Nights of Cabiria

I prefer this to Fellini's La Dolce Vita and 8 1/2. Maybe it's because it's more of a tragedy in the neo-realist sense, maybe it's because the narrative is a little more succinct and flows more smoothly.

Giulietta Masina (Fellini's real life wife) is brilliant as the down trodden central figure, and the ending is as tense as it is magical. Great film.

The original title of the film is Le Notti di Cabiria.

I said this before when I watched La Strada, but Masina truly has one of the indelible faces in all of film. She's remarkable in this--one of my favorite performances of this project. Not sure what's up with Fellini's cinematic abuse of these women, though, sheesh.

A very good and very well acted neorealist film, with a strong echo by the co-writer Pasolini, but still some of Fellini's signature elements in the background. As it is the first I have seen from the director, I am unable to put it in comparison with his others, perhaps the main criticism here is that is tied too much with neorealism leaving apart a bit of originality.

Nights of Cabiria is one of those films that make us laugh on the outside and cry on the inside. The character played by Giulietta Masina is a whirlwind of humanity — full of life, hope, and an almost childlike faith in the possibility of affection, even in a world that constantly disappoints her.

Cabiria is alive. She is naïve, yes — but never foolish. And perhaps that’s what makes the film so devastating: it shows us that the greatest blow doesn’t come from poverty, but from the cowardice of others. From empty promises. From cruelty disguised as tenderness.

We laugh with her many times, because her way of being is luminous. But with each burst of laughter, a shadow quickly follows: the reality of a life marked by need, desolation, and survival. The film moves gently between comedy and tragedy, creating a tension that never fully resolves — and that, for this reason, resonates deeply.

[spoiler]The ending is shattering. A mirror of the beginning: once again, the fall; once again, the betrayal. But something has changed. Cabiria, though wounded, finds the strength to smile. Giulietta Masina gives us a character made of hope, stubborn in her dreams even when the world crushes her. And in that tiny spark — that smile through tears — the film reveals its heart: no matter how many times she falls — Cabiria, and with her all of us, rises again. [/spoiler]