The film Bellissima criticizes the illusion that entering the world of cinema can provide an escape from the poverty that affects Italy. Neorealism films make a conscious departure from Hollywood-style filmmaking. Instead, they emphasize realistic stories, characters, and settings. Cinecitta represents a gritty fantasy-driven production site that stands in stark contrast to glamorous Hollywood. According to the film, dreams made in the Cinecitta studio can only be mediocre. Directors in the Italian film industry created the illusion of attainable fame and fortune in the minds of people, exploiting those who were most vulnerable to the system. Maddalena’s characterization represents the journey and future of the Italian film industry.
At the film’s beginning, Maddalena characterizes the common attitude during the neorealist movement. Maddalena’s family makes ends meet, as seen when they struggle to pay monthly rent. In hopes of opening new doors for her daughter Maria, she brings her to an audition for the famous film director Allesandro Blasetti’s upcoming film. The other girls are enthusiastic about auditioning and obedient to their mother’s hopeful dreams. This emphasizes the collective sense of hope to escape poverty. Maddalena forces her daughter to obey her wishes and takes several actions to transform Maria into the star of the film. She intends to get Maria a haircut, a new dress, and ballet lessons in hopes of Maria achieving the same level of class as the other girls. However, in the scene of the ballet class, the spaces between Maria and the children dancing emphasize the division of status. The girls on the floor are more elegant and dance with ease in their beautiful dresses while Maria is stuck on the bar awkwardly trying to practice in her shorts and t-shirt. The mise en scene further highlights the huge class differences and a lack of social mobility. Maddalena’s extremely optimistic attitude represents the illusions of common citizens during this neorealist period when directors were searching for authenticity as a key to their success. This is later denied when Maria is unable to meet those expectations.
Towards the end of the film, Maddalena recognizes the editor, Iris, as an actress in the movie Under the Sun of Rome, but she is no longer an actress because the directors only used her for the roles they needed and then discarded her. Like Maddalena, she had high hopes of achieving her dream, and even though she reached them she was only capitalized on. As the somber music begins to play Maddalena tries to reason with herself that all her desperate efforts were not in vain. She asks Iris if she can gain access to the projection booth while Blasetti and his team are watching Maria’s screen test. She allows and Maddalena watches and sees Maria’s poor performance — she was too small to blow out the candles and burst into tears when she forgot the lines of the poem. The camera focuses on Maddalena’s mood change, highlighting the disappointment and shock she experiences. When the room fills with laughter Maddalena again has a change in mood, this time enraged with their lack of respect for the young innocent girl. Maddalena’s fantasies of fame and fortune for Maria are shattered as she is exposed to the brutality of the film industry. This scene shifts Maddalena’s perspective, leading her to an epiphany about her belief in success.
Visconti’s ending resulted in Blasetti offering the role to Maria. Maddalena turns down the contract, symbolizing a rejection of the neorealist movement. Maddalena makes a promise to her husband that she will find a way to help with the house even if she must kill herself with work. Instead of trying to enter a world where working-class parents are constantly struggling to climb up the social ladder by using their children, she hopes for an alternative that does not require sacrificing her daughter for a false dream of fame in the cruel entertainment industry that exploits these ambitions. She had moral power at both a personal and national level because of her role as the figure of neorealism. Her neorealist identity is solidified in Visconti’s choice of actress, Anna Magnani, and her iconic role in Rome Open City. While the film’s ending does not provide any closure, it leaves the audience questioning the future of Maria and Maddalena as the camera focuses on the daughter sleeping — what will the future entail for them? This represents a transition from neorealism to post-neorealism and the uncertainty that Italy’s future will face.
Maddelena represented the journey of the neorealist movement as she started by following her naïve notion of the film industry and its ties to fortune. As she is slowly exposed to the brutality of the industry, she realizes this is no longer a good path for her and her daughter. Italy is now being faced with the task of deciding its future after heavily relying on neorealist films to claim fame — directors will no longer be able to pull the strings of the vulnerable. Maddalena’s energy and dedication to the future of Maria/Italy led her to take a different path instead of conforming to Cinecitta/Hollywood exploitative and commercialism values.
Author: Claire Spillman
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