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Bellissima

1951, Movie, NR, 130 mins

Bellissima: Review

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Somewhere between the neorealism of LA TERRA TREMA and the baroque stylizations of THE LEOPARD and DEATH IN VENICE lies the stylized realism of BELLISSIMA. A transitional film for Luchino Visconti (as would be his follow-up to BELLISSIMA, SENSO), BELLISSIMA has, curiously, not received nearly as much attention in the US as have his other films. Thankfully, with its video release this remarkable film will now be available for those interested in Anna Magnani, Visconti, and/or the Italian neorealist movement. The story is a simple one--Maddalena Cecconi (Magnani) is a working-class mother who hears of a motion picture audition to find "the most beautiful bambina in Rome" and decides to enter her daughter, Maria (Tina Apicella). Playing the pushy stage mother, Maddalena takes her child to CineCitta, the historic Italian film studio, for an audition, pitting Maria against hundreds of other little girls. Because Maria has no formal training, her natural talent stands apart from the other packaged and processed girls. Obsessed with the cinema, especially Montgomery Clift, Maddalena is convinced that the lives of actors and filmmakers are heavenly, but she receives a gradual and cruel awakening. Thanks to the superb performances of Magnani and little Apicella, BELLISSIMA effectively tells a tragicomic tale of how the cold reality of the world is imposed on common people, threatening to destroy what few hopes and dreams they have fought to retain. In addition to being a beautifully told story, BELLISSIMA is the first honest self-portrait of the cinema. (In Italian; English subtitles.) leave a comment
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