Teresa Venerdì

This diverting comedy reveals sides of both Vittorio De Sica and Anna Magnani that are largely unfamiliar today, obscured by their neorealist breakthroughs just a few years later. De Sica stars as a handsome pediatrician of questionable competence plagued by both creditors and amorous women. Among them are a mattress-factory heiress who fancies herself a poetess, and a comely eighteen-year-old orphan with a penchant for reciting Romeo and Juliet. And then there is Magnani, a showgirl utterly uninspired by her art. The role is small but essential, providing a refreshingly worldly counterpoint to the other women’s girlish dreams of romance.