Acting Style
According to film critic Robin Wood Magnani's "persona as a great actress is built, not on transformation, but on emotional authenticity... doesn't portray characters but expresses 'genuine' emotions." Her style is notable by not displaying the more obvious attributes of the female star, with neither her face or physical makeup being considered "beautiful". However, she possesses a "remarkably expressive face," and for American audiences, at least, she represents "what Hollywood had consistently failed to produce: 'reality'". She was the atypical star, the "nonglamorous human being", as her genuine style of acting became a "rejection of glamour".
Her most distinguished work in Hollywood is in Wild is the Wind, according to Wood. Directed by George Cukor, "the American cinema's greatest director of actresses," he was able to draw out the "individual essence" of Magnani's "sensitive and inward performance." Her other well-known Hollywood films were The Rose Tattoo, which she won the best actress Oscar for in 1955, and The Fugitive Kind.
Read more about this topic: Anna Magnani
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