Bellisima (1952)

Bellisima
Directed by Luchino Visconti
Written by Suso Cecci D’Amico, Francesco Rosi, and Luchino Visconti; story by Cesare Zavattini
1952/Italy
CEI Incom
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] It’s difficult being a child actor. I don’t think everything beautiful has to be exploited. Some things can be beautiful and left beautiful. — Rick Schroeder[/box]

This had some nice moments, especially near the end, but way too much yelling to be enjoyable for me.

Maddelena Cecconi (Anna Magnani) lives with her blue-collar worker husband and their only child, Maria.  She contributes to the household income by giving injections to diabetics and to people looking to build up their strength.  When Maddelena hears that a director at Cinecitta is holding an open audition for a little girl to appear in his next film, she is right there with Maria.

Maddelena isn’t too smart but she is absolutely determined. She soon finds herself surrounded by vultures who are offering their services to improve Maria’s chances in her call-back. One of these manages to get hold of the money that the family had saved to buy a house. Maddelena is also blind to Maria’s lack of enthusiasm for the entire project.

I like Anna Magnani as an actress but she shouted continuously during this movie – even when she was not necessarily angry. I think it’s an accurate presentation of a certain type of Italian woman but it still got on my nerves. She has some nice moments at the end (see clip). My favorite character was her husband. This is a highly rated movie and other viewers might love it.

Clip – no subtitles but will be a spoiler if you understand