I figli di nessuno ended with the characters left in a tragic, troubled situation, fairly incompatible with the fundamental spirit of a traditional ‘popular’ melodrama, which requires that even misfortune find some sort of compensation and completion. The main characters – a couple – had lost their son, and because of Luisa’s religious vows could not be together again without breaking them. The Angelo bianco screenplay takes this “paralyzed” situation and reveals itself to be extremely capable and full of ingenious and rich meanings. The invention of Lina’s character (Luisa’s double) rekindles our romanticized moral and religious interest in the characters. Guido moves towards an emotional void and becomes even more desperate than in I figli di nessuno (…). He goes through various psychological statesuneasiness at the two women’s resemblance to one another (and here we can’t help but think of Vertigo), followed by moments of passion and then repression for Luisa’s double – which lead him, after many ups and downs, to a kind of reconciliation with the world when, thanks to Luisa, he discovers the child that Lina has given him. (…) In the final scenes the geometric aspects of the film’s direction add an unprecedented lyricism to the dramatic plot developments, and at the same time that fanciful metaphysical touch that began in I figli di nessuno (with the apparition of Suor Addolorata) and continues in Ange­lo Bianco in Luisa and Lina’s relationship, which takes on almost supernatural qualities. (…)”.

Jacques Lourcelles, Dictionnaire du cinéma, Laffont, Paris, 1992