Giulietta Masina Forum
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| by Jakob R Called the "female Chaplin" in her day, Giulietta Masina combined an almost spiritual radiance and ability to communicate pathos and comedy in one instant. Nowehere did she exhibit these transcendant gifts more powerfully than in the films directed by her husband, Federico Fellini. Beginning with 'Variety Lights' in 1951, she rose to international fame and stardom after her 1954 portrayal of the unforgettable Gelsomina in Fellini's 'La Strada,' a film that was a massive success all over the world and winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. She followed that triumph a few years later with yet another performance that most observers feel is one of the greatest acting achievements in film history: the testy, ever-hopeful prostitute Cabiria in the classic 'Nights of Cabiria.' This film was also an enormous critical and box-office success on an international scale, and Masina rightfully won the Best Actress Award at Cannes for her role, and the film won another Academy Award as Best Foreign Film. Masina became a mercurial presence in cinema after this towering triumph; in Europe and especially Italy, she was regarded as an almost mythical being -- such had been her effect upon audiences. Most of her post-Cabiria life being dedicated to supporting Fellini as a wife, she made occasional film appearances until a mounumental comeback in Fellini's lavish 'Juliet of the Sprits' in 1965. A psychedelic and ahead-of-its time probe into the psyche of an unfulfilled woman, Masina gave her most beguilingly understated performance yet, projecting mystery, misery, and vulnerability through subtle craft that offered a haunting contrast to the film's extravagant setting. This film formed a triad with 'La Strada' and 'Cabiria,' and had its own measure of success, winning the Golden Globe and New York Film Critics awards for Best Foreign Film. As Fellini's film career began to taper off, Masina seemed to branch out in the late sixties and early seventies. She starred in her first and only English-speaking role, opposite Kate Hepburn in 'The Madwoman of Chaillot' (1969) and scored a massive triumph in Italy with the 1972 television series 'Eleanora,' which re-affirmed her legend. Life settled down for the aging Fellini and Masina in the remainder of the seventies, but they teamed for one final production in 1985's satire 'Ginger and Fred,' in which Fellini finally brought his two greatest stars --Giulietta and Marcello Mastroianni -- together onscreen. Despite the film's warm reception, Fellini's declining health kept Giulietta from accepting any further major roles. She instead basked in her own legend, being the focal point of countless film retrospectives held in her honor and in Fellini's honor from the late 80's into the early 90's. One 'Giulietta Masina Film Festival' in San Francisco turned out to be one of the most successful ever of its kind. IN 1993, the great Fellini was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Oscar, and both he and his mythical wife were the object of much adulation when they flew from Rome to accept the award. Fellini died a few months later following a series of strokes, and Italy -- and the entire cinematic world -- went into mourning. Mournful headlines were repeated after only three months, when Giulietta herself succumbed to cancer in 1994, and the two are now buried side-by-side in Fellini's seaside Italian hometown of Rimini. Comment on this... |
