Giulietta Masina Elevates Fellini’s Nights of Cabiria to Cinematic Greatness

 

                Stemming from the Italian Neorealism period which found great favor in the U.S. during the late 1940’s via such classics as Open City, Shoeshine and The Bicycle Thieves, Federico Fellini’s 1957 masterwork Nights of Cabiria offers one of the richest and most moving viewing experiences of any film. At turns funny, heartbreaking and profound, it relates the joys and setbacks of an optimistic, romantic Italian prostitute, Cabiria, intent breaking free from the ill repute associated with her career of choice and finding a better place in life. Following her day-to-day exploits, one becomes completely involved in Cabiria’s fate in a manner rarely seen in film. The character had originally appeared briefly in Fellini’s 1952 The White Sheik, and proved intriguing enough to warrant a full-length examination of the uniquely appealing heroine. Fellini’s wife Giulietta Masina originated the role in Sheik and had recently gained worldwide fame via her touching work in La Strada; in Cabiria she reaches her career peak, giving an unforgettable performance filled with grit, humor, vulnerability and hope that draws in an audience as they foster a protective bond with Cabiria throughout her every adventure and misadventure.

                For Fellini, Cabiria marked a high point in his early career, before his focus on fare with a more cosmopolitan and bizarre flavor, such as La Dolce Vita and 8 ½ rose to the forefront of his filmography. With Cabiria, Fellini adopts a more simplistic, naturalistic approach to the material, focusing on the free-spirited streetwalker in a series of seemingly non-related vignettes filmed on location at various Italian locales, which adds verisimilitude to the proceedings and helps draw a viewer into Cabiria’s world as she goes about her unconventional life. The trust and understanding Fellini shares with Masina in regards to the role are evident throughout the film, as their stellar teaming grants the viewer a full study of a warm, decent character considered an outcast by society but bravely maintaining a strong sense of self. depicting Along Fellini would go on to greater fame and accolades, Cabiria remains possibly his most humane, moving work, wherein his skill at depicting a complete portrait of individual at a specific time and place is at a peak; one feels Fellini’s fascination for the character and Masina’s artistry as Cabiria is delineated in sublime fashion. 

                Giulietta Masina had worked in films for over a decade prior to Cabiria, starting with a bit in Roberto Rossellini’s landmark Paisan in 1946. Honing her craft over the next several years led to a mammoth breakthrough as the tragicomic waif in La Strada, the success of which helped bring her and Fellini to the forefront of world cinema. Strada won a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar among many other awards and critical hosannas, with Masina’s moving work as the naïve heroine considered a major factor in the movie’s potent effect on viewers, leading some critics to draw comparisons of Masina to other renown artists in the tragicomic vein, specifically “The Tramp,” Charlie Chaplin. With this major accomplishment, it would be a significant task to have a reteaming of star and director create an even more effective vision, but Fellini and Masina surpassed all expectations with Cabiria, artfully building a rich, multi-faceted portrait of a heroine of individuality, spirit and strength.

Although compelling in Strada, there are times in this early Fellini masterwork wherein Masina is clearly playing up the comic and dramatic aspects of the role. With Cabiria, she fully embodies the character in a soulful, completely viable manner. The comedic and serious elements are still there and colorful, but always mesh believably with Cabiria’s unique, spirited persona. Rarely has a performer been so in touch with a character, and Masina beautifully and sensitively depicts each of Cabiria’s beguiling traits, culminating in one of the greatest and most impactful final moments in film, wherein Masina illustrates the indomitable nature of the human spirit with a brief, unforgettable smile at the camera that is both heartbreaking and inspiring; anyone feeling hopeless due to dire circumstances would do well to watch this beautifully-enacted scene and take heart in Cabiria’s unshakeable courage and endurance. Masina is also very funny and spontaneous in other key moments, such as dancing to a fare-thee-well in a nightclub, or bantering back-and-forth with other members of the world’s oldest profession, while registering as deeply humane in more thought-provoking sequences wherein Cabiria reflects on themes involving religion, faith and regret as they relate to her in her life and her sense of worth as she toils in her chosen field. After her eminent portrayal of possibly the screens’ most endearing lady of the night, Masina would continue in films through the sixties, including another substantial role in Fellini’s 1965 Juliet of the Spirits, before making a nice late-career impression in her husband’s 1986 comedy Fred and Ginger, as well as at the 1993 Oscars wherein Fellini received a special Oscar, and from the stage lovingly chastised Masina for crying in the audience.

Although Masina is aptly front-and-center throughout, several others manage to get an impression in edgewise. In an early comical sequence, the virile Amedeo Nazzari brings an air of machismo conceit to his role of Alberto Lazzari, a movie star who picks up an awed Cabiria on a whim after a falling out with his girlfriend. Franca Marzi is also formidable as Wanda, the tough, loyal roommate and colleague of Cabiria, who wants the best for her friend but is wary of Cabiria’s often unorthodox choices (with Marzi in the role, a viewer clearly grasps Wanda’s firm sense of reality and loving support for her friend, and one is grateful Cabiria has a figure so staunch in her life she can turn to when needed), while Aldo Silvani upholds a creepy presence as the wizard who puts Cabiria in an emotionally revealing trance late in the film. Finally, Francois Perier reads as both appealingly earnest and slightly and mysteriously tense as Oscar, the gentle suitor Cabiria meets late in the film, skillfully lending credence to the film’s extraordinary finale and, as with Masina’s seminal work, making it difficult for a viewer to forget Perier in this role when seeing him in other films.

                A big critical success upon its 1957 release, resulting in an Oscar win for Best Foreign Film, David di Donatello Direction and Producer awards for Fellini and Dino De Laurentiis, respectively, and Best Actress prizes for Masina from the Cannes and San Sebastián film festivals, Nights of Cabiria represented a triumph for all the creative forces behind and in front of the camera involved in making one of the cinema’s most significant and emotionally transcendent experiences. The reputation of Cabiria has only grown with time, with it now being regarding as one of the greatest films of Italian Cinema. The movie’s influence inspired the hit 1966 Broadway musical Sweet Charity, ambitiously transferred to the screen by Bob Fosse 1969 with Shirley MacLaine making a fine impact in the title role, and a successful 1998 re-release of Cabiria brought the film to a whole new audience, while including a sequence initially cut from the film. Further plaudits include placement in the National Society of Film Critic’s 2002 “Top 100 Essential Films of All Time” list (at #85) and the BBC’s 2018 list of “The 100 Greatest Foreign Language Films” list (at #87). At that 1998 re-release the author, who had previously only seen a dubbed version on television, was able to fully grasp the impact the original Cabiria can have on a rapt audience, as besides being immersed in the proceedings myself, I witnessed the powerful reaction of others who laughed and cried along with Masina as she beautifully conveyed one of Cinema’s greatest heroine’s every emotion with devastating potency, emphasizing a key reason why this masterpiece will endure in memory for any viewer lucky enough to encounter Cabiria’s singular charms via the introspective, droll, quirky and poignant work of Masina in one of Cinema’s truly imperishable performances.