8 1/2

The movie starts out showing Guido Anselmi (played by Marcello Mastroianni) in a car in a traffic jam, suffocating, then being translated into heaven, floating into the sky, only to be jerked back to earth by his production crew.

The movie is a meta-movie-stream-of-consciousness that only works if you see yourself in Guido. "8 1/2" is about a 40-something year old director who's hit a block and can't come up with a useable script that says something important. He's surrounded by fawning actresses who want to be in his next film and by a staff that expects the next profitable venture to keep the payroll running. Guido is looking for inspiration, he says, but he surrounds himself with distractions. Nobody ever shuts up. Guido's only silence comes from losing himself in his reveries, remembering (or imagining) his childhood when his mother loved him. He fantasizes being loved by all his women as he remembers his mother loving him. His wife (Luise, played by Anouk Aimee) clearly becomes his mother figure, and all his mistresses become his whores.

From what I gather, Fellini had entered a dry spell himself, so he made this movie. Guido is clearly Fellini's alter ego in the movie, and my assumption is that the words Guido mouths come directly from Fellini's mind. For me, the movie is neurotic and so narcissistic that I had no connection at all with Guido. Others identify with Guido's search for a simple film with intellectual honesty that will "bury all that is dead."

I understand the concept of having one's life driven by the crowds: Fellini had to top all his previous successes, he had to make not only commercial successes but critical and intellectual successes. His movies took on a life of their own, remaining as constant reminders of all that he could be and all that he failed to be. But Guido left me cold and unconnected. My impression is that Ingmar Bergman dealt with the issues much better in "Hour of the Wolf," a difficult film which I recommend.

In my very humble view, "8 1/2" is a mess that directly reflected Fellini's life at the time he made the movie, reflecting nothing of the viewer.