Film
image by Federico Fellini
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1963 - Eight & a Half
Film
image by Federico Fellini
Fellini
the magician returns with Mr. suave partner in crime Marcello Mastroianni, after the great success of La Dolce Vita in 1961, to bless us with this masterpiece. 8 films into a formidable film making career, famous director Guido (played by Mastroianni) is under immense pressure and is struggling to live up to his renown. He is having difficulty with working on and completing his ninth film, hence the title Eight and a Half.
A drum of doom and judgement is our entry into the film and also Guido's dream space. It shows him painfully suffocating and unable to escape, under the fascinated gaze of his audience unmoved by his desperation. He leaves this scenario by ascending to the sky, only to be brought down, plummeting face first onto the ground. This, an expression of his worries as he has to face and be accountable for his much awaited movie.
The
cast and crew have all arrived, nestled in a health spa and hotel, everyone is ready to get their scripts and roles in order to begin shooting. However Guido is keeping his work secret, no one knows what his next film is about; not the actors, not the producer, and it seems, the prolific director himself is uncertain. The only other person privy to the work is his script supervisor who is most unimpressed by it. He interprets the work as being weak, self indulgent and superfluous.
Guido's
upcoming production is a simmering madhouse hidden in a visage of ease, opulence and play. All this though is getting tiring for all concerned, their director is great at evading and obfuscating through charm, vague descriptions and when pushed, meanness.
Like men who haven't grown up, both Guido and his good friend Mario Mezzabotta seem lost in boyish fantasies that they indulge through suspect means, having salacious affairs with wild women who excite them, discarding the love of long held loyalties. There lingers in these characters the desire to return to a childhood of no responsibility and one where they are coddled and taken care of without question by the women in their lives.
Prowess
is shown in the film through its bold and brilliant technical implementations. The camera's motion is vibrant and alive, with some notable moments being it swinging from one direction to another, capturing different characters as they engage Guido when he awakens from his dream early in the film, as he heads to the springs for water and also walking out of the sauna as he is summoned by the Cardinal.
Another
favourite is the shot that swings in and out when Guido's father speaks to him before he returns to the underworld. These experiments with the camera are both playful and sophisticated, further proof of why Fellini is considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time.
All
elements seem well thought out and executed with finesse and daring. The elegant and ostentatious manner in which the costume and production design are managed and merge, give this surreal world a milieu of its own that immediately translates on screen.
The
edit and assembly of the film is impressive; transitions such as the one where Guido's mother appears in his mistress's hotel room to lead us to a completely new setting, or his mother leaning in to give him a kiss and her transformation into the image his wife, these feel seamless and blend so well as to make these moments feel like magic tricks and there are many such moments to be enthralled by throughout the film. Cinema was developed after all by great tricksters like Melies who gave us the dissolve, Fellini in these moments is too adding to the legacy of this medium.
The
highly integrated way that the main character moves from the world of his dreams, his memories and fantasies juxtaposed with his reality is a masterful construction. How it all comes together in the end to give truth, depth and texture to Guido's character, while remaining light is also enjoyable. The film is a timeless expedition of genius, Eureka.
Film stills courtesy
Fellini, F. dir 1963. Eight & a Half. Italy
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