Cabiria (played with Chaplinesque, tragi-comic genius by Fellini's wife, Giulietta Masina), is a Roman sex worker who longs for love and respect, and through misadventures and heartbreak, must rely on herself and her own indomitable spirt to maintain faith in humanity. +Curated Italian wines for a multi-sensory cinema experience!NIGHTS OF CABIRIA (1957, 110 mins). Screenplay by Pier Paolo Pasolini.
In the fifth of their immortal collaborations, Federico Fellini and the exquisitely expressive Giulietta Masina completed the creation of one of the most indelible characters in all of cinema: Cabiria, an irrepressible, fiercely independent sex worker who, as she moves through the sea of Rome’s humanity, through adversity and heartbreak, must rely on herself—and her own indomitable spirit—to stay standing. Winner of the best actress prize at Cannes for Masina and the Academy Award for best foreign-language film, Nights of Cabiria brought the early, neorealist-influenced phase of Fellini’s career to a transcendent close with its sublimely heartbreaking yet hopeful final image, which embodies, perhaps more than any other in the director’s body of work, the blend of the bitter and the sweet that define his vision of the world. Giulietta’s portrayal of Cabiria many people, of Chaplin’s tramp, specially in CITY LIGHTS. The French critics at the time of release even referred to her as the feminine Charlot, their affectionate name for Chaplin.
FUN FACTOID: The American Broadway musical comedy and Hollywood picture Sweet Charity was inspired by Nights of Cabiria, and Fellini's name is on the credits, however he disagreed with Bob Fosse’s way of doing it on so many points, that he prefered that the film be regarded solely as Fosse's creation.
CRITICAL ACCLAIM:
"Fellini’s most fruitful collaboration with his wife Giulietta Masina, Masina radiates in her wide eyes a woman torn between competing impulses: impulsiveness and calculation, open-hearted affection and defiant independence, and romantic daydreaming and survivalist instinct. In extreme long shot and loving close-up, Fellini spotlights her as an almost Chaplinesque figure enduring the crucible of modern life, a milieu relentless in its parade of callous men, opportunistic schemers and fair-weather friends. Rome is seen as a half-occupied netherworld of crumbling buildings, shadowy back alleys, and sun-blasted fields dotted with bunkers for the homeless— Both a hardened assessment of the pitfalls of social climbing and a wary take on stagnation, Nights of Cabiria ultimately dispels the anxieties it dredges up in a send-off that counts among cinema’s most elating visions" -Harvard Film Archieve.
Our Transcending Cynicism Film Series for December:
Friday, 12/12: Frank Capra's Lost Horizon
Sunday, 12/14, Tokyo Godfathers
Sunday: 12/21: Fellini’s Nights of Cabiria +Italian wine!
Saturday: 12/27: Wings of Desire +German wine!
Popcorn & Seasonal Snacks Provided! Doors open at 6:30pm, Film Begins at 7pm.
Event Venue
Epsilon Spires, 190 Main Street,Brattleboro,VT,United States
Tickets
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