Old Hollywood
Cinema
1900-1979
Nostalgia is a seductive liar - George Wildman Ball
Federico Fellini & Giulietta Masina on the set of La Strada (1954, dir. Federico Fellini)  Is [your wife, Giulietta Masina] a good actress, in your opinion? Federico Fellini: Excellent. I think she would have interested me as such even if she hadn’t been my wife. Her mimicry, for example, and that little round face which can express happiness or sadness with such poignant simplicity. That little figure, with its tenderness, its delicacy, fascinates me no end. Her type is crystallized, even stylized for me. As an actress, she represents a special type, a very specific humanity.

Federico Fellini & Giulietta Masina on the set of La Strada (1954, dir. Federico Fellini) 

Is [your wife, Giulietta Masina] a good actress, in your opinion?

Federico Fellini: Excellent. I think she would have interested me as such even if she hadn’t been my wife. Her mimicry, for example, and that little round face which can express happiness or sadness with such poignant simplicity. That little figure, with its tenderness, its delicacy, fascinates me no end. Her type is crystallized, even stylized for me. As an actress, she represents a special type, a very specific humanity.

Giulietta Masina in Nights of Cabiria (1957, dir. Federico Fellini) The subject of loneliness and the observation of the isolated person has always interested me. Even as a child, I couldn’t help but notice those who didn’t fit in for one reason or another—myself included. In life, and for my films, I have always been interested in the out-of-step. Curiously, it’s usually those who are either too smart or those who are too stupid who are left out. The difference is, the smart ones often isolate themselves, while the less intelligent ones are usually isolated by the others. In Nights of Cabiria, I explore the pride of one of those who has been excluded. -Federico Fellini

Giulietta Masina in Nights of Cabiria (1957, dir. Federico Fellini)

The subject of loneliness and the observation of the isolated person has always interested me. Even as a child, I couldn’t help but notice those who didn’t fit in for one reason or another—myself included. In life, and for my films, I have always been interested in the out-of-step. Curiously, it’s usually those who are either too smart or those who are too stupid who are left out. The difference is, the smart ones often isolate themselves, while the less intelligent ones are usually isolated by the others. In Nights of Cabiria, I explore the pride of one of those who has been excluded.

-Federico Fellini

Giulietta Masina in Nights of Cabiria (1957, dir. Federico Fellini)

Giulietta Masina in Nights of Cabiria (1957, dir. Federico Fellini)

Giulietta Masina in final shot of Nights of Cabiria (1957, dir. Federico Fellini) “Giulietta’s portrayal of Cabiria reminds me, as it has many people, of Chaplin’s tramp, even more so than her [character in La Strada] Gelsomina. I leave Cabiria looking at the camera with a glimmer of new hope at the end, just as Chaplin does with his tramp in City Lights. It is possible for Cabiria to yet again have hope because she is so basically optimistic, and her expectations are so low. The French critics referred to her as the feminine Charlot, their affectionate name for Chaplin. That made her very happy when she heard it. I was happy, too. Cabiria is a victim, and any of us can be a victim at one time or another. Cabiria is, however, more of a victim personality than most. Yet even so, there is also the survivor in her. This film doesn’t have a resolution in the sense that there is a final scene in which the story reaches a conclusion so definitive that you no longer have to worry about Cabiria. I myself have worried about her fate ever since.” -Federico Fellini 

Giulietta Masina in final shot of Nights of Cabiria (1957, dir. Federico Fellini)

“Giulietta’s portrayal of Cabiria reminds me, as it has many people, of Chaplin’s tramp, even more so than her [character in La Strada] Gelsomina. I leave Cabiria looking at the camera with a glimmer of new hope at the end, just as Chaplin does with his tramp in City Lights. It is possible for Cabiria to yet again have hope because she is so basically optimistic, and her expectations are so low. The French critics referred to her as the feminine Charlot, their affectionate name for Chaplin. That made her very happy when she heard it. I was happy, too.

Cabiria is a victim, and any of us can be a victim at one time or another. Cabiria is, however, more of a victim personality than most. Yet even so, there is also the survivor in her. This film doesn’t have a resolution in the sense that there is a final scene in which the story reaches a conclusion so definitive that you no longer have to worry about Cabiria. I myself have worried about her fate ever since.”

-Federico Fellini 

Giulietta Masina on the set of La Strada (1954, dir. Federico Fellini) (via)

Giulietta Masina on the set of La Strada (1954, dir. Federico Fellini) (via)

One of Federico Fellini’s initial sketches of La Strada’s Gelsomina  (via)

One of Federico Fellini’s initial sketches of La Strada’s Gelsomina 

(via)

Giulietta Masina on the set of La Strada (1954, dir. Federico Fellini) (via) “Mr. Fellini says that his wife sometime resists his view of her talents, which he summarizes as ‘a mingling of youngish and clownish.’ But make no mistake: in suggesting that his wife is a clown, Mr. Fellini means no insult. ‘The clown is the aristocracy of acting,’ he says. ‘To be a clown means to have the possibility of making people cry and laugh.’ (via)

Giulietta Masina on the set of La Strada (1954, dir. Federico Fellini) (via)

“Mr. Fellini says that his wife sometime resists his view of her talents, which he summarizes as ‘a mingling of youngish and clownish.’ But make no mistake: in suggesting that his wife is a clown, Mr. Fellini means no insult. ‘The clown is the aristocracy of acting,’ he says. ‘To be a clown means to have the possibility of making people cry and laugh.’

(via)