Bellissima

Bellissima (1952) is an Italian drama you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Luchino Visconti with Anna Magnani giving what many consider the performance of her career — rawer and funnier and sadder all at once than almost anything else in Italian cinema of that decade.

Maddalena Cecconi is a working-class Roman mother who hears that director Blasetti is casting a little girl for his new picture at Cinecittà. She sees the part as the beginning of everything for her daughter Maria and throws herself into the hunt with no budget, enormous determination, and no real idea of how the film industry works. Around her is a crowd of other mothers with identical dreams, indifferent studio gatekeepers, and an audition process that has nothing to do with talent.

Visconti made the film right at the edge between Italian neorealism and something closer to social comedy, and it holds both registers without tipping into either. The final scene lands quietly and does not let go. Stream Bellissima (1952) online on iFILM.