''Forever Mary'' ( it, Mery per sempre), is an Italian dramatic film directed by

Marco Risi Marco Risi (born 4 June 1951) is an Italian film director, screenwriter, film producer and cinematographer. Born in Milan, he is son of director Dino Risi. After graduating from Liceo Scientifico, Risi joined the faculty of philosophy, but aband ...

and released in 1989. It stars

Michele Placido Michele Placido (; born 19 May 1946) is an Italian actor, film director, and screenwriter. He began his career on stage, and first gained mainstream attention through a series of roles in films directed by the likes of Mario Monicelli and Marc ...

, Claudio Amendola,

Alessandra Di Sanzo Alessandra Di Sanzo, born 26 August 1969, is an Italian actress best known for her portrayal of the teenage trans prostitute ''Marilyn Libassi'', nicknamed ''Mery'' in Marco Risi's dramatic film, ''Mery per sempre'' (" Forever Mary"), which was ...

Francesco Benigno Francesco Benigno (born 4 October 1967), is an Italian actor, director, singer and television personality. Early life Benigno was born in Palermo, Sicily, the twelfth of thirteen children. He grew up in Via Cataldo Parisio located in the densel ...

, Roberto Mariano, Maurizio Prollo, Filippo Genzardi,

Alfredo Li Bassi Alfredo (, ) is a cognate of the Anglo-Saxon name Alfred and a common Italian, Galician, Portuguese and Spanish language personal name. People with the given name include: *Alfredo (born 1946), Brazilian footballer born as Alfredo Mostarda Filho ...

Salvatore Termini Salvatore Termini (born 6 April 1967 in Palermo, Sicily) is an Italian actor best known for his role as "Giovanni Trapani", nicknamed "King Kong", in two Italian language dramatic films directed by Marco Risi, "Mery per sempre" (" Forever Mary" ...

Luigi Maria Burruano Luigi Maria Burruano (20 October 1948 in Palermo – 10 September 2017 in Palermo) was an Italian actor. He began his career in Sicilian-language cabaret and theatre before turning his attention to films. Burruano was arrested in 2006 on ch ...

, Gianluca Favilla, Giovanni Alamia and Tony Sperandeo.

Synopsis

''Mery per sempre'' is set in ''Rosaspina'', a fictional juvenile detention centre (based on a real facility named ''Malaspina'') in

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for it ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, during the 1980s. The protagonist, ''Marco Terzi'' (Michele Placido), is a teacher who has been transferred to Palermo from

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

. He obtains a temporary position as teacher inside the institution, waiting to start teaching in a high school, and has great difficulty in establishing a rapport with the young, hostile students; in particular, ''Natale Sperandeo'' (Francesco Benigno), the leader of the group, who is inside for murder, and ''Pietro Giancona'' (Claudio Amendola). Terzi's situation is further complicated when ''Marilyn Libassi'' (Alessandra Di Sanzo), a

trans Trans- is a Latin prefix meaning "across", "beyond", or "on the other side of". Used alone, trans may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Trans (festival), a former festival in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom * ''Trans'' (fil ...

prostitute, nicknamed ''Mery'', falls in love with him and when ''Claudio'' severely hits ''Carmelo'' who wanted rape her. With the passing of time, however, Terzi slowly gains the respect and admiration of his students, even from the most hardened of the young men, but he comes in contrast with the director and the warders. After the death of Pietro, killed during a robbery after a jailbreak, he decides to refuse a well paid position in the high school to stay with the boys. ''Forever Mary'' was followed in 1990 with the sequel ''

Ragazzi fuori ''Boys on the Outside'' ( it, Ragazzi fuori, idiomatically ''Hustlers Outside'') is a 1990 Italian drama film directed by Marco Risi in the neo-neorealistic style and written by Aurelio Grimaldi. Released in 1990, it is the sequel to the 1989 film ...

'', featuring most of the same cast and characters, with the exception of Placido and Amendola. The film ''Mery per sempre'' was the inspiration behind a song with the same name by the popular Israeli singer Ivri Lider.http://www.nrg.co.il/online/archive/ART32/401.html

References

* 1989 films Films set in Palermo Sicilian-language films Italian LGBT-related films Films directed by Marco Risi Italian drama films Films about educators 1980s Italian films {{1980s-Italy-film-stub