BELLISSIMA
Genre
Drama
Language
VOSTA
Duration
115
Rating
About
LUCHINO VISCONTI RETROSPECTIVE
Presented in collaboration with Ciné-histoire.
4K restoration — 75th anniversary.
Double feature | May 31:
- BELLISSIMA — 11:30 AM
- ROCCO AND HIS BROTHERS — 3:00 PM
Anna Magnani turns in one of the greatest performances of her legendary career in Bellissima—a scathing indictment of postwar Italy’s reckless pursuit of celebrity. After learning of a Cinecittà Studios casting call for a child actor, working-class nurse Maddalena Cecconi (Magnani) transforms into a consummate stage mother, overhauling the life of her seven-year-old daughter (Tina Apicella) and steamrolling everyone else, including her disbelieving husband (Gastone Renzelli), in order to secure a successful audition. But Maddalena gets more than she bargained for when an unscrupulous industry insider (Walter Chiari) asks for cash (and more) in return for greasing Cinecittà palms—a deception that culminates in Maddalena’s shattering disillusionment over the material and spiritual costs that she has paid for the flimsiest of dreams. Delivering both humor and heartbreak, Bellissima is the triumphant result of Magnani and Visconti discovering collaborative magic at their artistic peaks.
“The most unjustly neglected of Visconti’s early films … A hilarious send-up of the Italian film industry.” - Jonathan Rosenbaum, The Chicago Reader
Directed by
Luchino Visconti
Actors
Anna Magnani, Walter Chiari, Tina Apicella, Gastone Renzelli, Tecla Scarano
Country
Italy
Version
Original w/English subtitles
Release year
1951