MovieChat Forums > Le notti di Cabiria (1957) Discussion > This movie needs an alternative ending!!...

This movie needs an alternative ending!!!

posted 13 years ago by jasonbourneagain
11 replies | jump to latest

**** !!! SPOILERS AHEAD !!! ****

I would have had Cabiria thinking Oscar is going to kill her for the money and she drops her purse in front of him in defeat, but it turns out he really is a good guy, and Cabiria and the viewer were only led to believe he was going to kill her. Oscar admits he was nervous about her carrying all that money in her purse and wanted her to put it in a bank. He really was an accountant after all and they return and join in the impromptu revelry at the end.

I have to admit I didn't think Oscar was a phoney until he and Cabiria met at the restaurant. I suppose I believed him because he said he was an accountant and he looked the type.

Where the viewer knows something is wrong is when Cabiria shows all her life savings at the table and Oscar is strangely quiet.

I can understand why some people like to read so much into Cabiria's brave smile, demeanor, and resolve in the final scene, but at that point, what else could she do? I could not stand that which took place earlier. It was a beautiful lead up, but underneath it all, one knew something was wrong and that it would end in tragedy. Once Cabiria had the money on the table and put it in her purse, the viewer knew something tragic was going to happen. What's tragic is it could have been avoided.

Only Cabiria did not see it coming. She should have been smarter and more careful with her money after Giorgio, but she wasn't. She realized something was wrong with Oscar when he was perspiring and acting funny on the cliff, but she should have confirmed her beliefs earlier. In fact she was trying to break it off with him during one of their dates, but she doesn't realize how he hasn't been honest with her when he proposes to her. She should have gotten some reassurances up to that point or afterward, but she didn't. All of her life was like that. I don't think she got reassurances from God nor her friends, because she did not seek it out, been patient, and realize who her true friends were. There was some kind of disconnect from reality.

[–] richard-III 12 years ago

I'm sorry, but that would be rather phony and less real to life. The bittersweetness of the ending is what makes this great movie complete, and what makes Fellini a good and honest director/storyteller.

(Your post makes me think of Suspicion, the 1941 film in which director Hitchcock wanted Cary Grant to end up as a murderer. Though working in Hollywood, he found out that the studio didn't want Grant to be bad, so in the - somewhat disappointing end - he turned out to be a mysterious but good husband for Joan Fontaine after all!)

"I don't discriminate between entertainment
and arthouse. A film is a goddam film."

[–] mrwalrusq 10 years ago

" She should have been smarter and more careful with her money after Giorgio, but she wasn't."

She was unconscious when pulled from the river and thought Giorgio ran away because he was scared. She didn't remember that he was the one who pushed her in.

I disagree with your ending. This one is more honest.

[–] Zandretti 9 years ago

Yes, there should be an ending where he kills her.

[–] BobbyDupea 9 years ago

I liked the ending as it was. All of your description of Cabiria as being careless, too trusting, etc., is exactly what the director wanted to show - she was that type of person, and we are supposed to admire her for being that way in the face of a world that is often cruel and unforgiving. Yes, those personality characteristics lead her to tragedy again and again, but she is an admirable person just the same, in many ways. That is the whole point of the movie!

My real name is Jeff

[–] dlynch843 9 years ago

Yes, Jeff-I agree with your assessment. That radiant face at the end--that radiance couldn't be killed. ('Oscar' scurried off like a bug)

[–] pmsgo 8 years ago

to me, it was a face of triumph. that she is alive !!
I've seen this movie SO many times.
and see something new each time.

Every Day Above Ground is a Great Day !!

[–] federovsky 8 years ago

I would rather have had a different ending. Sorry, but I found this a bit of a liberty because it didn't fit in with Cabiria's character. She was rough and bad-tempered throughout. That undermined any sympathy the film might have tried to generate - but that's the point, it didn't try to generate any sympathy at all - that is, until the very end, when we are suddently asked to swallow this newfound glow of good-natured sensibility as if it were a religious epiphany.

Bof (as the French would say). One might suppose that a few moments later, she would start ranting again. See what I mean?

This ending would have worked for Masina's more simple-minded character in La Strada, but not for Cabiria, where it just didn't ring true enough to have sufficient meaning.

[–] prplayer 8 years ago

disagree, this movie has the best ending to a movie i've seen so far

so many movies, so little time

[–] federovsky 8 years ago

Oh the ending is splendid - genius - except that it is in the wrong film, inasmuch as the rest of the film didn't set it up adequately. There was some subtle rule of character development being flouted here, and as a result it came across as just another scatter-brained moment in her scatter-brained life.

The moment should have been presaged earlier on to make it more sensible (everything needs to tie in - that's the art of screenwriting). Fellini was definitely trying to do that - the disputed scene of the man with the sack that de Laurentiis insisted on taking out was an attempt to establish some tender human spirit - but it just wasn't done right. Sorry, but Fellini is not infallible.

Lots of people love the scene. I wish them well. I'm too critical for sure, but to me, they're too easily pleased.

[–] lubin-freddy 8 years ago

The ending IS fantastic, and meant to be so. There's no "happy ending" for her, and there can not be one. But there IS magic, as in the Magic of Art. That's what's so powerful in the ending, as magical spirits (of Julietta?) appear out of nowhere, and serenade her back to (a) life. And, as she smiles, for one micro-second, at the viewers, at us, Fellini makes it clear that WE'RE part of that wonderful and magical process.

Ending couldn't be better, more powerful, or more true. Perfection is rare in art. This is one of those rarities.

What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.

[–] 8 years ago

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