Italian Films with English Subtitles: Bellissima

Bellissima (1951) 114 minutes

Italian neorealism film by Italian director Luchino Visconti. The film, which is a satire of the film industry, was shot at the Cinecittà studios. Alessandro Blasetti, a contemporary film director, appears as himself.

Bellissima centers on a working-class mother in Rome, Maddalena (Anna Magnani), who drags her young daughter (Tina Apicella) to Cinecittà for the “Prettiest Girl in Rome” contest. Maddalena is a stage mother who loves movies and whose efforts to promote her daughter grow increasingly frenzied.

A work of genius for both Visconti and Magnani.

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