319. Le notti di Cabiria/The Nights of Cabiria

Running Time: 118 minutes
Directed By: Federico Fellini
Written By: Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli, Pier Paolo Pasolini
Main Cast: Giulietta Masina, Francois Perier, Franca Marzi

FELLINI WEEK: 2 OF 7

As I finished "Le notti di Cabiria", I was excited. Not because the film drew the emotion from me, but because I can now say that I've seen a Federico Fellini film that I really enjoyed. Not to say that I didn't enjoy "La strada", I just really liked this one and ultimately it was more up my alley.

Giulietta Masina makes an amazing transformation from her days as Gelsomina in "La strada" and proves that she really has some acting chops, as the prostitute Cabiria. Cabiria wanders the streets of Italy like a lost dog looking for an owner, but instead Cabiria is looking for love or at least someone to take care of her. She meets up with several different men over the course of the film, none of whom take advantage of her occupation, but merely use her for their needs at the time and discard her, back into the Italian underbelly. There's Alberto Lazzari, an Italian actor who uses Cabiria when his own girlfriend temporarily breaks up with him. Her other prominent suitor is Oscar, an accountant who confesses his love for Cabiria, but ultimately has selfish intentions. Unlike Masina's innocent, simple-minded Gelsomina, Cabiria is a feisty, tough, street smart woman who doesn't take shit from anybody and always has something to say and even though she gets used time and again, she always manages to pick herself back up and brush herself off.

In any of the 148 movie reviews that I've done for this blog, I've never spoiled a film. However, to get some of my points across here, I may have to delve into a little spoilage, so...

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT!!

I had high hopes for this one, as the plot synopsis of a hooker looking for love just sounded interesting to me and I almost had the whole film mapped out in my head before I even started it. For one thing, I was under the impression that the film took place over the course of one night and that was certainly something that could have been feasible, but ultimately I don't think it would've worked. Then I started the film and it doesn't take long for Cabiria to meet up with Alberto Lazzari and the entire segment with Alberto and Cabiria is great, flowing along really nicely, even with a bit of chemistry between the two actors, as they sit in Alberto's home and chit chat about different things. I didn't want this scene to end, as I was enjoying the interaction between Alberto and Cabiria and almost wished the film had taken on the plot of "La strada", with Alberto as the Zampano character and Cabiria as Gelsomina. She'd stay with him because she'd know that she'd never find a better or more wealthy suitor and for the brief moments when he treated her well, but in reality those moments would be few and far between, as he'd mistreat her because she wasn't his much better looking, more prominent girlfriend Jessy. That's just a thought, not what actually happened. No, instead Alberto reconciles with Jessy and Cabiria is once again back to the streets and back to searching for her next dollar or maybe, just maybe someone who can find love to give to her.

From the point where she leaves Alberto to the point where she meets Oscar drags a little and nothing of note really happens. Cabiria meets a Good Samaritan and later goes to visit the Madonna to beg for mercy, where Fellini seems to get the point across that he believes religion is no more than a money making scheme. Cabiria eventually lands in a theatre where she participates in a magician's show and is hypnotized into believing that she has finally found her true love. The magician names her lover Oscar and makes her to believe that she is finally happy, proving that Cabiria's fantasy of true love is no more than an idea or an illusion and will never be reality. Then we meet the real man named Oscar, who approaches Cabiria after the show and professes that he was deeply moved by Cabiria's words and movements during the hypnotism. He courts her for ten days before asking her to marry him and Cabiria agrees, seeing this as her opportunity at a real life. She sells her house and most of her possessions and takes a bus to meet her new husband.

The ending was perfect. Oscar, acting very quiet and suspicious, asks Cabiria to take a walk with him through the woods. You just know something is up, but I personally couldn't quite piece it together until they got to the cliff. They're walking through the woods and you can't even pay attention to the dialogue because you just know some shit is about to go down. I loved how the film basically started and ended the same way, with Cabiria's lovers basically wanting to kill her for money, proving that she is expendable in the world and that no one could ever really love her for her.

Ultimately the film ends with Cabiria walking home through the middle of a street fair and despite all the sadness that the film exudes, I really think we get a happy ending. During the street fair, with all the cheerful people dancing, singing and laughing around her, Cabiria looks directly at the camera and gives us a smile and while there is no dialogue, I'd like to think that with that one smile she's telling us; "Don't worry about me. I'll be okay. I'm resilient and I'll make it." So despite it's subtlety and throwing in some of my own personal ideas, I really think we get a happy ending and why not, because the rest of the film is so damn heartbreaking.

I really hope that all makes sense, and I realize a lot of it is just rambling, but I was so excited to write about this movie that an incoherent point may have made it's way through.

RATING: 7.5/10 I really couldn't help but deduct some points for the middle, due to the fact that it just drags too much. What Fellini really needed was one more guy for Cabiria to interact with in the middle of the film and it would've been a home run.

MOVIES WATCHED: 149
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 852

September 22, 2010 1:06pm