ANNA MAGNANI

An irregular face, large bright eyes, disheveled hair, a husky voice, a sudden laugh: Anna Magnani, the first Italian actress to win an Oscar, was driven in both her work and her life by a profound need for freedom that led her to always seek independence. Her passionate love affairs, stormy arguments, controversies, and provocations made her a performer-character who, on screen, fed on the insecurities and contradictions of a strong personality, always on the verge of exploding. The woman and the actress could not be separated in the female figures she embodied with her whole being: in the unforgettable characters of her films—the leader in ''Angelina'', the lover in ''The Human Voice'', the mother in ''Bellissima'', the dark lady in ''Caged'', the extra in ''The Passionate Thief'', the prostitute in ''Mamma Roma''—Anna comes toward us with open arms in a plea for help, for complicity, for love.