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Federico Fellini: Giulietta Masina
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Synopsis: Juliet of the Spirits is a fantastical showcase for Federico Fellini's vibrant imagery, starring his wife, Giulietta Masina, as the titular leading character. Juliet is a wealthy housewife who conRead More
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La strada (1954), the film Fellini called "the complete catalogue of my entire mythological world," (5) is a starring vehicle for wife Giulietta Masina as Gelsomina, a clownish waif who communicates best with nature and children. Sold by her mother to Zampanò (Anthony Quinn), a travelling circus strongman, she accompanies his act on trumpet. They are joined by the Fool (Richard Basehart), who walks a tightrope high over provincial squares. When brutish Zampanò accidentally kills the Fool, Gelsomina goes mad and eventually dies. News of her death wrings tears from Zampanò at film's end. The first entry in what Bondanella deems the "trilogy of salvation or grace," these figures derive meaning from their emotional impact and symbolic significance, not their material circumstances.
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Fellini started as a neo-realist but gradually he developed his special imaginative, surrealistic vision of the world. La Strada, was a version of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. yet everything in this world is useful for something", says Matto (Richard Basehart) to Masina, who played the simple-minded, childish Gelsomina. She loves beauty and is terrorized by her brutish husband, Zampano, a strongman. After her death Zampano has nothing. "Fellini's direction left a great deal to be desired," wrote Diana Willing in Films in Review (August/September, 1956).
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Fellini's first, truly wonderful feature is the story of a group of second-rate theatrical performers on tour. The aging manager of the company falls in love with a newcomer, to the chagrin of his faithful mistress (Giulietta Masina). Though co-directed by Alberto Lattuada, "this is Fellini's film rather than Lattuada's. Already present in his special 'universe': his sense of irony, his baroque qualities, his sympathy for and delight in downtrodden eccentrics, and his portrait of 'bidones' striving comically to find themselves" (Georges Sadoul). Italian with English subtitles. Italy, 1950, 97 mins.
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In 1942, Fellini met Giulietta Masina, and a year later, on October 30, 1943, they were married. Thus began one of the great creative partnerships in world cinema. Several months after their marriage, Masina fell down the stairs and suffered a miscarriage. Then, on March 22, 1945, Pierfederico (nicknamed Federichino) was born but died a mere month later on April 24. These family tragedies affected the couple in profound ways, particularly in the conception of La strada (1954). [4]
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When Fabrizi was offered the lead role in a film comedy, Fellini provided the film's storyline, beginning his film career. He went on to marry Giulietta Masina, an actress, after a four-month courtship that began when he became intrigued by her voice. She had taken over as the voice of Pallina. She went on to star in several of his films. She said of her husband, "The only time Federico blushes is when he tells the truth."
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Giulietta Masina