This is the poster of Bellissima (1951)

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Bellissima is an Italian Neorealism film which was made in the year 1951. It was a film by Italian director Luchino Visconti. This film itself was shot in Cinecitta and the exciting part is, with Alessandro Blasetti, the film director, appeared as himself. However, there are also challenges that Italian neorealist filmmakers faced such as scarcity of film, weak communications for film production, general existential struggles in an atmosphere of destruction and war. So, this movie is about a mother and a daughter and it shows the love of a mother like no other.

The mother, Anna Magnani,  and the daughter, Maria Cecconi.

Bellissima revolves around a mother and daughter. Anna Magnani who stars as Maddalena Cecconi a stage mother who drags her daughter Tina Apicella who stars as Maria Cecconi, who has no talent at all, but Maddalena raises such a commotion at the studio after the girl's unsuccessful screen test that the producers eventually find work for the girl. Maddalena sent her daughter to Cinecitta for the "Prettiest Girl in Rome" contest.

Anna Magnani and her husband Spartaco Cecconi.

Anna would do whatever it takes to make her daughter famous even if she had to use all her savings and if it means sacrificing her marriage. Maddalena’s husband, Gastone Renzelli who stars as Spartaco Cecconi was not happy at all that Maddalena was using all their savings on their daughter.

Honesty, it appears, is actually the keystone of the story structure, the producers' approach to it and, of course, Maddalena, Maria’s mother, portrayal. The succession of this movie is sharply defined ranging from tragic heartbreak to typical, gesture-full comedy in which the rich Italian slang often is left not translated in the English subtitles.

In this scene, it shows that the Italian accent in the movie is very strong. esides that, her passionate display of emotions not often on dialogue for effectiveness. She is, alternately, a proud, protective and instinctively wise mother, who is ready to run the risk of losing the savings that mean a better home for her family in order to provide unselfishly a career for her youngster.

This is a scene where Anna raises such a commotion at the studio after the her girl's unsuccessful screen test that the producers eventually find work for the girl. No matter what, as a mother, she would do whatever it takes to make her daughter a star whether if she will make a fool out of herself by creating a commotion and more.

One of the techniques that were used in Bellissima is the “White Telephone” technique, it sets featuring white telephones which is the status symbol of wealth, and children would have Shirley Temple curls. This film is tended to be socially conservative, promoting family values, respect for authority, a rigid class hierarchy, and country life.  IT shows the devastated beauty of everyday, exact human life and suffering, and chose to work on location and also use non-professional actors.

Besides that, “White Telephone” technique also promotes a false view of reality, emphasized observational rather than transformative capabilities of cinema, avoidance of intricate plots or complex narratives, naturalism over artifice, emerges in opposition to glossy studio filmmaking and aims to portray contemporary social conditions with focus on the lower classes.

This video shows that Anna and her family are not well to do therefore, it focuses on the lower classes like in this case, Anna and her family. That is why, Anna’s husband got so angry because Anna wants to use all her savings for their daughter to be a star.

 

Non-professional actors of Bellisima.

Other than that, another film technique that is used is simple, direct and unembellished. It actually defines a fundamental approach to Realism in cinema. It shows the everyday rather than the exceptional and also the common people rather than socialites. With this, non-professional actors are usually used to act in Italian Neorealism films such as Bellissima.

The lighting in Bellissima.

Moreover, they will use authentic settings, stories rooted in Italian social reality, use spare unadorned camera techniques, camera set-ups tended to be functional and basic, lighting very spare and unadorned,avoids high contrast and low-key lighting popular in Hollywood Classical style, editing was restrained, avoid montage, viewed as manipulative to viewer and unrealistic structural device.

Deep focus shot.

Medium shot.

Far shot.

 It was noticed that in the movie Bellissima, angles such as the far shot, medium shot and deep focus shot is often used because in the film, the actors are usually doing something, therefore they have to make it the angles that they did to show the audience what is going on in the film. For the deep focus shot, it shows the entrie plane of action is in focus. For example, when a man and wife are carrying through a door, the back and foreground all are focus within a shot. Other than that, in Italian Neorealism, cuts are usually less and less frequent.

Before doing the film Bellissima,Visconti attended over three years when the work marks his meeting, with almost ten years of delay. It allows the director to return to an idea of cinema and of direction to make more people believe in him. While shooting this movie, behind Anna Magnani, Visconti prepares a whole choir of popular voices that continuously move to allowshowing the shiny look on the constant conditions of poverty and hunger of Italy.This Italian drama however, the cinema offers itself in all, the privilege place within which the desire of a sudden change of the social status can be realized.

Italian Neorealism emerged as a product of the battle in an effort to show reality and make use of the screen as a self-reflective tool for building a new national identity as a reaction to fascism. This film also served as a platform for political and civil awareness, sometimes even acting as a political battleground. The plotlines are actually extremely dramatic and it usually focuses on a humble characterthat stereotypically goes against the myth of the superhero. For Italian Neorealism films, non-professional actors are used to make the audience picture themselves in the movie itself. So, when Visconti wanted to shoot this video, he could just pick villagers from where he wants to shoot at. That is the difference between Italian Neorealism theory to other theories.