Le Notti Di Cabiria (aka Nights Of Cabiria) (1957)

After her live in lover (Franco Fabrizi) pushes her into the river and steals her purse, a prostitute (Giulietta Masina) becomes bitter and hostile to those around her. But her innate innocence and idealism prevents her from giving up on life. Directed by Federico Fellini (LA DOLCE VITA), this is a heartbreaking tale of a lonely woman who is a victim of her own romantic dreams and a desire to live a "normal" life. The film's final shot (a close up of Masina) is something burned in the cinematic memory of anyone who's ever seen it. I was never a fan of the acclaimed LA STRADA nor Masina's performance in it. The abused Chaplinesque waif bit got to be too much for me. But her performance here (she won the Cannes film festival best actress award) is one of the dozen or so greatest performances by an actress you'll ever see. It's not a plot heavy film but drifting along with its heroine with many memorable moments on the journey: the man with the sack feeding the homeless, Cabiria on stage with the hypnotist, an evening with a movie star (Amedeo Nazzari). The score is by Nino Rota. With Francois Perier, Franca Marzi and Dorian Gray.