La Signora senza camelie (1953)
Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni

Film Review

Michelangelo Antonioni's third full-length film is this cleverly updated version of Alexandre Dumas fils's novel La Dame aux caméllias, with the central role of the prostitute replaced, tellingly, with that of an actress. Although this is a comparatively minor entry in the director's oeuvre, it shows the emergence of his essential tropes that would attain fruition in his subseqent masterpieces L'Avventura (1960) and La Notte (1961).

Typical of Antonioni's cinema, the performances are subdued, the feelings of the characters conveyed not by words or gestures but by the environment that contains them, an environment that is defined by the striking black and white photography, set designs and and slick camerawork - the outer space expressing inner moods, almost in the manner of German expressionism. Along with his contemporaries, Fellini and Visconti, Antonioni would bring about a dramatic renaissance in Italian cinema in the 1950s and 1960s, extending the visual power of the neo-realists by embracing modernist styles that permitted new modes of expression.  Whereas neo-realism was concerned mainly with external realities, the new cinema of Antonioni and his peers was more focussed on the inner world of feeling and subjective experience. Interestingly, both Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren turned down the leading role in this film.  The part went to Lucia Bose, the star of Antonioni's first film, Cronaca di un amore (1950).

Film Synopsis

Stardom comes too quickly for Clara Manni.  Leaving her parents' drapers shop in Milan, she becomes a film star overnight, thanks to a small role in a film.  Her producer, Gianni, quickly derails a promising career, however.  Passionately in love with Clara, he imposes marriage on her and forbids her to appear in another film unless it is worthy of her talents.  Gianni finally finds her such a role - as Joan of Arc in his next big budget picture.  The film is a disaster and Gianni is ruined.  Clara leaves him and goes off with a young diplomat, Nardo, who has come to love her through her films.  With Nardo's encouragement, Clara restarts her acting career, the hard way.