I just watched Fellini's "8 1/2"...

I never did see it, so I canna' help!

i just watched a bertulucci film "the Dreamers" and i have the same questions...crap on foreign directors and ambiguous films :-)

I cannot explain anything about Fellini's films, but love them. I must say, all you can do is watch the film repeatedly to engrave every sequence in the film in your mind.

This is one interpretation...

Fellini's 8 1/2 opens with a stunning dream sequence in which a man is trapped in his car in the middle of a traffic jam. The doors and windows are locked and there is no escape. Other drivers simply sit and stare at him passively. The driver starts to panic as smoke begins to build up within the car. Propelling himself outside a window, he floats over the other cars and soars above the world until he is pulled down a rope attached to a tether on his ankle. The driver is Guido Anselmi (Marcello Mastroianni), a film director at odds with himself.

Shot in black and white, 8 1/2 is an exhilarating, confusing, irritating, and inspired journey into a man's consciousness. It is not just a look at the inner turmoil of one person, but also a commentary on each person's struggle to make sense of their life.

The film's combination of kaleidoscopic images, evocative score by Nino Rota, and amazing performances ensure its place as one of the greatest films of the century.

Guido is preparing to shoot a new film with an expensive budget. He constructs a huge spaceship launch pad that costs $80 million but he is unsure of what he wants to say. Guido's dishonesty in dealing with his marriage, his career, and the fact that he really does not want to make the film forces him to falsely mislead people as to his true intentions. He feels like a failure and is physically spent. He checks into a spa to restore his health and well being but the contingent of producers, actors, writers, and hangers on undermine his strength. His feeling of being overwhelmed by personal and professional obligations provides the catalyst for dreams and fantasies that take him back to his childhood.

Fellini shows his encounter with the prostitute Saraghina (Eddra Gale) and the guilt he has to deal with in a confrontation with the Catholic Church. Guido invites his intellectual wife Luisa (Anouk Aimée) to the set but their relationship has turned cold and passionless, and sparks fly when she has to confront Carla (Sandra Milo), his buxom mistress.

Guido is misguided but he has an innocence and charm that allows us to overlook his indulgences. He enjoys his pleasures but has a conscience and feels guilty about cheating on Luisa whom he loves and is afraid of losing. He fantasizes that all of the women in his life are together in a harem where they all dote on his every whim. When they finally recognize how little he cares about them, he is forced to suppress their revolt.

As image piles on image and the fantasy becomes indistinguishable from the reality, the viewer may get lost in a maze of dazzling incoherence. Fellini, however, always returns to solid ground and the film offers not only a satire on the frenzy, the uncertainty, and the clash of egos involved with making a film but also a serious commentary on the importance of honesty in a relationship.

If 8 1/2 is occasionally exhausting, the ending is invigorating, letting us know that life is a game in which each of us is on the stage performing our roles and the only sane response to its turmoil is to join hands in love and celebrate the moment.

It could just be a symbol for a very tall sandwich with more toppings than it needs, or perhaps an inflated sense of 'self' in the pants department, hence the title 8 1/2.

otto e mezzo= the number of films Fellini had made by 1963

Oh, now I see! Thanks Panz. That does make sense. I still don't know what makes it so much better than say...Ace Ventura, Pet Detective, but at least I get it now.

Pan
Thank you, I think I will watch it.

Kicky, thanks for watching it in a clueless state and bringing your bewilderment to the table today.

<hehehe-kissy kissy>

Or any movie Woody Allen made when trying to be 'serious'. Sorry, not a big Fellini fan here...

I'm no Lightwizard so it's not like I'm a big Fellini fan. I remember sitting through Amarcord in a daze.

The first time one encounters a Fellini film they are very likely to be in a daze but they should also be dazzled. His visceral array of images can befuddle but this is the reason his films are worth multiple viewings. They are truly art pieces and the story is hidden in a series of tableus. You want a conventional story, I agree -- sit down and watch "Ace Ventura, Pet Detective."

