8½

It goes without saying that Federico Fellini is a towering figure in cinema; easily one of the greatest directors of all time, and at his peak, the most respected director in world cinema. The crowning achievement on such a career must be something immensely special within cinema. 8½ is special. It’s an enigma of the moving picture. I don’t think it’s far fetched to argue that no film has pushed the artistic and intellectual bounds of cinematic methods to such a magnificent extent as 8½. It’s hard to compare it to any other film from this era, because there is a technical complexity and ambition that was so far ahead of everything else in cinema at the time. I don’t like it when people use the phrase ‘ahead of its time’, but it applies to 8½ if any film. Perhaps the most culturally significant and recognisable foreign film as well, it’s a towering piece of cinema. This is the artist’s film, and more specifically the filmmaker’s film. The character of Guido Anselmi navigates his dreams, his pressures, his flaws and his desires, slowly reverting into childhood memories, after the pressures of his gargantuan film which he has not and cannot produce mount on him. Fellini in particular observes Guido’s relations with the church, with women and with film itself. Throughout the film, Guido tends to observe this absurd world around him, passively and with mounting suffering. He treats everything with indifference, and everything surrounding him as a burden. Everything about his character and his environment expertly culminates into this surrealist mind fuck. His relationship with women is perhaps the most important dynamic of the film. They all walk in and out of his life, spontaneously, each having some definitive characteristic or significance to Guido which plays into his state of mind. Claudia is this object of desire from his dreams, a representation of his empty and unfeasible fantasies. Luisa, his wife, whom Guido is unashamedly adulterous around and almost pathetically lies to. Carla, the only woman Anselmi actually engages with sexually, who is essentially a whore, someone seen as disposable by Guido - an inconvenient convenience. There is also the couple of Mario and Gloria, the latter taking advantage of the former, yet the former caring little on account of his love for her. Gloria and Guido never really have any sexual linkage on account of her more independent and equally proud and shameless nature. Another woman he never really seems to have any intimate connection with is Luisa’s friend Rosella. These two characters act almost as vices to Guido’s carelessness with women, as staunch oppositions of independence. There is also the character of Madeleine, who almost solicits herself to Guido in desperation for a role in his film. Then there are the objects of the past. Saraghina is the main one, as the dancing woman on the beach, practically this symbol of debauchery and the careless indulgence of lust in life in direct opposition to the church and of innocence. She is almost an encompassing figure for Guido’s dynamics with other women in the film. His estranged relationship with his parents as well, indicates this sense of neglect for genuine affection. All of these aforesaid dynamics between Guido and women act almost pillars by which he may interact with to navigate the depths of his character, the sources and natures of his flaws and the sources and natures of his environment’s flaws. In the church as well, can be found other fundamental aspects of this film. In his interactions with members of the clergy and the way in which he is shown relative to the church, it is clear that he sees it as this all-imposing, domineering, abstract force, by which an estranged morality is instilled in him through an abstract fear. It plays an essential role in how Guido interacts with his environment, and in how he regards his issues. And that third dynamic of Guido’s I mentioned, film itself, is the driving force of the narrative. Everything in the film revolves ultimately around film itself. Guido is bombarded on all directions by press and criticisms and pleads and philosophies. He wants to create an honest film, but there are no honest means to do so. He wants to make some totally cinematic experience in an imperfect world and for imperfect people, made by an imperfect man. It all spirals slowly into the depths of Guido’s condition and on the fringes of sanity itself, becoming this utterly brilliant fever dream. 8½ from solely the plot itself is masterful, but it’s structured in such a way to make it even greater. Fellini guides the viewer in the depths of sanity with this deliberate pace, and choice in scenes. He begins as he means to end, with the surrealist dream of a confused artist. It is upon the sudden juxtaposition back into reality, where the spiral may begin, as slowly Guido begins to revert into memories and dreams of interactions with people of times gone by. With this intent and deliberate pace, it begins to divert from fantasy, becoming more and more solidified with reality, and becoming more and more absurd, until, after this genius progression of narrative, Fellini may explode it with a passion and vitality rarely seen in any sort of art. 8½ is a Godly piece of film, the previously stated aspects of Guido’s life all converging to create some ordered and chaotic masterpiece of which I cannot fully describe. It’s storytelling at its very best, with excellent dialogue and excellent characters. In fact, Guido may very well be one of cinema’s greatest ever characters. I’m aware I use the term ‘one of the best’ often, but for Guido it really applies. 