Ingrid Bergman and director Roberto Rossellini teamed for this fascinating (if long) look at an expatriate American woman in post-war Italy, the death of her son, and her movement toward "good works." Complex and multi-layered story has moments of brilliance and incorporates dashes of Communism, religious fervor, social work, love, and the frivolity of the rich all set against the "new Italy" of the early 1950s. Bergman looks great and gives a stunning performance, even if it reeks a little of Saint Joan. Alexander Knox (best known for Wilson and The Sea Wolf) is good as the cold-fish husband, and Giulietta Masina (La Strada) has a nice supporting role as an earth mother who gathers up stray kids. The rest of the cast was unknown to me. Opening sequences of social butterfly Bergman ignoring her needy son to entertain guests are quite good, as are various slum and factory scenes. The ending is quite disturbing and way too long.
Certainly a better film overall than Rossellini's Stromboli, and even though Bergman is good (as always) one can't help feel that Anna Magnani might have been a better "type" for the role, especially with Magnani's penchant for theatrics.
Anyway, it's an interesting and powerful study of a woman's metamorphosis, but to what we are never sure. Certainly worth a look.
Certainly a better film overall than Rossellini's Stromboli, and even though Bergman is good (as always) one can't help feel that Anna Magnani might have been a better "type" for the role, especially with Magnani's penchant for theatrics.
Anyway, it's an interesting and powerful study of a woman's metamorphosis, but to what we are never sure. Certainly worth a look.