Nights of Cabiria: Love for Sale
(– ***Spoilers For The Above*** –)
Giulietta Masina stars in Fellini‘s Cabiria as the title character, as she does eight years later in Fellini’s Juliet.
The two characters could not be more different, however in someways I
can not help but see Juliet as the continuation of Cabiria. She is a
continuation of the character in terms of the character’s journey, and
the theme of that journey, and this is due more to the writing than to
the acting. Both characters are lonely, though for differing reasons.
Cabiria is lonely because of her place of birth, at fourteen her mother
taught her to become a prostitute in order to contribute to their
financial situation. There was no mention of a father or any other
siblings to Cabiria,so I assume it was just the two of them. By the time
we meet her she has been at the profession for twenty years or more,
and is a scrappy veteran. Although we never see her succeed in acquiring
any real customers in the duration of this film, she owns her own home,
and has money saved, so it is safe to assume she is at least
semi-proficient at her work.
Ownership of her small shack in a field outside of Rome is her main
source of pride, and something she flaunts at anyone suggesting she is
of a lower caste. She often gets into shouting matches with the other
woman in her line of work, as she attempts to prove her worth and status
above those around her. She is fiercely independent, and refuses to
accept the help of anyone, for fear that they may have ulterior motives,
or may hurt her in someway. This fear is objectified in a scene at the
beginning of the film where she is frolicking in the fields with a man,
who proceeds to push her into a river and steal her purse. She returns
to her shack looking for the man, convinced that it was an accident, but
has her fears confirmed when he does not return. This proves that she
can trust no one, especially a man, and reinforces her journey on the
lonely path. Her friend’s pimp offers her his services, and she refuses,
citing the amount of money he would take from her for services
rendered. There is something sympathetic about a character willing to
face danger rather than receive help from nefarious people.
The
film follows her on her journey from scene to scene. The episodic nature
of this film suggests further its comparisons to Juliet. It’s
interesting to point out that this film was released in 1957, the year
of the final season of I Love Lucy and the first season of Leave it to Beaver. Two
wholesome American black and white television classics in which the
depiction of a married couple in bed was considered risqué. In Cabiria
we find racy sexual innuendos, the hilarious use of slang and subject
matter that even today would garner an R rating. It is an interesting
juxtaposition of the squeaky clean tone and image of old fashioned
American Hollywood film
making and the more mature and adult characteristics and themes of
foreign films. Much of Masina’s performance is steeped in the old
vaudevillian, over the top, slapstick stage acting,yet we also see the
more realistic, subtle and emotional performance when the film requires
it. There are moments where she is channeling the likes of The Three Stooges, or The Marx Brothers,
that then give way to heartbreaking moments of emotional release. It’s
as if we are watching the last gasps of the old timey vaudevillian
performance give way to the new Stanislavski
method acting right before our eyes. Though the shift in tone can be
somewhat off putting narratively, historically it makes perfect sense.
We follow her as she is betrayed by another man, this time a famous
actor of some sort, whom lures her to his home after a fight with what
surely is his model or actor girlfriend, only to leave poor Cabiria to
sleep in the bathroom as he sleeps with the model. She then hitches a
ride with a man whom drives around the poor parts of Rome feeding the
hungry who live in caves and holes. She and her prostitute friends wind
up out in the country and get swept up in a religious ceremony, that
reduces Cabiria to tears,as she begs for the mercy of God and for the
forgiveness of her sins. After the ceremony she realizes that she and
her friends were not miraculously changed by the hand of God, and is
distraught over this. She wishes to end her current mode of living yet
lacks the faculty to do so. She winds up at a show where a magician is
hypnotizing members of the audience. She is called up on stage, he waves
his hand above her head and gets her to reveal her innermost innocence,
in front of the laughing audience. After the show, a man approaches her
and tells her of what she did up on the stage, he tells her that he
wishes to court her. She, having been spurned by many men before, as we
have seen, refuses his advances, though she tells him where he can find
her again.
They date for a while, though they never have sex, and he asks her to
marry him. She tells all of her friends about it, she sells all of her
things, including her house, and she meets him to move to their new
home. Of course her worst fears are confirmed yet again, as he lures her
to a cliff with the intention of pushing her off and stealing her
money. Her breakdown in this scene is truly mesmerizing as she begs him
to end her suffering, just as when she begged for God to do something
similar. He takes the money and runs, and she is left sobbing on the the
edge of the cliff. She awakens and begins walking on a path alone, just
as when she began, betrayed and lost. However a troupe of musicians and
young people appear all around her, singing and dancing , and she
smiles and is happy as the film ends, though in worst shape, financially
then when the film started, perhaps she is in better shape spiritually
and emotionally. This is the final comparison to Juliet, in which in the
end she walks down the path alone, here she is walking with what seems
like jovial spirits summoned to brighten her horizon and remind her of
the true joys of living. Maybe she was killed on that mountain, and
these are the angels guiding her to her paradise, or she is dreaming,
having fallen asleep after her assailant scurried off, and this dream
will help her cope with the loss upon her awakening. The ambiguity is
both off putting and somehow comforting.
3.5 out of 5 stars
Epilogue
This is the New Wave film making that is somewhat parodied in Frances Ha.
In Cabiria we have a character that is supposed to be traditionally
unlikeable due to her profession. Though even in the way she is drawn
up, she has unlikeable characteristics, we are still given the
opportunity to sympathize with her and relate to her struggle and she is
made likeable, even lovable by the end.
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