"Sad and heartbreaking but still a celebration of life and individual spirit. Giulietta Masina’s performance is beautiful—unforgettable. The ending will stay with you."

"One of Fellini’s masterpieces. I particularly love the Piero Gherardi sets and Bri-Nylon costumes that add to the fantasy and frivolity of the outlandishly dressed women. The story parodies the marriage of Fellini and his wife Giulietta Masina (who plays Juliet)."

"An early Fellini masterpiece and a deeply engaging story about the triumph of the human spirit over adversity and betrayal. You will fall in love with Giulietta Masina. Her last scene is one of the most emotionally moving film sequences I have ever watched."

"I think I’m going to go for a Fellini film, and I’m going to go for Nights of Cabiria. The look that Giulietta Masina gives the camera at the end – she looks right at the camera and says, basically, “I’m surviving. Nothing’s going to take me down.” I think it’s one of the great moments in cinema."

"Giulietta Masina is absolutely lovable and hilarious as a street-smart prostitute trying to find love in Rome. Just like she did in La strada, she creates an extreme yet real character that you want to befriend even as she frustrates the hell out of you. But it’s her sweet toughness that makes you both laugh and suffer with her. It’s really a delightful film."

"People talk about Fellini and Mastroianni, but for me it’s all about Fellini and his wife, the endlessly watchable and entirely unique Giulietta Masina. This is one of the most beautiful, sad, and funny human stories ever told. I love all sides of Fellini so much, but if I must choose, it’s this—for its heart, Giulietta’s face, and an ending that is a testament to the resilience of the human soul."

"Well, let’s go one, La Strada, which is Federico Fellini’s movie with Anthony Quinn and Giulietta Masina. When was the first time I saw it? Oh, my God, I was in high school. To me, it felt like a fable, and it was beautiful and so moving, and I cry every time I see it. I’m almost crying thinking about it. How both broadly drawn and subtle the characters are, and how much sympathy Fellini has for the people in the movie. Have you ever seen it?"

"Ripe with tenor and trouble. The former film aggressively male, the latter aggressively female. I’ve paired them because after viewing each I felt as though I had been placed under a spell. I’ve seen both more than twenty times, and every time I see something new. I don’t know how they did it, but have you ever watched something and felt like you were stuffed with drugs? This is Johnny Depp’s best performance, and Benicio Del Toro is a revelation. The physical embodiment of both these men . . . Bravo! And let’s not forget the always magic Giulietta Masina in one of her last collaborations with Fellini. She is absorbing and taut. Each of these films is a feat and a feast. An exercise in the grotesque."

"Ripe with tenor and trouble. The former film aggressively male, the latter aggressively female. I’ve paired them because after viewing each I felt as though I had been placed under a spell. I’ve seen both more than twenty times, and every time I see something new. I don’t know how they did it, but have you ever watched something and felt like you were stuffed with drugs? This is Johnny Depp’s best performance, and Benicio Del Toro is a revelation. The physical embodiment of both these men . . . Bravo! And let’s not forget the always magic Giulietta Masina in one of her last collaborations with Fellini. She is absorbing and taut. Each of these films is a feat and a feast. An exercise in the grotesque."

"I saw this when I was very young. It was the first Fellini film I ever saw, and it is without a doubt my favorite Fellini film. There’s so much pathos in it. I love Nights of Cabiria, but for me this is Giulietta Masina at her best. Casting her as a clown—with her expressiveness and over-the-top facial expressions still feeling so grounded—combines realism and spectacle in one person. To me, that makes her one of the greatest of all time. When I can’t get to sleep at night and I don’t want to start a new book, I’ll put this on, and if I stay awake for the whole thing until five o’clock in the morning, I’ll be okay being tired the next day, knowing that I watched it."