{ "id": "epk3pnkasv", "slug": "nights-of-cabiria", "title": "Nights of Cabiria", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1950s", "label": "Drama films 1950s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1950s" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000: Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "path": [ { "id": "geo.weu", "label": "Western Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Nights of Cabiria (Le notti di Cabiria), Fellini's 1957 black-and-white drama starring Giulietta Masina as a Rome prostitute, won the 1958 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and Cannes Best Actress.", "snippet": "Nights of Cabiria (Le notti di Cabiria), Fellini's 1957 black-and-white drama starring Giulietta Masina as a Rome prostitute, won the 1958 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and Cannes Best Actress.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1950s", "markdown": "# Nights of Cabiria\n\n**Nights of Cabiria** (Italian: *Le notti di Cabiria*) is a 1957 Italian black-and-white drama directed by [Federico Fellini](https://www.edgepedia.org/federico-fellini), starring his wife [Giulietta Masina](https://www.edgepedia.org/giulietta-masina) as Cabiria, a resilient prostitute working the outskirts of Rome who survives a series of betrayals while holding on to her hope of a better life[1](https://www.criterion.com/films/243). The film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 1958 ceremony and the Best Actress prize for Masina at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival[2](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1958) • [3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050783/awards/). It was Fellini's fifth film as sole director and is widely treated as the close of his early, neorealist-influenced phase[4](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/many-faces-federico-fellini-part-one-neorealist).\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director / star | Federico Fellini; Giulietta Masina as Maria \"Cabiria\" Ceccarelli[1](https://www.criterion.com/films/243) |\n| Year and format | 1957, black and white, 110 minutes as released (about 117 in the 1998 restoration)[5](https://fellinimuseum.it/le-notti-di-cabiria/) • [6](https://www.thefifthdesk.org/work/nights-of-cabiria/) |\n| Awards | Academy Award, Best Foreign Language Film (1958); Cannes Best Actress for Masina (1957); Palme d'Or nominee[2](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1958) • [3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050783/awards/) |\n| Writers | Story and screenplay by Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, and Tullio Pinelli; additional dialogue by Pier Paolo Pasolini[1](https://www.criterion.com/films/243) |\n| Key crew | Cinematography Aldo Tonti; music Nino Rota; editing Leo Catozzo; production design and costumes Piero Gherardi[1](https://www.criterion.com/films/243) |\n| Production | Dino De Laurentiis (Rome) and Les Films Marceau (Paris); distributed by Paramount[5](https://fellinimuseum.it/le-notti-di-cabiria/) |\n| Legacy | Inspired the Broadway musical *Sweet Charity* (1966) and Bob Fosse's 1969 film version[7](https://www.tcm.com/articles/461427/nights-of-cabiria) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nThe film opens with Cabiria robbed of her purse and pushed into a river by her boyfriend Giorgio, who expects her to drown; she is rescued and resumes her life[8](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/nights-of-cabiria). What follows is a series of episodes rather than a single plot: a night with the movie star Alberto Lazzari (Amedeo Nazzari), who picks her up after a quarrel with his fiancée and then locks her in his bathroom when the fiancée arrives; a variety-show sequence in which a hypnotist draws out her innocent dreams before a jeering crowd; a pilgrimage with other prostitutes to the sanctuary of the Divino Amore, where she prays for her life to change; and a courtship with Oscar (François Périer), a mild accountant who declares his love[7](https://www.tcm.com/articles/461427/nights-of-cabiria) • [9](https://fellinimuseum.it/en/le-notti-di-cabiria/).\n\nOscar proves to be after her savings, and he leads her to a cliff with the apparent intention of killing her. She survives again, and in the final sequence, wandering at night after her despair, she falls in with a band of young musicians and revelers and, weeping and then smiling, walks on toward the camera[9](https://fellinimuseum.it/en/le-notti-di-cabiria/). This closing shot is the film's most discussed image; the Criterion Collection describes it as embodying \"the blend of the bitter and the sweet that define his vision of the world\"[1](https://www.criterion.com/films/243).\n\n## Origins and production\n\nThe character had two sources. Fellini had cast Masina in a small role as a prostitute named Cabiria in *The White Sheik* (1952), his first film as sole director, and later recalled that the part showed she was \"capable of being a tragicomic mime in the tradition of Chaplin, Keaton, and Toto\"; he sensed then that Cabiria could carry an entire picture[7](https://www.tcm.com/articles/461427/nights-of-cabiria). While shooting *Il Bidone* (1955) he also met a real prostitute named Wanda, whom he described as \"an independent creature with a hard cover of anger for her terrible lonely pride,\" and he researched the film on nocturnal walks observing Roman prostitutes at work[7](https://www.tcm.com/articles/461427/nights-of-cabiria).\n\nFellini's regular producer doubted the prospects for a film about a prostitute, so Fellini turned to [Dino De Laurentiis](https://www.edgepedia.org/dino-de-laurentiis), accepting a deal that bound him to make five films for him[7](https://www.tcm.com/articles/461427/nights-of-cabiria). Production was shared with Les Films Marceau of Paris, and Paramount handled distribution[5](https://fellinimuseum.it/le-notti-di-cabiria/). [The Italian](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-italian) censorship visa, number 23742, is dated 13 March 1957[10](https://www.archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it/index.php/scheda.html?codice=AG+159).