Review of the film Bellissima (1951) (2024)

Film Review

Luchino Visconti takes a wry look at the post-war Italian filmmakingindustry in this dark satire, one of the director's few excursions intocomedy and a film that is all too easily overlooked in the light of thedirector's subsequent masterpieces. Bellissima represents something ofa turning point in Visconti's filmmaking career, the beginning of hisdissociation from neo-realism - which he had served admirably with Ossessione(1943) and La Terra trema (1948) - and thestart of a drift towards a more stylised, romantic approach tofilmmaking, which would attain its fullest expression in his latemasterpiece Il Gattopardo (1963). Bellissima belongs to a genre thatis termed neo-realism rosa, alighter version of neo-realism which examines the harsh realities oflife in post-war Italy through the rose-tinted prism of comedy.Another good example of the genre, released the same year, is VittorioDe Sica's Miracolo a Milano (1951).

Luchino Visconti's commitment to leftwing politics (despite hisaristocratic origins, he joined the Italian Communist Party during thewar) made him naturally ill-disposed towards the less moral aspects ofthe filmmaking industry, as this film amply demonstrates. Yet Bellissima is far more than anattack on exploitative filmmakers and their parasitic entourage; it isa film whose main preoccupation is the fallacy of trying to build alife on dreams. Both the central character, Maddalena, and herhusband (appropriately named Spartaco) are obsessed with escaping fromtheir present poverty-skimming milieu; she wants her daughter to becomea movie star, he wants to build his dream house. Neither has muchhope of succeeding, and yet this doesn't prevent them from ploughingall of their resources into their futile hobby of building castles inthe sky. Visconti's message is obvious: the problems of theworking classes cannot be solved by wishful thinking.

Bellissima gives Anna Magnani(arguably the greatest actress in Italian cinema, if not the world) oneof her most memorable roles, that of the insanely deluded motherMaddalena. The theatricality of Magnani's performance isperfectly suited for Visconti's heightened, near-operatic form ofneo-realism, but what makes the actress so suitable for this film isher ability to play comedy and tragedy with equal vigour, and in such away that we cannot always be sure which is which. Magnani isalways at her best when she is playing the martyr - who can forget hertortured performances in Robert Rossellini's Rome,Open City (1945) and Pier Paolo Pasolini's MammaRoma (1962)? - and here she gets ample opportunity to dothat. For the first two-thirds of the film, Magnani revs up theself-parody motors to near-breaking point as her character goes to everdrastic measures to achieve her ambitions (threatening to make thewhole of Rome diabetic at one point), but she is back to her usualmortified self for the final few reels as the deluded woman finallycomes to her senses, ripping our hearts to pieces as she does so.

Given that it deals with timeless themes, it is surprising that Bellissima is not as well known,nor as well appreciated, as Visconti's other great films. Formany, a neo-realist comedy is a contradiction in terms, but Viscontishows this need not be the case and that farce can be just as effectivea medium for exploring the tragedies of human existence asmelodrama. Whilst the director professed a deep sympathy for theplight of the working class it is only in this film that that sympathyis fully expressed, with the power to move an audience to tears. Bellissima is easily one of themost satisfying and enjoyable of Luchino Visconti's films, but it isalso one of his most poignant, his most honest assertion of his faithin the nobility of the proletariat.

© James Travers 2012

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Film Synopsis

Maddalena Cecconi is a nurse who lives in a slum district ofRome. Her husband Spartaco barely earns enough to pay the rentand the couple face eviction from their cramped lodgings. Whenshe hears that the film director Alessandro Blasetti is holding openauditions at Cinecittà studios to find a young girl for his nextfilm, Maddalena does not hesitate to enter her five-year old daughterMaria in the competition. Even though Maria is too young andshows not the slightest interest in becoming an actress, Maddalena isdetermined that she will win the contest and squanders all hersavings on coaching lessons and a new dress. She even gives moneyto an unscrupulous studio hand in the hope that he will improve herdaughter's chances, not knowing that he is merely exploiting hernaivety. Maddalena soon discovers that the world of show business is notwhat she imagined it to be...

© James Travers

The above content is owned by frenchfilms.org and must not be copied.

• Director: Luchino Visconti
• Script: Cesare Zavattini (story),Suso Cecchi D'Amico,Francesco Rosi,Luchino Visconti
• Cinematographer: Piero Portalupi,Paul Ronald
• Cast: Anna Magnani (Maddalena Cecconi),Walter Chiari (Alberto Annovazzi),Tina Apicella (Maria Cecconi),Gastone Renzelli (Spartaco Cecconi),Tecla Scarano (Tilde Spernanzoni),Lola Braccini (Photographer's Wife),Arturo Bragaglia (Photographer),Nora Ricci (Laundry Worker),Linda Sini (Mimmetta),Teresa Battaggi (Snob Mother),Gisella Monaldi (Door-keeper),Liliana Mancini (Iris),Alessandro Blasetti (Himself),Vittorio Glori (Himself),Mario Chiari (Himself),Luigi Filippo D'Amico (Himself),George Tapparelli (Himself),Scuola di Ballo del Teatro dell'Opera (Le bambine),Orchestra Sinfonica della Radiotelevisione Italiana (Themselves - Orchestra),Coro della Radiotelevisione Italiana (Themselves - Coro)
• Country: Italy
• Language: Italian
• Support: Black and White
• Runtime: 115 min