8½ (1963)

Director:

Federico Fellini

Writers:

Federico Fellini (story) &
Ennio Flaiano (story) ...

Release Date:

25 June 1963 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy

Tagline:

A picture that goes beyond what men think about - because no man ever thought about it in quite this way!

Plot:

A harried movie director retreats into his memories and fantasies.

Plot Keywords:

Director | Spa | Mistress | Friend | Italian

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 13 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Marcello Mastroianni	...	Guido Anselmi
Claudia Cardinale	...	Claudia
Anouk Aimée	...	Luisa Anselmi (as Anouk Aimee)
Sandra Milo	...	Carla
Rossella Falk	...	Rossella
Barbara Steele	...	Gloria Morin
Madeleine Lebeau	...	Madeleine, l'attrice francese
Caterina Boratto	...	La signora misteriosa
Eddra Gale	...	La Saraghina (as Edra Gale)
Guido Alberti	...	Pace, il produttore
Mario Conocchia	...	Conocchia, il direttore di produzione
Bruno Agostini	...	Bruno - il secundo segretario di produzione
Cesarino Miceli Picardi	...	Cesarino, l'ispettore di produzione
Jean Rougeul	...	Carini, il critico cinematografico
Mario Pisu	...	Mario Mezzabotta

Also Known As:

Eight and a Half (UK) (alternative spelling) (USA) (alternative spelling)
8 1/2 (Italy) (alternative spelling)
8½ (Italy) (alternative spelling)
Federico Fellini's 8 1/2 (USA)
Federico Fellini's 8½ (USA) (complete title)
Huit et demi (France)
La bella confusione (Italy) (working title)
Otto e mezzo (Italy) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

138 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

Italian | English | French | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Portugal:M/12 | Australia:M (DVD rating) | Netherlands:12 (DVD rating) | South Korea:15 (DVD rating) (2003) | Italy:T | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Chile:14 | Finland:S | Norway:16 | Peru:14 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 (re-rating) (1989) | UK:A (original rating) | Norway:15 (2004)

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Cineriz

Trivia:

Italian censorship visa # 39461 delivered on 6-2-1963.

Goofs:

Continuity: A man tells Guido that he has placed something in his right-hand pocket (a gun), when he goes to shoot himself under the table, he pulls it out of his left pocket.

Quotes:

Guido: I thought my ideas were so clear. I wanted to make an honest film. No lies whatsoever. I thought I had something so simple to say. Something useful to everybody. A film that could help bury forever all those dead things we carry within ourselves. Instead, I'm the one without the courage to bury anything at all. When did I go wrong? I really have nothing to say, but I want to say it all the same.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Kino pro kino (2002)

Soundtrack:

The Ride of the Valkyries

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.