to the point that some lines are today turned into well established idiomatic expression ("la supercazzola"), and even a programming language ("monicelli") has been created using a syntax based on film quotes. His 1976 film Caro Michele won him the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 26th Berlin International Film Festival. Dramatic accents were predominant in the Un borghese piccolo piccolo (A Very Little Man, 1978), featuring Alberto Sordi for his first complete dramatic role. Here Monicelli's pessimism takes over: the transformation of Italian society was such that it was no longer possible to laugh, believe or hope. This is why it is considered by many critics to be the film that brings the season of Comedy Italian Style to a close. Final years He turned again to more cheerful comedy and attention to historical events from a popular, intimate point of view with Il Marchese del Grillo (1981), also featuring Alberto Sordi at his best. The film was awarded Monicelli's third Silver Bear for Best Director award at the 32nd Berlin International Film Festival. The Rogues (1987) was also a historical parody set during Renaissance. Among the final works by Monicelli are Let's Hope It's a Girl (1985), Dearest Relatives, Poisonous Relations (1992) and Dear Goddamned Friends (1994), featuring Paolo Hendel. The latter won an Honourable Mention at the 44th Berlin International Film Festival. His 1999 film Dirty Linen was entered into the 21st Moscow International Film Festival. His last feature film was The Roses of the Desert (Le rose del deserto, 2006), which he directed when he was 91 years old. In 1991 he received the Golden Lion for Career of the Venice Film Festival. A documentary made by Roberto Salinas and Marina Catucci, Una storia da ridere, breve biografia di Mario Monicelli, appeared in 2008. Death At the age of 90, Monicelli decided to go and live on his own, in order to remain self-sufficient and survive to ageing for a longer time. He died on 29 November 2010 at the age of 95. He killed himself by jumping from a window of the San Giovanni Hospital in Rome, where he had been admitted a few days earlier for prostate cancer in the terminal stage He had two daughters, Martina (1967) and Ottavia (1974), from Antonella Salerni. He had a third daughter, Rosa (1988), from his last companion Chiara Rapaccini. He was an outspoken atheist. Filmography