As the curtain rises on Pietro Marcello ’s handsome but very culturally specific biopic, the legendary Italian actress Eleonora Duse has been in retirement since 1909. Such is her enduring fame that she still draws a crowd when entertaining the troops during the First World War, and the film’s star, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi , rises to that challenge, playing her as a grouchy kind of 19 th -century Italian Meryl Streep. Audiences in the know will appreciate the effortless gravitas she brings to the role, but, while it’s certainly no Mommie Dearest , there’s also perhaps unintentional streak of camp that creeps in later, when Duse’s parenting skills turn out to make her more like Joan Crawford.

We meet Duse when she has withdrawn from the stage so vehemently that she’s almost forgot

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