Artist In Retrospect: Anna Magnani

Anna Magnani wad (and perhaps still is) the incarnation of what Keats spoke of when he said "Beauty is truth, truth is beauty."   Hers is the face of earthy beauty.  A beauty that divulges only a hint of what it conceals.  Her unkempt hair and dark eyes accompanied by a laugh so loud and strong it can only be described as being so vibrantly tragic it inspired both audience and artist alike.

It is very likely that Anna Magnani’s unique delivery on the more unsavoury and tortured elements of life were directly related to her own childhood poverty growing up in a time where Italy was seeing it’s own fair share of misery.  Having lived through two wars and seen both the grandeur and horror of humanity transpire in the holy city it’s almost impossible to conceive that an Anna Magnani would not emerge.  In her time on this planet she would touch the lives of millions of people and even one very special playwright who gave us such wonders as Cat On a Hot Tin Roof and A Street Car Named Desire–Tennessee Williams. A man who after meeting her would go on to say "I never saw a more beautiful woman, enormous eyes, skin the color of Devonshire dream." . 

A working actress from in and around 1928 to 1972 (the year before she died) Anna Magnani was as the forefront of an evolving European and American cinema over the span of four decades.  She worked with world famous directors such as Roberto Rossellini, Luchino Visconti, Daniel Mann, Sydney Lumet, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Stanley Kramer, and Jean Renoir.  She was nominated twice for best actress in a leading role by The Academy in 1956 for The Rose Tattoo (won along with the Golden Globe for the same category and film) and 1958 for Wild is the Wind. She was so esteemed by her friends and colleagues that the part in  Tennessee Williams The Rose Tattoo was written by him specifically for her.   How many others in history can boast the same?

There simply aren’t enough accolades to demonstrate how fundamentally important she was to cinema.  No other woman has graced the big screen like Anna Magani since her unfortunate demise-not even in the form of cheap imitation.  In all her roles she exemplified the incomparable beauty and tragedy of women born into a generation that demanded them be so much for so little.  Here’s a clip I found on YouTube of her interview clips and film clips.  I hope you all go and watch a film with Anna Magnani in it–you’ll reconsider you’re current film stars and their relevance to culture today.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 21st, 2009 at 6:29 pm and is filed under Artist In Retrospect. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.