“Legendary cinematographer Carlo Di Palma made his directorial debut with this fascinating cross between melodrama and comic picaresque. . . . Vitti stars as the titular protagonist, a war widow and single mother leading a harsh life in Rome. Hungry and miserable, she is caught red-handed robbing someone’s apartment, sparking a taste for kleptomania. She ineptly tries her luck with a succession of schemes, but it increasingly seems that she is destined for jail. . . . As always, Vitti is captivating, managing to project profound cool while portraying utter desperation” (Film at Lincoln Center).