8 1/2 (1963)

Country: Italy

Genre(s): Art Film / Drama

Director: Federico Fellini

Cast: Marcello Mastroianni / Claudia Cardinale / Anouk Aimee

Plot

A famous director is pressured  to complete a film but he has no idea where he is going with it.  He is forced to analyze his own memories, relationships, and desires to find meaning in his life and his work.

What I Liked

For a movie that so seamlessly blends fantasy and dream into everyday life, it surprising how natural and true-to-life this movie feels.  The writing and acting of both the main character and the supporting cast is far ahead of its time.  There are scenes in this film that clearly influenced much of American cinema to come in the next decade (I see it in everything from All That Jazz to the Godfather films).  The experience is of truly being amongst a bunch of desperate, lonely, and self-consumed people all looking for acceptance and approval.  They and the world in which they all exist seem fun, gorgeous, and seductive at first.  But it doesn’t take much time to realize that most of them are vapid, damaged, and without identity.  These very realistic characters and conversations all become part of a sort of hyper-reality through the vision of the film’s protagonist.  By the end, the main character has processed all of the people he knows into willing and enthusiastic participants in a clockwork carnival of grotesques dancing to the orders of his psyche.

The film is clearly a work of total self-obsession on the part of director Fellini, as it is obviously autobiographical and the director’s struggles are of utmost consequence to the film’s plot.  However, it is simultaneously a work of impressive candidness, as the main character’s ego, weaknesses, and insecurities are all put on display from the film’s beginning to its end.  After all, to actually re-enact and film your own fantasies of being a ringmaster for whom your friends gladly act more as circus animals than as human beings; or to display your dreams of all of the women you have ever had any kind of sexual relationship with living together under the same roof and fighting over your affections, is at once an incredibly egotistical and admirably honest thing to do.

With its fascinating display of the creative process, it’s very open portrayal of the creator’s ugliness, it’s masterful scripting and directing, and its ability to walk a fine line between the disturbing and the humorous, “8 ½” is art in the form of motion pictures.

What I Didn’t Like

This clearly is not a film for everyone.  The main character is by no means heroic and indeed could be considered the most self-consumed of all of its characters.  I often found myself questioning if I even cared if the guy got his film made and sometimes hoping it would all fall apart for him.  Because success was certainly not something I felt he deserved.  Simply put, there’s not really anyone you want to root for in this movie.  But that’s hardly the movie’s point, either.  It sees itself above the heroes-and-villains morality that was still very prevalent in American film of the period.

As one might expect from a movie where one struggles to care about the characters, it became boring in many parts.  To create an insightful work of art is one thing.  To create a moving piece of entertainment is another.  Once I got over how realistic it all seemed and how audacious Fellini was for baring his own insecurities for the world to see, I wanted to fast forward.

Most Memorable Scene

In a movie full of unusual moments, one of the most unusual was the director's fantasy where all of the noteworthy women of his life, from a reclusive prostitute to famous film actresses are all living together battling over his affections.  Again beauty becomes grotesque until he is fending the women off with a bull whip.  Like the rest of the film, it's self-obsessed and at the same time impressive in its candidness.

My Rating: 4 out of 5