Italy, France

• Le notti di Cabiria

Giulietta Masina won a dazzling ovation and the Grand Prix at Cannes in 1957 for her remarkable and touching performance as the lovelorn Cabiria. Radiantly optimistic, Cabiria throws herself into endless love affairs with the frantic persistence of a trapped bird, dashing body and soul against the vain hope of marriage and a happy family life. Her lovers inevitably abuse her and even rob her of her dowry so painfully earned in nights of humiliation. Yet faith and naiveté render her immune to defeat in the face of successive disappointments, just as her lovely, smiling innocence always seems to overwhelm the more sordid aspects of her dubious career. Punctuated with some truly heartening moments, as when a badly bruised and wholly dejected Cabiria suddenly bursts into life in response to a child's clumsy wayside 'hello', Nights of Cabiria is one of the great classics of cinema from the talented husband and wife team of Federico Fellini and Giulietta Masina.