''L'Amore'' (''Love'') is a 1948

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

anthology film An anthology film (also known as an omnibus film, package film, or portmanteau film) is a single film consisting of several shorter films, each complete in itself and distinguished from the other, though frequently tied together by a single theme ...

directed by

Roberto Rossellini Roberto Gastone Zeffiro Rossellini (8 May 1906 – 3 June 1977) was an Italian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He was one of the most prominent directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing to the movement with films such ...

that stars

Anna Magnani Anna Maria Magnani (; 7 March 1908 – 26 September 1973) was an Italian actress.Obituary ''Variety'', 3 October 1973, pg. 47 She was known for her explosive acting and earthy, realistic portrayals of characters. Born in Rome, she worked her ...

and

Federico Fellini Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and most i ...

. After an opening dedication to Magnani for her acting ability, it consists of two parts, one titled ''La voce umana'' (''The Human Voice'') and the other ''Il miracolo'' (''The Miracle''). The second part was banned in the United States, until it was cleared in 1952 by a Supreme Court decision upholding the right to free speech.

''The Human Voice''

Adapted by Rossellini from a 1930 play ''

The Human Voice ''The Human Voice'' (french: La voix humaine) is a monodrama first staged at the Comédie-Française in 1930, written two years earlier by Jean Cocteau. It is set in Paris, where a still-quite-young woman is on the phone with her lover of the l ...

'' (French title ''La Voix humaine'') by

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the su ...

, this features an unnamed woman (Magnani), alone in her apartment, who over the telephone is desperately trying to salvage her relationship with the man who has left her.

''The Miracle''

Co-written by Fellini, Pinelli and Rossellini, this is about Nanni (Magnani), a simple-minded and obsessively religious woman who tends goats on a mountainside near

Amalfi Amalfi (, , ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno, in the region of Campania, Italy, on the Gulf of Salerno. It lies at the mouth of a deep ravine, at the foot of Monte Cerreto (1,315 metres, 4,314 feet), surrounded by dramatic c ...

. When a handsome bearded wanderer (Fellini) passes, she takes him to be

Saint Joseph Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers of ...

. Offering his flask of wine, he gets her drunk and she falls asleep. When she wakes up, he is gone and she is convinced that his appearance was a miracle. Some months later, when she faints in an orchard, the women who help her discover she is pregnant. She believes this is another miracle, but to the people she becomes a figure of ridicule until, fleeing their mockery, she lives rough. As her time approaches, carrying her few possessions and accompanied only by a friendly nanny goat, she wearily climbs to a mountain top where there is an isolated church. Inside, a newborn baby cries, and Nanni is seen opening her dress to feed her miraculous child.

Release

The film was first exhibited in Italy in 1948. Magnani was awarded the

Nastro d'Argento The Nastro d'Argento, also known by its translated name Silver Ribbon, is an Italian film award awarded each year since 1946 by the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists (Italian: ''Sindacato Nazionale Giornalisti Cinematografici Italiani ...

(Silver Ribbon) as

best actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...

by the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists in 1949 for her performance. Due to legal complications over the rights to Cocteau's play, the original version was not widely shown.

''The Ways of Love''

In 1950, ''The Miracle'' was removed from ''L'amore'' and placed in a three-part anthology film called ''

The Ways of Love ''The Ways of Love'' is a 1950 anthology film. The film features three segments, Jean Renoir's "A Day in the Country", Marcel Pagnol's "Jofroi", and Roberto Rossellini's "The Miracle". ''L'Amore'' and ''The Ways of Love'' One segment of ''The Wa ...

'' with two other short films:

Jean Renoir Jean Renoir (; 15 September 1894 – 12 February 1979) was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent film, silent era to the end of the 1960s. ...

's ''A Day in the Country'' (1936) and

Marcel Pagnol Marcel Paul Pagnol (; 28 February 1895 – 18 April 1974) was a French novelist, playwright, and filmmaker. Regarded as an auteur, in 1946, he became the first filmmaker elected to the Académie française. Although his work is less fashionabl ...

's ''Jofroi'' (1933). After the U.S. distributor,

Joseph Burstyn Joseph Burstyn (born Jossel Lejba Bursztyn; December 15, 1899 – November 29, 1953) was a Polish-American film distributor who specialized in the commercial release of foreign-language and American independent film productions. Life and career B ...

, exhibited it with English subtitles in New York in November 1950, it was voted the best foreign language film of 1950 by the

New York Film Critics Circle The New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) is an American film critic organization founded in 1935 by Wanda Hale from the New York ''Daily News''. Its membership includes over 30 film critics from New York-based daily and weekly newspapers, magaz ...

. However, ''The Miracle'' part of the film was condemned by the

National Legion of Decency The National Legion of Decency, also known as the Catholic Legion of Decency, was a Catholic group founded in 1934 by Archbishop of Cincinnati, John T. McNicholas, as an organization dedicated to identifying objectionable content in motion pictu ...

as "anti-

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

" and "

sacrilegious Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

" and in February 1951 the

New York State Board of Regents The Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York is responsible for the general supervision of all educational activities within New York State, presiding over University of the State of New York and the New York State Education Depa ...

, in charge of film censorship for the state, revoked the license to show the film. This led to the lawsuit ''

Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson ''Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson'', 343 U.S. 495 (1952), also referred to as the ''Miracle Decision'', was a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court that largely marked the decline of motion picture censorship in the United States. ...

'', finally decided by the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

in 1952 who, in what is popularly known as "The Miracle Decision", declared that the film was a form of artistic expression protected by the

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...

guarantee in the

First Amendment to the United States Constitution The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prevents the government from making laws that regulate an establishment of religion, or that prohibit the free exercise of religion, or abridge the freedom of speech, the ...

References

External links