Bellisima

After learning of a Cinecittà Studios casting call for a child actor, working-class nurse Maddalena (Anna Magnani) transforms into a consummate stage mother, overhauling the life of her seven-year-old daughter (the astonishing Tina Apicella) and steamrolling everyone else to secure an audition. But Maddalena gets more than she bargained for when an industry insider asks for money (and more) in return for bribing studio heads—a deception that opens Maddalena’s eyes to the real price she and her daughter might pay for their dream. Magnani turns in one of the great performances of her legendary career in the rarely seen Bellissima—a newly restored masterwork by Italy’s Luchino Visconti (Death in Venice). Delivering humor, humanity, and a rare look at postwar Italy’s pursuit of movie celebrity, Bellissima is the sublime result of Magnani and Visconti discovering collaborative magic at their artistic peaks. In Italian with English subtitles.

“The great Magnani is at her most extraordinary in this satirical view of the movie-studio world… Visconti’s warmest comedy.” –Pauline Kael, 5001 Nights at the Movies