The Lady Without Camelias
(La signora senza camelie)

Screening on Film

Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni .
With Lucia Bosè, Andrea Cecchi, Gino Cervi .
Italy/France , 1953, 35mm, black & white, 105 min.
Italian with English Subtitles .
Print source: Cinecittà Luce

In his second feature, Antonioni is already exploring the behind-the-scenes theatrics, economics and soullessness of the film industry. The elegant Lucia Bosè stars as a young, beautiful actress whose independent, unconventional nature succumbs to the dominating expectations of men, family and legions of capricious spectators. Her professional and private identities are constantly crossing during a fast rise to stardom and eventually fuse in a reluctant marriage to her producer. Disappointed with all the generic roles offered her on screen and in love, she flutters impotently, trapped within others’ projections and fantasies. Personifying the cruel destiny of the starlet, pinned to the silver screen, she struggles to realize a simple dream “of really being alive, flesh and bone.”