Cinema
La Strada
Federico Fellini · 1954
Synopsis
A poor mother gives up her daughter Gelsomina, a simple young woman, to Zampanò, a travelling showman who displays his strength in village squares. She follows him along the roads in his cart, learns the drum and the trumpet from him, and endures his brutality while growing attached to him. Along the way they meet the Fool, a tightrope walker and clown, whose presence gives rise to a new tension between them.
Context
Tullio Pinelli and Ennio Flaiano wrote the screenplay with the director; the music is by Nino Rota. Giulietta Masina plays Gelsomina, Anthony Quinn Zampanò and Richard Basehart the Fool. The film, presented at Venice in September 1954, marks its director's move away from neorealism towards a more poetic vein. It has been restored in 4K by Criterion and the Film Foundation, from the only available negative.
Who it is for
A little under two hours, in Italian. A road film, between realism and poetry, carried by Giulietta Masina.
Prizes and reception
Silver Lion at Venice in 1954, then the first Oscar awarded for best foreign film, in 1957; the role brought Giulietta Masina international recognition.
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