The legendary Anna Magnani delivers one of her greatest performances in this under-seen Neo-Realist classic by Luchino Visconti. In Bellissima, Magnani stars as a mother who learns that Cinecittà Studios has a casting call for a child actor. She quickly becomes the ultimate stage mother as she overhauls the life of her seven-year-old daughter (Tina Apicella) and steamrolls over everyone else, including her husband (Gastone Renzelli). Is the price of a chance at fame worth all of costs? “Perhaps the most unjustly neglected of Luchino Visconti’s early films.” – Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader