Madalina Ghenea: Highlight of Youth

I worked as a cameraman for this movie called "Youth," from Italian director Paolo Sorrentino. If you haven't heard of it, check it out. It's pretty good, if only because the casting director was evidently great at their job. Sir Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel, Rachel Weisz, and Paul Dano were all in this movie, along with Jane Fonda and a bunch of other actors in minor supporting roles.

But there was this one supporting actress who absolutely astonished me: a Romanian dish by the name of Madalina Ghenea

I had passing knowledge of her previous work - modeling, commercials, and a few minor acting roles I hear she did well. But I've been kicking myself for not knowing about her sooner because, holy crap, this woman is gorgeous.

It's kind of a shame she was only in the movie for three scenes, because those were my favorite parts of making the movie.

Her character's a Romanian woman who won the Miss Universe pageant, the prize for which was a trip to the health spa and resort where Sir Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel, and all the other actors' characters were staying. I personally never bothered to do any research as to whether this was actually what the prize was for winning the Miss Universe pageant, but whatever. Oh, and her character also wants to pursue an acting career. I know, Madalina Ghenea playing a Romanian model who wants to get into acting. What's next? Tori Kelly playing a painfully shy singing competition contestant?

Anyway, her first scene was this sort of dream sequence. Sir Michael Caine would amble along a really narrow walkway in a dimly lit room, and coming from the other direction would be Madalina in her Miss Universe get-up, sash and all. I cannot applaud the costume designer enough for somehow convincing Madalina to wear an outfit that showed off as much skin as it did, because as I said, this woman is gorgeous. The scene involved Madalina and Sir Michael Caine crossing the walkway towards each other from opposite ends of this giant room, then they'd meet in the middle, shuffle past each other, and keep on walking. I had a friend in college who said their favorite subject was art because they could paint naked or otherwise scantily-clad women and get praise for it. That's the same reason I love this job. Getting that shot where they shuffle past each other was enjoyable for me because having Madalina try to walk past Sir Michael Caine on a narrow walkway was as good an excuse as any to get a close-up of her incredible rack. And in that shot where Madalina keeps walking after getting past Sir Michael Caine, the camera follows her from behind for a few seconds. See, on the first take I was so entranced by her ass as she put her modeling experience to good use that I just kept the camera rolling for as long as I could get away with before Sorrentino yelled "Cut!"

That turned out to be somewhere between 10 and 15 seconds, but it felt like forever because I kept wanting to zoom in on her ass (I'm an ass man, you see). The only reason I didn't was that I had to keep telling myself that the other people on set would definitely catch on. And when I say I had to keep telling myself that, I mean that I was repeatedly whispering to myself, "Don't zoom in on her ass. Don't zoom in on her ass." I tried to be quiet enough so the rest of the crew couldn't hear me, which was a little difficult since the room where the scene was set had the kind of acoustics that made it so noises could be very easily echoed. The good news is that the crew didn't hear me; the bad news is that Madalina did.

When we finished shooting that day, I was packing up my equipment. I had the Pixies playing from my MP3 player, which was connected to a speaker I put on a shelf that happened to be on the wall. My back was turned to the only entrance into the room when I heard from behind me a voice with a very strong European accent say, "Excuse me."

I was kneeling on the ground at the moment, so when I turned my head, I saw Madalina standing over me like a guardian angel.

I promptly stood up, turned off the music, and asked, "Hey, what's up?"

Maintaining eye contact with her was a bit strange for me. It wasn't that I was trying to look at her boobs without her noticing, although she does have an amazing rack. The thought didn't occur to me then to even consider it, because I didn't have any trouble with looking her in the eyes. The two beautiful, humbling, dark brown eyes that pulled me in like a dog leash.

"I just wanted to know if something went wrong earlier."

"No," I assured her. "Everything was fine. What makes you think something went wrong?"

"You were talking to yourself while you were operating the camera."

"You heard that?"

"I couldn't understand all that you were saying, but yes, I did hear you."

"I'm sorry," I said, putting on the best possible effort I could to make it look like I wasn't trying to ogle her with the camera. "It's something of a habit I have."

"It's fine. But you could have asked me first."

