In Nights of Cabiria she is repeatedly exposed to malicious behavior by men and yet always maintains her optimism. At times she falls into deep depression only to wake up, going through a transformation so dramatic that it is as if she had split personalities, and once again a smile appears on her lips. The last scene of Nights of Cabiria is a close-up of Cabiria's smiling, near-joyous face. Like a child, she goes from misery to happiness in seconds. Cabiria, even though she is a prostitute, has a childlike innocence. It is her ability to laugh that protects her from cynicism and complete hopelessness. Laughter is her redemption where the Church has failed her.
In La Strada, Gelsomina's innocence is slowly taken from her. The viewer watches as she tries to save herself and make some meaning out of her existence. "Even the smallest pebble has meaning," Il Matto tells her. This idea cheers her, in much the same way as a shiny pebble might cheer up a distraught child. She has found redemption not in religious ceremony but in a simple idea. In the end, Gelsomina loses her optimism and goes insane, her spirit finally broken, but not for nothing. Her suffering forces Zampano to feel, and her suffering becomes his redemption.
We take from these two films the idea that everything rides on one's perspective on life, that the worst thing that can happen to a person is not to become a prostitute or be sold into slavery, but to lose one's inner innocence and optimism.
Fellini often portrayed the relationships between innocence, sin and redemption. His wife and her ability to generate such a range of emotions, in addition to her diminutive stature and wide eyes, was his ideal subject. Some have even suggested that she was a more important artist than her husband, and that she would have been more widely acclaimed had she worked with more directors. But one could never say she lived in the shadow of her husband because she had such a bright talent.
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