\n\n## Censorship and the restored scene\n\nBefore the film could open in Italy, rumors circulated that the Vatican was pressing censors to ban it over its subject matter. Fellini arranged a private screening for a cardinal, who approved the film on condition of a single cut[7](https://www.tcm.com/articles/461427/nights-of-cabiria). The cut scene, about seven minutes, had nothing to do with prostitution: Cabiria follows a man carrying a sack who hands out food and blankets to the poor sleeping in caves and doorways. Fellini speculated that the cardinal objected because charity was the church's responsibility and the scene implied the church was not doing its job[7](https://www.tcm.com/articles/461427/nights-of-cabiria). When the film was re-released in 1998, the scene was reinstated, bringing the running time to about 117 minutes[7](https://www.tcm.com/articles/461427/nights-of-cabiria) • [6](https://www.thefifthdesk.org/work/nights-of-cabiria/).\n\n## Reception and place in Fellini's career\n\nThe film premiered in competition at Cannes, where Masina won Best Actress[7](https://www.tcm.com/articles/461427/nights-of-cabiria). The French critic André Bazin wrote admiringly of it; Fellini said he understood the term *auteur* was first applied to him by Bazin in a review of *Cabiria*[11](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/57-nights-of-cabiria). In the United States the film won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, but reviews were mixed; Bosley Crowther of *The New York Times* praised its \"little details that illuminate the pathos of life's ironies\" while calling its atmosphere sordid. After the 1998 restoration, Janet Maslin re-evaluated it as \"a cinematic masterpiece\"[7](https://www.tcm.com/articles/461427/nights-of-cabiria).\n\nFellini's first five films as sole director, from *The White Sheik* (1952) through *Nights of Cabiria* (1957), all drew on the neorealist tradition, though elements of fantasy that would color his work from *La dolce vita* (1960) onward were already appearing in them[4](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/many-faces-federico-fellini-part-one-neorealist). Roger Ebert called the film transitional, pointing toward the visual freedom of *La dolce vita* while remaining attentive to the real world of postwar Rome[12](https://mubi.com/en/films/nights-of-cabiria/critics-reviews). Fellini himself said that of all his characters, Cabiria was the only one he still worried about[11](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/57-nights-of-cabiria).\n\n## Adaptation and influence\n\nThe story became the Broadway musical *Sweet Charity* in 1966, staged by [Bob Fosse](https://www.edgepedia.org/bob-fosse), who filmed it in 1969 with [Shirley MacLaine](https://www.edgepedia.org/shirley-maclaine). Fellini allowed his screenplay to be used but distanced himself from the result, saying his name was on the credits yet he preferred the film be regarded as Fosse's creation[7](https://www.tcm.com/articles/461427/nights-of-cabiria). Masina's performance, built on Chaplin-like tragicomic gesture, has remained a touchstone in discussions of the close-up and of screen acting[13](https://sightlines.media/film/19426/nights-of-cabiria-1957).\n\n## References\n\n1. [Nights of Cabiria, The Criterion Collection](https://www.criterion.com/films/243)\n2. [The 30th Academy Awards (1958), Oscars.org](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1958)\n3. [Nights of Cabiria (1957) Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050783/awards/)\n4. [The many faces of Federico Fellini – part one: the neorealist, Sight and Sound, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/many-faces-federico-fellini-part-one-neorealist)\n5. [Le notti di Cabiria, Fellini Museum](https://fellinimuseum.it/le-notti-di-cabiria/)\n6. [Nights of Cabiria, The Fifth Desk](https://www.thefifthdesk.org/work/nights-of-cabiria/)\n7. [Nights of Cabiria, Turner Classic Movies article by Margarita Landazuri](https://www.tcm.com/articles/461427/nights-of-cabiria)\n8. [Nights of Cabiria streaming, JustWatch synopsis](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/nights-of-cabiria)\n9. [Le notti di Cabiria, Fellini Museum (English page)](https://fellinimuseum.it/en/le-notti-di-cabiria/)\n10. [Le notti di Cabiria (1957), Archivio del Cinema Italiano](https://www.archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it/index.php/scheda.html?codice=AG+159)\n11. [Nights of Cabiria, essay by Federico Fellini (from I, Fellini), Criterion Current](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/57-nights-of-cabiria)\n12. [Nights of Cabiria critic reviews, MUBI](https://mubi.com/en/films/nights-of-cabiria/critics-reviews)\n13. [Nights of Cabiria (1957): analysis, influences and similar films, Sightlines](https://sightlines.media/film/19426/nights-of-cabiria-1957)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 1950s*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/nights-of-cabiria", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/nights-of-cabiria.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Nights of Cabiria\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/nights-of-cabiria. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Nights of Cabiria](https://www.edgepedia.org/nights-of-cabiria)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/nights-of-cabiria](https://www.edgepedia.org/nights-of-cabiria). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Nights of Cabiria\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/nights-of-cabiria. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Nights of Cabiria, Fellini's 1957 black-and-white drama starring Giulietta Masina as a Rome prostitute, won the 1958 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and Cannes Best Actress." }