8½ isn't without narrative setbacks, minor though they may be. I don’t believe the dream sequence with all the women of his life is executed as well as it might have been, and the scene at the theatre I found was of similar issues. In these, it could develop into something almost more confusing than bewildering. I would say that between the third quarter of the film or so, it can get rather ramble-intensive, which again, has its effects, but still ultimately carries some issues regardless. Even then, however, each of these scenes remain fantastic pieces of cinema regardless, and they exist within some phenomenal cinema surrounding them as well. It is the technical elements of 8½, however, which really set it apart from nearly all other cinema. The cinematography in particular is something so mesmerising and dare I say Felliniesque. It is so incredibly dynamic, everything. This organised but seemingly chaotic spontaneity flows through this film with such an incredible ease, achieved in large part due to how dynamic the cinematography is. The way 8½ is framed is something far more complex than a lot of more conventional and simplistic theatrical films. It moves seamlessly from character to character with this spontaneous intent. In particular, the way Guido is framed in relation to others is masterful. Fellini used this highly spontaneous dirty framing for Guido, usually not showing him wholly, especially when interacting with others. Instead, the camera claustrophobically moves from character’s face to character’s face always relative to Guido himself, often being shown from behind or with a lot going on around him. And this relates to something else that is very relevant to 8½, that being how Fellini uses movement in the frame to create this kinetic atmosphere, overwhelming and full of majesty. But what’s truly incredible about this is how practical Fellini is, how precise and accurate these movements are, and their seamless nature. The camera is hardly ever bound; it revolves nauseatingly around the set, but with such consideration for the environment, that it comes off so well. And Fellini expertly and strategically utilises releases in framing for enhancement, when he switches to looser and more distanced shots. As well as this, Fellini lights 8½ expertly too, creating these constant nuanced overtones through the lighting, more or less all of the lighting methods that are utilised working excellently for the film. It’s quite ambitious really and quite surrealistic, the choices in lighting, expertly conveying the tone of the film or subconsciously expanding on Guido himself, something made further apparent in the colour scheme, and how he tends to contrast everything around him. All of this is further supplemented by the mise en scène, which attributes a great deal to the film’s suave nature. Guido is an icon of popular culture in large part due to his presentation as this effortlessly cool and collected man - something ironic considering the actual contents of the film. But the other characters’ costumes, and the choices in sets are massive factors in accommodating the sheer complexity of the compositions. Fellini shoots in constancy with the mise en scène, which supplements the visual contents of the film so perfectly and attributes massively to the atmosphere. For other films where such a criticism is necessary, I might condemn 8½ for its superfluousness, but it works. It works because Fellini creates these gluttonous images through considerate and deliberate means. 8½ is simply so rich and dynamic, effortless in nature. Through the cinematography alone, one need not deliberate for long over the fact that this is certainly one of the best directed films in the history of cinema. The editing naturally keeps up pace with the cinematography, maintaining the dynamic mood and structure. It’s generally edited so as to accommodate movement, or to maintain continuity and put emphasis on other filmic elements. It can be more brash when necessitated as well. There isn’t a great deal to say outside of this, other than it’s edited with great consideration and intent. It is, however, in the sound that 8½ is unfortunately pulled out of being a major contender for a 5* film - and I do believe that had it not been for the sound, this would very seriously contend for that honour. Nino Rota’s score is naturally excellent, applied well too. It’s Nino Rota and Federico Fellini - there is no issue. The sound design on a theoretical level as well is extremely good. The subtle inclusions of sounds throughout to create nuanced tone or the way Fellini makes it eerily quiet or intensely overwhelming is great. The misfortune comes in the fact that nearly the entire film is dubbed, and it’s very obvious and it can be very distracting. Characters talk with their mouth closed or audio is out of sync, and they’re never really embedded in the film’s atmosphere very well either, often felling as though they have just been overlaid on the film itself rather than properly embedded in it. It is a significant flaw that also adversely affected De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves. It does work to a minor extent at creating a more dream-like atmosphere, but it is ultimately a flaw and a fairly major one at that. The acting in 8½ is almost unparalleled in cinema. Marcello Mastroianni has one of the singular greatest performances in cinematic history here, and all of the aforesaid cast work with this brilliant and evident passion for the project. I have nothing even remotely negative to say about the acting. 8½ on a rewatch, has exceeded my expectations. I must admit that when I went about watching this, I expected to actually lower it. I felt that I had been too sympathetic on my rating and that this would simply solidify that. But the almost unparalleled genius of Federico Fellini, how effortlessly cool and dynamic and paranoiac and lively it is, coupled with the rich and complex technical aspects which accommodates one of cinema’s finest narratives, has only improved my view of Fellini. This is one of the most refined pieces of cinema ever crafted. An exercise in gluttony created with seeming superfluousness, but underlying nuance. On a personal level, 8½ doesn’t massively endear to me as films of similar nature don’t, but I do not review to describe how much I liked a film. This is one of the most impressive pieces of art of the 20th century. And God, it’s so Italian. The grease pours off this film. It’s like that scene at the end of Bicycle Thieves where they all shout at him in great Italian accents and slap him on the back of the head, but for 138 minutes. 92/100