Nights of Cabiria
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| Nights of Cabiria | |
|---|---|
 Original Italian poster |
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| Directed by | Federico Fellini |
| Produced by | Dino De Laurentiis |
| Written by | Screenplay: Ennio Flaiano Tullio Pinelli Federico Fellini Pier Paolo Pasolini Story: Maria Molinari |
| Starring | Giulietta Masina François Périer Amedeo Nazzari |
| Music by | Bonagura Nino Rota |
| Cinematography | Aldo Tonti Otello Martelli |
| Editing by | Leo Cattozzo |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | May 10, 1957 (Cannes Film Festival) May 27, 1957 (Italy) October 28, 1957 (U.S.A.) |
| Running time | 117 minutes |
| Country | Italy |
| Language | Italian |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Nights of Cabiria (Italian: Le notti di Cabiria) (1957) is an Italian film directed by Federico Fellini.[1]
Fellini's wife, Giulietta Masina, plays Cabiria Ceccarelli, a feisty but naive prostitute in Ostia, then a seedy section of Rome. The name Cabiria is borrowed from the 1914 Italian film Cabiria, while the character of Cabiria herself is taken from a brief scene in Fellini's earlier film The White Sheik.
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[edit] Plot
The film follows Cabiria as she searches for love but encounters frequent heartbreak. Mistreated and taken advantage of by almost everybody she encounters, Cabiria eventually meets a man who promises her a respectable future and falls head over heels in love with him. What follows is a series of humiliating episodes, in which the defiantly positive Cabiria is hurt, but never broken.
[edit] Cast
- Giulietta Masina as Maria "Cabiria" Ceccarelli
- François Périer as Oscar D'Onofrio
- Franca Marzi as Wanda
- Dorian Gray as Jessy
- Aldo Silvani] as Il mago
- Ennio Girolami as Amleto, "il magnaccia"
- Mario Passante as Lo storpio alla processione
- Jordan Blake-Klein as Alberto Lazzari
[edit] Critical reception
FIlm critic Bosley Crowther gave the film a mixed review, and wrote, "Like La strada and several other of the post-war Italian neo-realistic films, this one is aimed more surely toward the development of a theme than a plot. Its interest is not so much the conflicts that occur in the life of the heroine as the deep, underlying implications of human pathos that the pattern of her life shows...But there are two weaknesses in Cabiria. It has a sordid atmosphere and there is something elusive and insufficient about the character of the heroine. Her get-up is weird and illogical for the milieu in which she lives and her farcical mannerisms clash with the ugly realism of the theme."[2]
In a review, film critic Roger Ebert mostly writes about the film's plot and Fellini's background, and wrote, "Fellini's roots as a filmmaker are in the postwar Italian Neorealist movement (he worked for Rossellini on Rome, Open City in 1945), and his early films have a grittiness that is gradually replaced by the dazzling phantasms of the later ones. Nights of Cabiria is transitional; it points toward the visual freedom of La dolce vita while still remaining attentive to the real world of postwar Rome. The scene involving the good samaritan provides a framework to show people living in city caves and under bridges, but even more touching is the scene where Cabiria turns over the keys of her house to the large and desperately poor family that has purchased it."[3]
[edit] Adaptation
The American musical and movie Sweet Charity is based on Fellini's screenplay.[4]
[edit] Awards
Wins
- Cannes Film Festival: Best Actress, Giulietta Masina; OCIC Award - Special Mention, Federico Fellini; 1957.
- David di Donatello Awards, Italy: David, Best Director, Federico Fellini; Best Production, Dino De Laurentiis; 1957.
- San Sebastián International Film Festival: Zulueta Prize, Best Actress, Giulietta Masina; 1957.
- Academy Awards: Oscar, Best Foreign Language Film, Italy; 1958.
- Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists: Silver Ribbon, Best Actress, Giulietta Masina; Best Director, Federico Fellini; Best Producer, Dino De Laurentiis; Best Supporting Actress, Franca Marzi; 1958.
- Sant Jordi Awards, Barcelona, Spain: Sant Jordi, Best Foreign Actress, Giulietta Masina; Best Foreign Director, Federico Fellini; Best Foreign Film, Federico Fellini; Best Foreign Screenplay, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli and Pier Paolo Pasolini; 1959.
- Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Spain: CEC Award, Best Foreign Film, Italy; 1959.
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
- ^ Nights of Cabiria at the Internet Movie Database.
- ^ Crowther, Bosley. The New York Times, film review, October 29, 1957. Last accessed: January 26, 2008.
- ^ Ebert, Roger. Chicago Sun-Times, film review, August 16, 1998.
- ^ Sweet Charity at the Internet Movie Database.
[edit] External links
- Nights of Cabiria at the Internet Movie Database.
- Nights of Cabiria at Allmovie.
- Nights of Cabiria at DVD Beaver (includes images).
- Nights of Cabiria essay at Criterion Collection by Federico Fellini.
| Preceded by La Strada |
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film 1957 |
Succeeded by Mon Oncle |
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