"Yeah, I know. I- uh, sorry?"

She then took a step closer to me, with a look on her face like she had just read my diary. I had heard people say she looks uncannily like Sophia Loren, and at that moment I realized they were absolutely right.

"You know I had a modeling career once, right? I can tell when I get a man's 'attention'."

"W-well," I sputtered nervously, "I-I'm sorry, but... can you, uh, really blame me?"

The corners of her mouth rose up, in an almost teasing manner.

"Actually, yes."

She spoke that phrase slowly, and as she continued speaking she placed her hand upon my stomach and rubbed it slowly against me. Now I'm sure she's teasing me.

"But only because you were impatient about it."

Madalina held my face in her other hand, then turned my head slightly to the side as she stood on her toes and reached her mouth to my ear. The texture of her skin reminded me of a security blanket like the one that kid from the Peanuts comic used: it was soft, and it probably felt great to have next to you while you're sleeping.

"I know you want me."

She whispered, and it took all the effort in the known universe to keep myself from getting hard right then and there.

Madalina continued, "If you could restrain yourself a little better, I'll make it worth your trouble."

She resumed standing in a normal posture.

"Deal?" she held out her hand to me, once again speaking at regular volume.

"Deal," I promptly grabbed her hand and shook on it.

At that point, she gave me a single nod before turning around and heading off, leaving me to reflect on how taking this job was the best decision I ever made.

In spite of the slip-up, Madalina and I actually got along pretty well during filming. Between takes, we'd sit and talk about nothing in particular. I wanted to take every opportunity I could to talk with her; I was absolutely smitten. I guess it helped that she was constantly trying to impress the other actors.

For example, there was a nighttime scene where all the lead actors - Sir Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel, Rachel Weisz, and Paul Dano - were sitting outside in this courtyard when Madalina's character walked up and started having a conversation with Paul Dano's character. It was technically supposed to just be a rehearsal, where they'd act out the scene a few times before we actually filmed it. After they had rehearsed the scene once or twice, I told Madalina I'd be filming the rest of the scene rehearsals. I stood with a handheld camera where the other actors wouldn't notice me.

So, in the scene, Paul Dano's character mocks the intelligence of Madalina's character. You know, because she's a model. She then promptly proceeds to tell him off in a way that left me both surprised and very impressed. Madalina had once said about the scene that she put in all the frustration accumulated over years of work as a model - mainly, the frustration of having everyone think she has nothing important or meaningful to say. Not me, though. I personally have the sense to not underestimate a model's intelligence, especially one who studied psychology and speaks 5 languages.

Seriously.

Eventually, Harvey Keitel told her that she was doing an amazing job, but that she should save it for when there were cameras around. She told him there was, and pointed right at me. Fortunately, the other actors took it in good taste, so I wasn't subjected to the wrath of Mr. White.

As for me, I was trying my best to keep my hands to myself, the key word being "trying." Our deal was, if I laid a hand on Madalina before we finished shooting all of her scenes, she would tell the director, Paolo Sorrentino, and I would be out of a job - pretty straightforward. But Madalina was such a tease that I think this deal was secretly her way of punishing me for ogling her in the walkway scene. Every morning, I would go up to each actor's trailer and review that day's schedule with them. Madalina was only in the movie for three scenes, but I still stopped by her trailer every morning. Every day after we shot the walkway scene, every time I would go up to Madalina's trailer, she'd be wearing something... different.

For perspective, Rachel Weisz always had on a dark red bathrobe when I greeted her every morning. Granted, I wouldn't have been ogling her on set, anyway. Don't get me wrong; even in her mid-40s, she's still beautiful. But knowing she's married to Daniel Craig is enough reason for me to keep my hands away from her. Madalina was single when she signed on to the movie, and over time, she seemed to have fewer qualms about revealing that to me through her wardrobe. She'd greet me at the door of her trailer, going from wearing standard nightgowns, to negligees I could half see through, to straight-up lingerie. Of course, the negligees were my favorite pieces from her wardrobe, if only because they were see-through and I could get a decent look at her incredible tits.

