what a strange face!

A blog dedicated to the beautiful and talented Giulietta Masina. run by Miranda & Tania

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Giulietta Masina, c.1970.

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"I don’t remember our first meeting. The truth is I was born the day I first saw Giulietta." - Federico Fellini

“Federico and I are not a family, we are a couple. We were alone, so we felt the need to love each other even more.” - Giulietta Masina

Fellini and Masina met in 1943 while both working on a radio series Fellini had written entitled Terziglio. They fell in love and by October of that same year, they were married. In 1945, they had their first child, a son named Pierfederico. A month after his birth, however, he succumbed to encephalitis and passed away on April 24th, 1945. He was their only child. In 1950, Fellini and Masina collaborated on their first film together, a romantic drama, Variety Lights. They would go on to make six more films together, several which are often cited as some of Fellini’s greatest works including La Strada, Nights of Cabiria and Juliet of the Spirits. On Halloween 1993, one day after his 50th wedding anniversary, Fellini passed away at the age of 73. Masina was to follow him just five months later after passing away, also at the age of 73, from lung cancer. Fellini, Masina and their son Pierfederico are all buried together in the Cemetery of Rimini, Fellini’s hometown. Fellini and Masina are frequently regarded as one of the cinema’s greatest actor-director collaborations.

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Giulietta Masina in Fellini’s Le Notti di Cabiria (1957)

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"Guess there’s some justice in the world. You suffer, you go through hell. Then happiness comes along or everyone."

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"For me, Giulietta Masina will always be the projection of wounded innocence that in the end triumphs." 

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-Federico Fellini

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SUCCESSFUL STAR

"Italian actress Giulietta Masina, whose latest film "Cabiria" has just won the 'Oscar' for the best foreign film of 1957, has every reason to feel pleased at the success she has achieved. 

She won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and has been named the best actress of the year in Italy, Germany, and Japan for her performance in Cabiria, which has its London Premiere tomorrow (Thursday)."

- Published in the London newspapers on Wednesday, April 2nd, 1958

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Giulietta Masina eating a plate full of spaghetti; c. 1960

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Nights of Cabiria

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Giulietta Masina has a bite to eat on the set of La grande vie

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Giulietta degli Spiriti, 1965.

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Giulietta Masina in Paris, 1956

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Con Giulietta sono più nervoso, più esigente che con altri. Vorrei che facesse bene subito. Sono disposto a tollerare gli errori di tutti, ma quelli di Giulietta mi indispongono. In questo sono profondamente ingiusto. Il fatto è che Giulietta abita dentro di me assai prima degli altri attori: e mi sembra che non le sia consentito sbagliare. A volte vorrei dirle: come, sei nata in questa storia prima di tutti, e ancora non ti senti integrata alla perfezione con l’immagine che stiamo componendo? Giulietta è come se fosse la mia mano. Sarebbe bella che la mia mano, se le ordino di prendere qualcosa, andasse da un’ altra parte.

With Giulietta I am more nervous, more demanding than with others. I want her to do well right away. I am willing to tolerate the mistakes of everyone but those of Giulietta upset me. I am deeply unfair in this. The fact is that Giulietta lives inside of me long before the other actors: it’s as if I feel she is not allowed to make mistakes. Sometimes I would like to tell her: you were born in this story before everyone else and you still don’t feel perfectly integrated with the image we are composing? Giulietta is like my hand. It would be funny that my hand, if I ordered it to get something, went elsewhere.

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Federico Fellini