DVD mini review - 8 1/2

I saw Federico Fellini's masterpiece 8 1/2 many, many years ago. I was pretty young and I don't think that I appreciated it then as much as I do now. It is the type of film that you have to see more than once.

Director Guido Anselmi (the marvelous Marcello Mastroanni) is having a creative crisis. He doesn't know how to start his next film. He is having pressure from his producer, his wife, his mistress and just about everyone else. So he retreats into a world of fantasy. And what fantasies he has!! One is a world in which all of the women in his life get along and understand his need to have more than one woman around. Some of these women are his wife Luisa (Anouk Aimee), his mistress Carla (Sandra Milo) and his muse Claudia (Claudia Cardinale).

This film is definitely somewhat autobiographical. It gives you a great insight into the pressures that are on a director. And there is a lot of humor in the film as well. The last scene of the film is the best. It is truly outstanding. But rather than say much more about the film I just urge you to rent a copy and see it again (or if you've never seen it then see it for the first time). This film is what cinema is all about.

Note: This DVD is from the Criterion collection. The film is in black and white but the white subtitles are perfectly clear - so much better than on The Rules of the Game - where I had a hard time reading them.