In Fellini's Nights of Cabiria, the prostitute who first comforted the hapless husband of The White Sheik (1952) comes into her own, and holds her own though she is continually exploited, robbed and physically abused by the very men she loves. Giulietta Masina, Fellini's wife and star of La Strada and Juliet of the Spirits, here gives one of her finest performances, turning a film about prostitutes, pimps and johns into an ironically radiant statement about the indestructability of the human spirit.