Excellent film dealing with the upper echelons of society that are unable to deal with a member of it who undergoes profound tragedy, leading her to live a life in total commitment to the impoverished.Ingrid Bergman gets this calling when her son dies, and it's first looked upon as having taken totally socialistic or Communistic beliefs.Alexander Knox plays her supposedly understanding husband, but soon relents when she is taken to an insane asylumGiulietta Masina is as always excellent as the woman taking care of 6 children, but still having her own immoral agenda.There are some scenes which remind me of Bergman's 1948 "Joan of Arc." I think the film was a great prelude to 1958's "The Inn of the 6th Happiness." Society was so fortunate to have Miss Bergman's appearance on screen.

It's a bit melodramatic, but up until Irene's final conversation with Cassatti the Commie, *Europa '51* is a very interesting film, first about a pampered rich woman's reaction to her son's death, then about the difference between windy Marxist propaganda and real compassion.However, at that point, Rossellini's original idea takes over: He wanted to make a film about what would happen if a truly saintly person ever showed up in the modern world. And he had a very good idea of what would happen--or at least a very insistent one. The people here obviously behave the way they do solely to make the point Rossellini wants to make, even when their behavior doesn't seem very plausible. In defter hands, such manipulation can work. Here, though, you can see the tracks Rossellini has rather clumsily laid down to move the story where he wants it to go.

I watched the Americanized version last night on TCM. It was a bit choppy, and the dialog didn't match up very well with the actors' mouths, but overall the story was very moving. I like the analogy of St. Francis of Assisi or Mother Theresa, except they weren't locked up. But I think maybe that was also a commentary on the repressive social regimes of the times. The TCM commentator mentioned an interesting side-note, that during the making of this film, Ms. Bergman discovered that she was expecting twins. I think that was very much reflected in her interaction with the children in this story. Hopefully TCM will show the Italian version one day.

I saw Roberto Rossellini's "Europa '51" for the first time very recently and I can assure you it is without a question Rossellini's greatest film with Ingrid Bergman surpassing "Viaggio in Italia" and "Stromboli". It may well be Rossellini's greatest and most complex film, though I still have soft spot for "Paisan", "Germania, anno Zero", and "The Rise of Louis XIV"!"Europa '51" is a supremely rich and moving work of art, highlighted by an extraordinary performance by Ingrid Bergman (perhaps her best ever)! It beautifully expresses the uncertainty, the despair,the search for hope at that time in history. Much like Rossellini's neo-realist classics, "Europa '51" shows only facts or raw physical reality, yet throughout the film Rossellini makes the viewer aware of something miraculous or spiritual. Rossellini deftly shows us the process of how a human being can transform from being a careless or ordinary to a gifted saint capable of changing the world. At first, Bergman's Irene is portrayed as hard working mother who has very little care for her son Michele and her people. Irene is shown chatting with her dinner guests who are apparently blind to the realities of outside world. But soon when Michele tries to commit suicide and ultimately dies, she is changed forever. Michele's suicide here is quite different from Edmund's in "Germania, anno Zero": Whereas Edmund's heartbreaking suicide is characterized by a sense of finality and lack of consolation, Michele's suicide in "Europa '51" provokes Irene's journey to sainthood. Irene's progression from ignorance to sainthood is truly a revelation. Rossellini's unique style, the use of eloquent close-ups, or the scene where Irene's face fills the frame as she looks at a female patient - serves as "framing" devices where we see Irene attaining something larger than life. Irene personifies a sense of change and endearment for her people; she suddenly starts to care for humanity, her eyes open to the harshness of the outside world. Though there is an apparent detachment in the drama much like most Rossellini's work, there is no question the viewer is invited to identify with Irene and share the development of her consciousness.To me, the ending is hopeful and miraculous. Irene is behind bars, her friends come and recognize her as a saint. It is a shot full of beauty and eloquence. This is the only Rossellini film I saw that made me cry. I hope many people will see it and be moved by it as much as I did.