Le Notti di Cabiria (1957)
Directed by Federico Fellini

Film Review

Whilst overshadowed by Fellini's subsequent cinematic masterpieces, Le Notti di Cabiria deserves to be considered one of the director's best works, a poignant examination of the fallibility and resilience of the human spirit.  An intensely moving film, it shows the futility of blind faith - in religion, chance and people - whilst, at the same time, reminding us that life, whatever hardships Fate throws in our way, is something to be treasured.  It is not intentionally a religious film but it portrays the strength of the human spirit, to endure and overcome devastating personal crises, in a way that makes it a parable of modern life, and watching the film does prove to be something of a spiritual experience.

With its gritty portrayal of the life of prostitutes and the poor, Le Notti di Cabiria is more representative of Fellini's neo-realist origins than his later era of grand, stylised, dramatic satires - although, historically and technically, the film marks the transition between these two stages in the director's career.  Because this film fell into comparative obscurity within a few years of its release, Fellini was able to re-use a lot of its material in his later films, notably La Dolce vita (1960).

One of the most moving sequences in Le Notti di Cabiria shows a taciturn man distributing food to poor people in the barren countryside outside Rome.  The scene is important since it provides the impetus for Cabiria's spiritual transformation, but it has only recently been restored to the film.  Before the film was released in 1957, the Catholic Church insisted this sequence, which runs to about seven minutes, be cut, because it implied the Church was failing in its duty to care for the poor.   Another sequence, which is both deeply moving and overtly mocking, is where Cabiria joins a pilgrimage to a holy shrine.  Amongst a throng of pilgrims imploring their Santa Maria to forgive them and cure their ailments, only Cabiria appears genuinely to believe in the power of redemption.  And, immediately after the ceremony, the only person who appears to have been marked by it - for better or for worse - is Cabiria.  In a more tolerant era, it is easy to see how this “parable” fits within the Christian message of the Gospel.  At the time, when the Catholic Church was constantly on its guard, it must have been enormously controversial, to say the least.

In many ways, Le Notti di Cabiria is one of Fellini's least ambitious films.  It is essentially concerned with a single theme: one person's spiritual journey.  Before our eyes, we see a thick-skinned, rather ignoble prostitute who has no control over her life, undergo a slow but sure transformation.  She may not achieve her long wished for dreams, but where she ends up is far better than where she started - and she has the potential to move on and create for herself the life she had hoped for.   It is a subtle yet profoundly moving work, made all the more effective because Fellini does not employ the clever cinematic devices he uses so well in his later films.  The narrative structure is simple, the cinematography is restrained, yet the story he tells is intrinsically so powerful that the film stands as one of his greatest works.

The part of Cabiria is played by Fellini's wife, Giulietta Masina, and it is impossible to imagine a better portrayal of the waif-like prostitute.  Often described as the female equivalent of Chaplin's loveable tramp, Masina's Cabiria is plausibly the most touching and most believable creation in Fellini's entire oeuvre.   Initially in the film, Masina plays the part almost for laughs alone, and certainly her performance in the first third of the film is wondrously comical.  But then, little by little, Masina reveals something of the true Cabiria, someone who has never experienced love and who, despite her protestations to the contrary, is a rather sentimental character.  As we follow Cabiria on her journey of self-discovery, we grow to love her, and the experiences she endures at the end of the film - tragic, but not entirely so - are something we can easily sympathise with.   Can the clown's teardrop which Cabiria acquires in the film's final sequence be a sign that her spiritual transformation is complete?  Now that she is consciously aware of the comedy in her life's drama, she can start to live, free of the fears and false hopes that have previously made her life a meaningless act.  Without any doubt, the film's impact owes as much to Masina's performance as to Fellini's direction.

Le Notti di Cabiria won the best foreign film Oscar in 1957 and Giulietta Masina won the best actress award at the Cannes Film Festival in the same year.  A decade later, the film was remade as a glitzy stage musical and film “Sweet Charity” (with Shirley MacLaine playing the lead role).

Film Synopsis

In a poor district on the outskirts of Rome, a middle-aged woman, Cabiria, earns a living as a prostitute.  She has fared better than most: she has her own house (a modest stone-walled shack) and a good income.  When her boyfriend pushes her into the river before running off with her handbag, she picks herself up and carries on with her life as if nothing has happened.  One evening, she runs into a famous film star who takes her back to his luxurious apartment - only to face another humiliation when the actor's girlfriend appears unexpectedly.   Having been moved by a solitary man's efforts to help the poor, Cabiria joins a pilgrimage to a holy shrine.  The experience gives her hope that she can change for the better, unlike her prostitute friends.  Later, at a show, a hypnotist invites her onto the stage, where she is put into a trance and forced to reveal her private life.  Her story moves one member of the audience, Oscar, an accountant, who introduces himself to Cabiria after the show.  Initially suspicious about Oscar's motives, Cabiria agrees to meet him again.  She soon convinces herself that he is the man who can take her away from her life of prostitution and solitude.  At last, she is happy…