Federico Fellini is the greatest director ever to work for the silver screen. His work is unparalleled in terms of creative style and story except maybe by the films of Stanley Kubrick, and even they lack the inventiveness of characters and depth of Fellini's movies. Before shifting into the more surrealist work in "La Dolce Vita" and "8 1/2" which he is most well known for, his work was securely grounded in neo-realist structures and narratives that dominated Italian cinema following the destruction of his country during the Second World War. But even here in "Le notti di Cabiria" we can see the change beginning to occur.
Fellini both loves and hates women as much as he loves and hates himself, so this film, like all his others, is characterized by the ineffectual man and desperate woman. His heroine is also his wife, Giulietta Masina, who plays the impish, spitfire Cabiria, a girl who "lives the life". She is a prostitute who wanders the streets of Rome working for money, but also tries to find genuine warmth and affection from the men she meets. In the process though she is met with nothing hardship and disappointment.
The film opens on Cabiria enjoying a stroll by the river with her current boyfriend, Giorgio. When she gets too close to the water Giorgio pushes her in, steals her purse and leaves her to drown. She is rescued, and the anger and hurt of the experience (one of many we expect she's had by the end of the film) lead her on a quest for reinvention from her lowly life. She hates herself, disgusted by her work and the other hookers who are her only friends and family and despairingly seeks a way out.
Told in Fellini's episodic structure that came to characterize his pieces, Cabiria spends the next few weeks encountering men in bizarre, but not totally unbelievable situations. She has spunk, likes to yell and gesture and that makes her character at once frustrating and completely likable. It is a strange and very inspired character choice for a little prostitute, but we sympathize with this woman who is tough as nails, and each infrequent smile she gives is a little ray of hope. She knows she is nothing, but she looks for opportunities to flaunt that at least she has her own house and her own thermometer--that's something yet!
Cabiria first meets a famous film star who gives her the slightest glimpse of the good life. He is kind, takes her to his mansion on a hill and feeds her lobster. But when his volatile girlfriend shows up unexpectedly Cabiria is shooed into the bathroom and ends of sleeping on the floor. The next "episode", so to speak, has her and her working girl friends at a church going to pray to the Madonna for a miracle. It is a heartbreaking scene of a woman who has lost hope in herself and turns to God for salvation. After, when the girls are picnicking outside she cries out miserably that none of them have changed, that they had not received a miracle. Later, Cabiria walks the streets and stumbles upon a magician's act. He hypnotizes her and instructs her to do something I won't reveal, but she is left emotionally raw and naked in front of a cheering crowd of men, having involuntarily exposed the soft person she is inside. This is the iconic scene of the movie which juxtaposes her life with all of her hopes and dreams. And the audience jeers.
But perhaps all is not bad and the Madonna was taking her time in bringing the miracle to Cabiria. One man in the crowd named Oscar (Francois Perier) saw something beautiful in the girl onstage. He brings her chocolates and flowers and speaks softly to her. Cabiria finally sees a way out of a hostile world.
There is so much beauty in this shameful film. Fellini was a master at finding the good in bad people and the hope in hopeless situations. Bertolt Brecht once wrote that the politically ignorant man, someone who relished in his apathy, was the reason that we have the abandoned child, the bad politician and the prostitute, and here Fellini captures that. When I first saw the film I saw nothing but greedy, awful men. This time, however, I realize that she couldn't find love because they had none to give. Their actions were driven out of desperation, just as her desperation led her into their arms. These people are fighting for survival, and although this is a rather whimsical examination of the underbelly of Rome poverty and shattered dreams are all too visible.
Not everyone is selfish in their day to day lives though. Wandering about at night Cabiria meets a man taking blankets and food to people living in caves. He says he goes every 9 to 10 days to look after the homeless and the hookers, but it simply isn't enough. Cabiria has never known unsolicited kindness it seems, and the look in her eyes is stunning.
This movie overwhelms me in its grace, its eloquence and its shattering plea for help. It is funny, reflective, solemn and furious all at once and the result is a beautiful gem of the cinema. His later works may be considered Fellini's masterpieces, but this one is untouchable to me.
4/4
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