Film is a visual medium like painting, it's not a novel nor a stage play. It often tries to be a novel or a stage play and which usually results in banal and disposable entertainment -- fast food cinema. While this can be temporarily filing there's really nothing there to digest. That kickycan posted this reveals that Fellini, if anything, is provocative. One might approach him from his more accessible efforts like "Fellini's Roma." The dazzling entry into Rome in the rain is a bit whacky but more grounded (sic) and at the same time inspired (it's filmed from a movie crane dashing back-and-forth). "Fellini Satyricon" is almost all whacky and cartoonish but a fantastical trip that inspires one to think about film as a moving painting.

"8-l/2" is about filmmaking itself and like Truffault's "Day for Night" it is a parable of life based on the act of making a film. We should all be more creative with life but do we get past the soap opera relationships that are aped by sit coms? His films often are asking questions many of would be embarassed to answer. On a double bill, as on the new featured thread, I'd pair it with "L'Aventura," another puzzler that's a dark adventure through the romantic relationships of the idle rich.

Thanks, LW. I have seen one other Fellini movie, which I liked. "La Voce della Luna" I think it was called." I still remember some of the crazier scenes from "La Voce della Luna" vividly, like the scene at the gnocci festival, which was crazy and fun and wonderful. And in 8 1/2, I will not soon forget the harem scene, or the scenes with Saraghina. I can see how this might be worth multiple viewings. I'm still thinking about it today...and it does get more and more interesting the more I do.

P.S. I was only kidding about Ace Ventura...sort of. He he he...

I was only kidding that you gave "Ace Ventura" as a serious alternative!

There are so many films where it's difficult to get into the fabric of the director's style and in the case of "8-1/2" it's almost frustrating trying to figure out the actions of the characters in his milieu. Every scene is a key to opening another door onto the next scene. The first scene for me is trying to wrestle oneself from the claustrophobic boredom of everyday life and soar above the crowd (filmmaking would certainly be one way to attempt that). While it's not physically possible if one boards an airplane to go to another place, isn't that sometimes a release of the spirit? It's a philisophical movie but with the tongue firmly implanted in the cheek. Fellini always suggests the banality of life is going to remain banal if one doesn't look past the superficial. However, it is hard to make friends or take a lover that way, uh-huh? :wink:

Fellini's "Juliet of the Spirits" is one of my top five favorite films. It's stunningly beautiful and memorable.

Can't share your enthusiasm for "Juliet." It's a bit too frothy for my taste.

Maybe it's just because I'm learning italian, but today at work I played the DVD all day while I was working, (no, I couldn't actually watch the whole thing, but I had the sound playing in my headphones), and it was very enjoyable. Okay, I did get a few minutes here and there to watch too...it is really a beautiful movie. It kind of grew on me as the day went on. Anyway, I am going to get some other Fellini movies as soon as possible! Which ones are the most wacked out? I like his style of lunacy.

"Fellini Satyricon" is likely the whackiest and in fact his critics were not satisfied with this movie. He was also interviewed after the premiere of the movie and had to emphatically impress that he was not, himself, gay. "Casanova" is quite whacky but not in a good way -- probably the low point in his career. Still, average Fellini is generally better than most of the stuff one tries to injest off of cable.
"Juliet of the Spritis" is, as all of his films, beautifully filmed and, as usual, truly shows off the art of the film. It's just doesn't have the guts of the Fellini masterpieces. I'd suggest "Amacord," "Fellini's Roma" also -- there's a papal fashion show in
"Roma" I've mentioned elsewhere that is a sly comedic satire on the quite gay regalia of the Catholic church. No wonder one sees so many gays dressed ups as Nuns on roller skates on Halloween.

He he...thanks, I appreciate the info. I guess I have a few movies to rent!

I liked Amarcord and Roma too, as well as Nights of Cabriria. Haven't seen Juliet of the Spirits.

I'm trying to remember if Amarcord was set in Ascoli Piceno, on the Adriatic. I think that's Fellini's home town, but I may be mixing names up.