BELLISSIMA

Luchino Visconti's 1951 drama “Bellissima” was a celebrated portrait of a woman from the slums of Italy trying to audition her daughter for movie stardom. Artur Urbanski says he had no prior knowledge of it as he planned his feature debut, but he ended up borrowing the title and theme for this haunting depiction of stage-motherhood run rampant and the little girl robbed of childhood as a consequence. Elzbieta is a brassy, blonde cosmetology instructor, consumed with the trappings of show business and the tinselly glamour of the entertainment media. So insanely bent is Elzbieta on making her daughter Marysia into an international supermodel that she falsifies the adolescent girl's age to enroll her in a beauty pageant. Marysia herself, lonely, friendless and desperate to free herself from her unstable parent's ruthless ambitions, seeks sanctuary by holing up with a pair of seemingly friendly neighbors in their apartment complex. Big mistake, and not the only one that strips the girl of her innocence, as Elzbieta literally prostitutes herself with a hot, young talent agent in order to secure Marysia's future. By the final, ironic turn of events we may have come to understand why Elzbieta is the way she is and whether the sins of the mothers pass on to the next generation, in a short, sharp tale as fresh and vivid as the next fashion magazine on the newsstand. (In Polish with English subtitles)