La Fornarina

Surprisingly, we do not learn much about the filmography of Lída Baarová from the vast library of titles devoted to her (and nowadays also from various final qualifying works at schools). Only very rarely does anyone notice the fact that Baarová was also a stage actress. Virtually no one has shown even the slightest interest (let alone competence) in pursuing Baarová as a European actress. In an age that favors the massive opening of archives and subsequent digitization, it is humiliating (for both writers and readers) to repeat over and over again widespread untruths published (hopefully) in good faith in order to say something. From Baarová's brief recollections I, like many others, remembered Barcarolle and La fornarina as imaginary highlights. Unfortunately, during her lifetime there was no one who could have worked more effectively with her on the memories of such fantastically varied work in European studios. In this film, the Italian make-up artists took a completely different approach to her photogenicity, emphasizing her assets in 16th century costumes (at least ten of them are seen throughout the film). Unlike her years in the Third Reich, Baarová put on some weight and is very attractive. Thirty-year-old Baarová became quite naturally part of another national cinema, and we can only envy the Italians that she continued with them after the war. (26.05.2020)