A ‘Vogue’ Valentine to Sophia Loren, Star of ‘The Life Ahead,’ Her 98th Film

Out in limited release today and coming soon to Netflix is The Life Ahead, a new film starring Sophia Loren, directed by her son Edoardo Ponti. At 86, the actress’s beauty—and smarts—remain undimmed. Loren suggested the project to her son after reading The Life Before Us, the novel by Romain Gary on which the script is based.

As Madame Rosa, a Holocaust survivor who cares for the children of the prostitutes in a coastal Italian town, and who forms a deep bond with Momo (Ibrahima Gueye), a 12-year-old Senegalese immigrant, Loren’s character is marked by heart and grit, not glamour. In this film she exhibits “the strength to love,” which was the title of a 1963 Vogue profile of Loren, “who is, for many people,” the magazine noted, “the most beautiful woman in the world.”

When the Italian actress made her Vogue debut in 1955 it was on the strength of her sex appeal. Three years later the editors’ view of Loren was more nuanced, separating the pose from the person: “Loren, famous as a torrent of movie sex, looks offstage like a dip of coffee ice cream, cool, beautiful, and soothing,” read one caption.

Over the years the “dark flame” of Loren’s beauty was captured in Vogue by the likes of Irving Penn and Richard Avedon. In 1971 the actress opened the doors of Villa Ponti to Lord Snowdon, and on the occasion of her 50th birthday, Anthony Burgess penned a tribute to the actress in the magazine, proclaiming Loren “one of the heroines of our time.”

Here, a Vogue valentine to the endlessly fascinating actress.