NIGHTS OF CABIRIA (62)

Directed by: Federico Fellini (1957)

Starring: Giulietta Masina, Francois Perier, Amedeo Nazzari

The Pitch: A waiflike Roman prostitute dreams of romance and respectability, but men always let her down.

Theo Sez: Disappointing, given both its reputation and its quietly lovely first quarter of an hour, offering a deft sketch of the heroine amid a dreamy, semi-urban landscape full of space and light. The rest of it basically repeats that characterisation, looking progressively less deft (and less dreamy, settling into nondescript urban spaces and of course losing the daylight, as per the title) - Cabiria's tough, bristly exterior hiding her neediness and gentleness, the proverbial whore with a heart of gold, looking only for tenderness but resigned to the knowledge she may never find it. Fellini's worldview is basically escapist, with a streak of sentimental showbiz schmaltz - Life's impossible, he says, so let's sing and dance and enjoy ourselves while we can : he's scathing about the pilgrims who flock to church looking for the Madonna to heal their limbs or change their lives (only fools look for miracles), but he loves the casual magic of sideshows and carnivals. The hypnotist sequence (coming only five minutes after the church scene) takes this vaudeville miracle-worker at face value, never suggesting he's a charlatan or wondering how his tricks are done : compare, e.g., the fortune-teller in BICYCLE THIEVES, who's obviously a fake but brings comfort to her customers (that's the point). Fellini's neo-realist roots are already half-abandoned here - the film's about Life rather than life, all 'poetic' ironies and emotional short-cuts. Just about worth seeing nonetheless, esp. in the "restored" version : the "man with a sack" sequence, though irrelevant to the plot, is dramatically vital, giving us a first glimpse of Cabiria with her guard down, pointing up her sad past and paving the way for her tearful plea to the Madonna in the next scene. Even over-rated films deserve to be seen at their best.