8 1/2 - Criterion Collection Rating: Release Date: 04 December, 2001 Retail Price: $39.95 OUR Price: $35.99 You SAVE: $3.96! Cast: Marcello Mastroianni Anouk Aimée Claudia Cardinale Federico Fellini Complete Cast (7 total)

8 1/2 - Criterion Collection Reviews

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8 1/2 opens in a dream.
Or maybe more precisely, a daydream. A man is stuck in heavy traffic. Not a car is moving. It's utter gridlock. It appears that most everyone in close proximity is deeply focused on him, with the exception of a car or two and in short order, his car begins to fill with smoke. He begins to choke and tries to escape the car but cannot. He struggles with the latches, but has to crawl out a window. Then he proceeds to float above the gridlocked traffic and into the sky, where he notices a rope tied to his ankle and a man below is basically flying him like a kite. The man is actually trying to pull him to the ground. The man in the sky reaches to liberate his leg from the rope, wishing to float away free. But the dream ends.

Guido is a mollycoddled famous director who we find, in the beginning of the film, being pampered and who's "well being" is being scrutinized by a room full of attendants. I'm tempted to do a straightforward account as if this were a simpler film, but 8 1/2 is a film about the making of a film and simultaneously, what seems to be, a real-time documentary about said film about a film. But I don't think that's complex enough. A fourth dimension to add might be the context of Fellini's actual life is being played out above and beyond that. Fellini does a pretty fine job at intertwining those threads, with an emphasis on his self-examination. He lays it all out there. He may have benefited more from a Freudian examination.

The tortured and eternally frustrated director seems to be at a crossroads in his career. He's on the cusp of his biggest film to date. The only problem is he doesn't seem to be inspired or motivated to make it. He seems willing to play the roll of director, but hardly seems to enjoy getting his hands dirty anymore. All day, everyday, he carries a pained look on his face as he has to fend off his anxious producer or evade countless wanna-be actors or has-been actresses. It doesn't help that the perfect lead actress isn't the one he's been seeing behind his wife's back. On top of juggling his mistresses (of which he's alternately tired and inspired to do), he's constantly getting his ass kissed by staff who have relatives sprouting from everywhere to get in on the film. It begins to pain him to have to meet with his staff, his producers, or longtime friends in the industry who find it difficult to associate with Guido because "he's changed".

What's amazing about 8 1/2 is that it's extraordinarily well thought out and meticulously planned. For all the soul searching going on and questions being raised, the film uses Guido's past and several delusional/male fantasies to answer them. Just as a something to ponder comes up, it's addressed. After all, it his his film. But, as segmented and, dare I say, somewhat dissatisfying as that aspect is, it comes off as clever and insightful. I love how Guido seems to always be in a state of reflection, but at the same time, he conducts himself as though the past doesn't exist. He comes off quite self-centered and arrogant; which to those around him choose to accept as charm. But his closest friends & family have become weary of Guido's childish exploits. In a twisted sort of way, I think that's what motivates and inspires him.

Those first few minutes of 8 1/2, in my opinion, is essentially the entire film encapsulated in dream form. I found that fascinating. For the entire movie to be fully effective though, it might have dispensed with what I consider to be an ending that may have appeared to be the allocution the film built up to, but was actually as evasive and nonchalant as Guido was to his wife. I believe his wife was the voice of reason in the film, but was once again, patronized and handed a bill of goods from her husband. Which makes his revelation all the more disingenuous. The journey of Guido (Fellini) into absolution has him remaining the self-centered person he truly is and at the risk of losing his marriage and career, conjures up a moment of lucidity to pacify his wife's contempt. It would be a beautiful thing indeed if it wasn't just a defense mechanism which only enables Guido's ego. Sadly, his revelation is for the benefit of himself, and maybe also for his adoring audience. The irony is, that I didn't (or wouldn't have) expected anything less. How could I?

A brilliant and deep film that is resolute and steadfast with it's content, but can surely mean many different things depending on the viewer.


Perhaps, one of the greatest films ever made
First time I saw 8 1/2 over twenty years ago; I did not like it then and I did not care much for a confused director who did not know how to make his next movie or how to deal with all women in his life. This time it was different. I knew it from the opening scene, from the first sounds of Nino Rota's music. I wanted to know how Guido would balance the demands of his producers and the insecurities of his love life. I sometimes barely could tell the difference between the reality and Guido's surfing the waves of his memory or building the Utopias in his mind where things were exactly the way he wanted them to be - and I really did not want to tell the difference. I just was there, following Guido on his journey where Fellini sent us. Then, that scene came, "La Saraghina's" lurid dance on the beach. There was something in that scene that made me return to it over and over again. What was it? The dancing woman was not young, pretty or graceful. On the contrary, she was fat and ugly but there was something about her - that smile, resilience, the promise of joy that attracted eager schoolboys. It was a last time the young Guido felt happy without guilt and shame that inevitably came after the encounter and stayed with him forever; he learned that joy and punishment are inseparable...

There have been fewer than a handful of films that affected me as profoundly as 8 ½ did:

Tarkovsky's "Zerkalo" - when the master holds the mirror in front of you that reflects his soul and mind, open you eyes and heart, don't say a word, just watch closely.

Tarkovsky's "Andrey Rublev" - What is talent? Is it a God's gift or Devil's curse? Is an Artist free in choosing what to do with that gift?

Bergman's "Persona" - How far can one individual go in opening his soul to the other without losing identity and sanity?

Fellini's -"Nights of Cabiria" - "Dum Spiro - Spero" - While there's life there's hope.

In 8 ½, Fellini explored all these subjects and in the final he took the idea of life and hope ever further: after all the characters in his film disappear from the screen, all what left behind is "a little orchestra of Hope with Love as its conductor". The last that we hear is the magic music of Rota, bringing affirmation, hope and love.

Simply wonderful. Perhaps, one of five greatest films ever made.



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