When Cinecittà Studios puts out a casting call for a new child actress, they’re flooded with starry-eyed stage mothers and their talentless offspring. Anna Magnani plays one such working-class mother, a Roman nurse who is desperate to get her young daughter a shot at stardom.
Luchino Visconti deftly blends showbiz satire with heart-tugging pathos in this neorealist melodrama. His great masterpiece romanticizes the power of celluloid dreams and delivers a cuttingly cynical takedown of the industry.
Filmography: Death in Venice (1971), The Damned (1969), The Leopard (1963), Rocco and His Brothers (1960), Ossessione (1943).