Amore on AllMovie

Award-winning acrtress Anna Magnani stars in a pair of stories in this controversial anthology. The first is an adaptation of Jean Cocteau's The Human Voice, in which Magnani portrays a wealthy woman attempting to persuade her lover not to leave her in a desperate telephone plea. The second piece, The Miracle, managed to get L'Amore banned even in New York for its blasphemous content. Magnani plays a peasant who sleeps with a man (acclaimed director Federico Fellini) whom she thinks to be St. Joseph, then labors under the belief that she will give birth to the second coming of Christ. Magnani is outstanding, but neo-realist director Roberto Rossellini has difficulty transforming the inherently stage-bound material into a real film.