8½ (1963)
Director: Federico Fellini
Writers: Federico Fellini (story), Ennio Flaiano (story)
Stars: Marcello Mastroianni, Anouk Aimée, Claudia Cardinale
A harried movie director retreats into his memories and fantasies.
***
Federico Fellini remains in the history of cinematography as one of the best directors of all time. This movie is, in theory, auto-biographical, but it seems unlikely Fellini would have ever been so artistically challenged.
8½ is a movie about a director who has had a big hit and now seeks to recover from it at a health spa. But he is hounded there and everywhere by those who depend on him – his producer, his writer, his mistress, his would-be stars. The producer has spent a fortune to build a gigantic set of a rocket ship, but the directior has no cue what the movie will be about.
The movie is the portrait of an artist’s biggest nightmares: a lack of ideas, and the balancing act between the artistic and the commercial. I found this movie to be ironic in the fact that it is rich with ideas and brilliant scenes, while being a movie about the so-called artistic bankruptcy.
And, of course, there’s that fabulous scene when our director imagines that all the women in his life have forgiven him. It’s a lot more than that, but I wouldn’t like to spoil the surprise.
Truly brilliant movie. I recommend it.
