Monica Bellucci Persephone (The Matrix)

Persephone (The Matrix)

In the movies The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, Persephone (played by Monica Bellucci) is the wife of The Merovingian. She seems bored with her existence in the Matrix, and is disaffected by her husband (possibly because of his dalliances).

Movies

In The Matrix Reloaded, Persephone is attracted to Neo and offers to help him if he kisses her with the same passion with which he has kissed Trinity. Reluctantly, he complies and she helps him free the Keymaker. Later, she kills one of her husband's employees.

In The Matrix Revolutions, Persephone warns The Merovingian that Trinity would indeed kill everyone in Club Hel to free Neo from the Train Station, simply because she is in love. This suggests that Persephone perceives and understands love, and may be disheartened by thecynicism of her husband, who seems to be driven solely by greed and lust.

Enter the Matrix

In the video game Enter The Matrix, Persephone encounters and takes a kiss from either Niobeor Ghost (depending on whose story you follow). She seems to be able to deduce the feelings and emotions of those she kisses, noting Niobe's love for Morpheus, or Ghost's unrequited lovefor Trinity. She apparently takes deep pleasure in sampling the emotions of others.

The Matrix Online

In the MMO The Matrix Online, Persephone gave the location of the Assassin's hide-out to Zion operatives in a critical mission relating to the Death Of A Destroyer event.

Cultural references

The character takes her name from the Persephone in Greek mythology, who is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter (Ceres), and whom Hadestook to the underworld to be his queen. There are allusions throughout the movies that The Merovingian works in the Matrix as an analogue to Hades, including his presence in Club Hel, his unhappy marriage to Persephone, and his existence as one of the oldest beings in the Matrix universe, specifically as the one in charge of "lost souls".

Before shooting her husband's employee in The Matrix Reloaded, Persephone mentions needing silver bullets, implying that he is a werewolf. In behind-the-scenes footage, Persephone herself is described as a "vampire that seeks after emotions".

Posted in: Monica Bellucci