Anyway, the morning after that nighttime scene, I was outside the door of her trailer as usual. I had heard the shower in her trailer running as I walked by earlier, and so I figured enough time had passed between then and now for her to have dried off and put on enough clothing to answer the door once I started knocking. But having recognized the pattern of her increasingly, shall we say, minimalist morning attire, part of me still half-expected her to be wearing just a towel or bathrobe with nothing else on, except maybe a necklace like that blonde woman from "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom."

Madalina opened the door, and it turned out I was right the second time.

She had a light blue towel wrapped around her body and what I guess was a fashion magazine in her hand. Nothing was covering her hair, which was still luscious despite being dripping wet. Also, I'm about an inch taller than her, and the steps leading up to her trailer door are kinda small, so standing on the penultimate step, as I was, meant I was exactly at eye level with Madalina. And the more I got to have a clear look at her face, the more I wanted to keep looking at it.

Strands of her wet hair clung to her mesmeric skin, reaching down well past her rosé-colored lips. In my presence, the sides of her mouth turned up towards her eyes. Her dark brown irises were like two perfect circles of precious bronze, each placed against a contrasting bright white backdrop that made it easier to notice them, and therefore easier to get lost in them.

Bună dimineața, she greeted me in her native Romanian. Ce mai faceţi?

Madalina had been teaching me how to say some basic conversational phrases in Romanian, that being her native language and all. Granted, she knew Romanian, Italian, and English, and could speak all of them perfectly well. But as someone who has spent most of his life only speaking English, it would've been lazy and a little arrogant if I didn't at least try learning something to say in the language she grew up speaking.

Bine, I replied in as convincing an accent as I could manage, mulțumesc.

Madalina gave me a big, beautiful smile, showing her perfectly polished teeth that I'd swear could glow in the damn dark.

"You speak Romanian really well."

"Thank you," I said, feeling myself starting to blush.

She invited me to come in and have a seat. Next to the door, there was a black couch under a curtained window, so I sat there while she stood in front of me, leaning back against the wall.

"Do you mind if I finish reading this?" she said, referring to her magazine.

"Go right ahead," I told her.

As she had the magazine opened back up, I couldn't help looking her over. I got a few seconds' worth of time admiring her spectacular legs before she lifted her towel up slightly to cover her cleavage. I noticed then that the towel was barely big enough to cover her breasts and her bush at the same time. So here I was, seated across from this beautiful woman whose bush was now not only visible, but also at eye level with me. I looked back up at Madalina's face, and it was more or less hidden behind the magazine, so I looked back at her smoothly-shaved bush.

I was reminded then of the pastry shops near the 5-star hotel where I and everyone else in the cast and crew stayed during filming. The feeling of instant hunger you get when you notice a freshly-made batch of walnut cakes, which the locals call "Bündner Nusstorte," is unlike anything I could've imagined. At least, it was unlike anything I could've imagined before this moment. But at the same time, I was too much in awe to even begin to get aroused. It was a rather odd sensation, like seeing the face of God.

"Hello?"

Just then, her holiest of holies (to borrow from "Pulp Fiction") was hidden behind a light blue veil as Madalina readjusted her towel. It took me a moment to snap out of my trance, but I looked back up at her face as quickly as I could. She was looking at me, holding the magazine at her side with two fingers holding in place the edge of the last page she was reading.

"Sorry," I said, pretending I had simply zoned out. "Did you need something?"

"I wanted to know what scenes the crew will be filming this week."

She sounded like she was repeating herself, but I just didn't pay attention to her the first time she said it on account of me being so distracted by her perfectly-fashioned bush.

"I, uh, I don't know yet. Paolo's supposed to tell us today."

We didn't talk for much longer before I excused myself out of her trailer.

"Again," I said as I stood up, "I'm sorry for zoning out there."

She smiled, "You are forgiven."

Just when I started opening the door, she added, "But maybe next time, you should bring some wet wipes."

I turned to her, a little confused.

"What do you mean?"

"You were drooling."

My hand quickly reached up to my mouth, feeling skin that had turned cold and damp since I walked in.

Madalina chuckled as I hurried out with a bright red color appearing on my face, "I'll take that as a compliment."

The deal we made was becoming a lot more difficult than I think it should have been, but at least there was only one more scene left to shoot with her. I could hardly wait to get it over with.

