Themes: Starting Over, Death of a Partner, Single Parents
Main Cast: Anna Magnani, Burt Lancaster, Marisa Pavan, Ben Cooper, Jo Van Fleet, Virginia Grey
Release Year: 1955
Country: US
Run Time: 117 minutes
Plot
Scripted by famed playwright Tennessee Williams, The Rose Tattoo stars Anna Magnani as Serafina Delle Rose, a Sicilian woman who now lives in the American South. As the film opens, she is still mourning the death of her beloved husband, constantly telling herself stories of their time together. Her fragile emotional existence is shattered when she discovers that her husband had been carrying on with another woman. Luckily, Serafina also meets truck driver Alvaro Mangiacavallo (Burt Lancaster) around this time, and their tentative romance may help her through this troubling time. Williams wrote the script for Magnani, who was awarded an Oscar for her work in the film. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
Review
The Rose Tattoo was never top-drawer Tennessee Williams, and the screenplay has not aged gracefully. But the truth is that Tattoo has always really been little more than a showcase for its leading lady, and the performance that this film showcases has not dimmed an iota over the decades. Anna Magnani's performance is nothing short of ferocious, the kind of powerful, stunning acting that in lesser hands would be called "over the top." Magnani pulls out all of the stops, bursting forth with emotions so large that the screen shouldn't be able to contain them; yet part of her magic is that it does contain them, that the audience becomes engulfed in rather than overwhelmed by her outbursts. Crying out in pain or blazing with anger and hurt or letting out heartfelt laughter, Magnani is a human volcano, a force of nature that must be experienced. She is helped by Williams' ability to create three-dimensional female leads, which helps to overcome the stiffness and predictability of much of the plotting. As the male lead, Burt Lancaster has to contend not only with Magnani but with a role that is much less fully developed than that of Magnani's; unfortunately, he adapts by overplaying, and his performance damages the film, as does Daniel Mann's none too subtle direction. Still, the film's flaws are worth putting up with for Magnani. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Sandro Giglio - Father De Leo; Mimi Aguglia - Assunta; Florence Sundstrom - Flora; Dorrit Kelton - Schoolteacher; Rossana San Marco - Peppina; Augusta Merighi - Guiseppina; Rosa Rey - Mariella; Georgia Simmons - The Strega; Zolya Talma - Miss Mangiacavallo; Margherita Pasquero - Grandma Mangiacavallo; Lewis Charles - Taxi Driver; Larry Chance - Rosario Delle Rose; Jean Hart - Violetta; George Humbert - Pop Mangiacavallo
The film begins with Serafina Delle Rose (Anna Magnani) proudly praising her husband Rosario to her female neighbours in a shopping market, before revealing that she is pregnant with their second child. When she goes home with her shopping she finds Rosario asleep in bed and whispers to him that she is with child. Emerging from his room she finds a young woman named Estelle (Virginia Grey) at the door who wants her to make a shirt for her lover from some expensive silk material she has bought. It transpires that Rosario is her lover as, when Serafina is out of the room, she steals a photograph of him from Serafina's sideboard before departing.
Later that night Rosario is out working (he is a van driver) and Serafina is busy working on the shirt for her customer. The women of the neighbourhood discover that Rosario has been killed in a road accident whilst trying to speed away from the police; it transpires that he was smuggling illegal fruit. When Serafina discovers her beloved husband's demise she collapses, and later the local doctor informs her daughter Rosa (Marisa Pavan) and the women of the neighbourhood that Serafina has miscarried.
Three years later Serafina is a recluse, having withdrawn from the world. She has allowed her appearance to deteriorate. That particular day is the day of the high school graduation and the women of the neighbourhood are impatiently banging on her front door for their daughters' graduation dresses. Rosa is also begging for her graduation dress from her mother, but Serafina has locked them - along with the rest of Rosa's clothes - away. As all the girls are late for school, Rosa's teacher turns up in the neighbourhood demanding to know what is keeping them. She goes to the Delle Rose household and eventually makes Serafina see sense and she hands all the girls their dresses.
After much thought Serafina decides to attend her daughter's graduation and, comically, tries to get ready. During this time two women arrive asking if Serafina can quickly mend their bandanas for a festival they are going to. Serafina reluctantly does so, but is appalled by their talk of men and reprimands them however. However one of the women, Bessie (Jo Van Fleet), takes offence and decides to inform Serafina that her late husband was no saint; quite the contrary he was having an affair. Serafina does not go to the graduation ceremony after this revelation, but instead sits alone in the dark until Rosa comes home. She is infuriated when Rosa introduces her to her new boyfriend Jack Hunter (Ben Cooper) and insists that she will never see him again.
Rosa then runs away with Jack in disgust at her mother's actions, before a van driver named Alvaro (Burt Lancaster) turns up asking for lodgings. A reluctant Serafina allows him to stay for the night and the two proceed to get drunk. As Alvaro flatters Serafina with compliments she begins to talk of her late husband, mentioning that he used to have a rose tattooed on his chest. Later that night Alvaro returns, having got a rose tattooed on his chest. Serafina is disgusted and goes to throw him out, stating that he is dishonouring Rosario's memory. Seeing the look of discomfort on his face at the mention of her late husband's name, Serafina goes to question him if he knew Rosario or not. Alvaro is uncomfortable, and Serafina goes on to ask him if he was unfaithful to her. When he does not respond she throws him out of the house.
The next day Serafina goes to visit Father De Leo and asks him if anyone had confessed to him about having an affair with Rosario three years previously. The priest insists that he cannot divulge this information, but the look on his face says it all for Serafina and she begins to persist that he tell her. Things get so bad that she is thrown out of the chapel, and as a result she is mocked by her female neighbours who she has come to alienate from her.
Depressed, Serafina meets Alvaro and insists that he drive her to a club her husband used to attend. Once there she meets Estelle who asked her to make a silk shirt for her lover and guesses correctly that she was having an affair with him. Estelle confesses that she was having an affair with Rosario before proceeding to show Serafina the rose tattooed on her chest as a symbol of her love for Rosario. Returning home she smashes Rosario's urn containing his ashes and gives Alvaro the silk shirt that the woman had wanted made for Rosario, before inviting him to spend the night with her.
Alvaro turns up hours later at the Delle Rose household intoxicated and, mortified by her actions, Serafina leaves him in a drunken stupor and retires to bed. That night Rosa returns home and falls asleep on the sofa. As Alvaro awakes from his drunken stupor he sees Serafina's beautiful daughter lying there asleep and moves over to kiss her. As he does Rosa wakes up and screams, before confronting her mother as to why there is a strange man in the house.
Serafina gets rid of him, but the following morning she finds him on top of a telephone pole outside her house begging for her forgiveness. Serafina and Rosa are extremely embarrassed and Serafina refuses to leave the house in order to make him come down, much to Rosa's frustration. At that moment Jack arrives and asks Serafina if he can marry Rosa. Serafina is stunned, but seeing that this is what Rosa wants she gives them her consent and they leave to be married. Serafina then calls Alvaro down from the telephone pole before declaring in front of her neighbours that they have to pick up from where they left off the night before. As they enter the house Serafina puts on the radio whilst Alvaro pours them a drink and they laugh together.
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