disney Plus. Archived from the original on 14 January 2025. Retrieved 10 June 2025.
  13. ^ "Raffaella Carrà Documentary Hits Disney+". Agenzia ANSA. 27 December 2023. Archived from the original on 20 January 2024. Retrieved 28 July 2024 – via Ansa.it.
  14. ^ Paolo Scotti (5 July 2023). "Quel mito pop casalingo che ha cambiato la tv. Fra lustrini e rimpianti" [That Homemade Pop Myth that Changed TV, Between Sequins and Regrets]. Il Giornale (in Italian). Archived from the original on 5 July 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  15. ^ Ciofani, Lorenzo (5 July 2023). "Raffa, la recensione del doc sulla Carrà: la storia dell'azdora romagnola che diventò icona mondiale" [Raffa, the Review of the Documentary about Raffaella Carrà: The Story of the Romagna Housewife Who Became a World Icon]. Cinematografo (in Italian). Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  16. ^ Jacobbi, Paola (4 July 2023). "Il documentario da non perdere questa settimana: Raffa" [The Documentary Not to Be Missed this Week: Raffa]. Harper's Bazaar (in Italian). Retrieved 5 July 2023.
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