This was it - the day we'd shoot Madalina's last scene.

The filming so far had been fine overall, since Madalina had a bit part in the movie. But what made shooting her scenes my favorite part of making the movie was what made it simultaneously the most frustrating part. This was made the most evident during her last scene in the movie.

Here's the setup: Sir Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel would be sitting in this sauna pool, just minding their own business, and then Madalina would walk into the pool, past the two men, and settle down on the other side of the pool. Also, there isn't any dialogue as she's doing this. It'll just be Sir Michael Caine and Harvey watching Madalina walking into, and then wading across, the pool.

There was a stairway leading up to the pool, at the bottom of which was a pebbled glass door to a changing room. Before we were to start shooting, Paolo came up to me and said Madalina was in the changing room; he wanted me to knock on the door and see that she was ready. So I went down the stairway, I knocked on the changing room door, and it's answered by Madalina with wet hair, a copy of the script in hand, and a robin's egg blue bathrobe.

"Hey," I greeted her, "are you ready yet?"

Madalina took a step through the doorway and looked around, then immediately stepped back into the changing room.

"I need your help with something really quickly," she spoke with an unusual sense of urgency.

Checking my watch, I see that there's about 6 minutes before we needed to start shooting.

"Alright. So what do you need?" I asked, suspicious.

Madalina sighed and explained, "I'm just really nervous."

"And why is that?"

"Haven't you read the script?"

"Well, yeah. It's kinda required reading."

She opened her script, taking care not to get it wet from the droplets of water falling from her hair. She then handed me the script, which she had opened to page 87, and pointed to the top of the page.

A statuesque woman appears, wrapped in a robe. She takes it off. Naked.

I chuckled then, though it sounded more nervous than I think it ought to have been. Madalina clearly had more right to be nervous than me.

"You know," I remarked, "I seem to recall a TV appearance you did where you said you would never pose nude."

"I didn't say I would never do it. I said I might do it if I thought it was for a good reason."

"So that means this movie counts as a good reason, doesn't it?"

"Perhaps, but I'm still nervous."

Comes with the modeling gig, I suppose.

"You're in a movie with Rachel Weisz and Harvey Keitel," I reminded her. "They, and all the other leads, have said you're doing a great job, and I am frankly in no position to disagree with them."

I handed the script back to her. "Trust me; you'll be fine. You've always been fine."

She let out a small laugh, "Thank you."

"If it helps you feel comfortable, how about this? We'll film the shots with just you in the frame first, and film the shots with Sir Michael Caine and Harvey last."

"How many takes will you need to use?"

"As many as the budget allows," I said, stopping just short of ending my sentence with a wink before heading back up the stairs.

The only people on set getting ready for the scene were the director, the assistant director, and me. Before we started, Paolo gathered us together and told us how he didn't want Madalina to feel uncomfortable. So the scene can't look like a porno where the camera zooms in on the woman's tits, ass, and pussy, and he gave me a quick glance as he finished his sentence. If I were paranoid, I would think that either he caught on, or Madalina told him.

As we got the equipment ready, I assured myself I could handle this. We'd just get a few shots of Madalina walking into, and then across, the pool before bringing in Sir Michael Caine and Harvey. This shouldn't be a big deal.

I had two cameras set up: one camera for tracking shots and another camera on a tripod for static shots. The camera on a tripod was placed against the side of the room opposite the entrance, facing the doorway to show Madalina coming in and walking up to the pool. While the clapperboard was being carried out, I noticed in my peripheral vision Madalina's head peeking out from behind the pool entrance. I thought she was looking at me, and I turned towards her to check. Her head didn't go out far enough to show anything below her eyes, but from what I could discern, she had a look of what I guess was unease, or maybe vulnerability.

Action!

We spent maybe half an hour filming her parts of the scene. We could've spent 6 hours filming the scene and it would still feel too short. I don't think it was ever a secret that Madalina had a great body, but seeing her naked body - that perfect figure, that toned stomach, those full breasts, that trimmed little pussy, and that perfectly round, tighter-than-a-snare-drum ass - was legitimately like nothing I have ever experienced.