8 ½ (1963)
Director: Federico Fellini
Cinematographer: Gianni Di Venanzo
Run-Time: 138 Minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Film Stock: 35mm Black & White Negative
8 ½ is one of the earlier art-house films during the period of art-house film success in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. 8 ½ is a story about an aging director’s declining status as an icon as well as a personal decline, recounting and analyzing his past. The main protagonist Guido Anselmi, played by Marcello Mastroianni, begins to relax after his latest big hit film and suddenly realizes that his relaxation is dependent on all the people from his past along with all the good and bad memories that begin to haunt him. Guido tries to distance himself from his past, but he continues to be ganged up on by people who beg him for work and pressure him into thinking about his next film. Guido uses his past experiences to guide him and his decisions through a long and eventful film representative of his life. 8 ½ is loosely based off of director Federico Fellini’s life, a sort of autobiographical film that depicts the absurdity of being a filmmaker, films in general, and life as a whole. Federico Fellini stunned the cinema world with 8 ½ and showed audiences everywhere that there is a price paid by all directors for each film they make and every new idea they come up with to entertain the world.
Federico Fellini as a director is known for his over-the-top and extravagant films, utilizing large production sets with well-known actors to play the main stars. This film is one of very few films ever made that uses itself as the subject of the film, a film about the film that its about. Yes, it’s confusing, but that doesn’t take away from how great a film it is. 8 ½ is the prime example of a film that utilizes the filmmaker’s personal experiences to guide and fully craft a film. By making a film about the film that’s being made there are multiple levels of analysis that can be made and call back on one another to strengthen the main argument of the film. This film’s themes are based solely around Federico Fellini’s experiences of doubt, uncertainty, memory, and ultimately success, or a lack thereof. This film is in control of all aspects of itself, all the metanarrative formal techniques that are used. If there was ever a film to be made that self-reflected and self-criticized, it’s this one.
[Image: Fellini, Federico, director. 8 ½. Criterion Collection, 1963].
One of the most, if not the most, magnificent parts of the film has to be the first three to three and a half minutes. This short span of time sets up the entire film perfectly. It is a surreal fever dream that Guido experiences in which he is trapped in a car in traffic, then miraculously floats out of his car and into the sky where he is tethered to an extremely long rope as if he is a kite. This opening scene is a clear representation of an artist and the ebbs and flows that come along with being one. There is a cycle of creation that many artists go through (myself included) that seems to go: traffic or stagnation, then a spark or an idea that begins creation, then a floating or high feeling, then finally the fall or descent back into reality. This cycle, like many, is cyclical and repetitive. Almost every idea or creation goes through this cycle and systematically becomes part of an artist’s life. Guido’s fever dream is a clear metaphor for all artists and creators alike. I resonate with these first three to three and a half minutes more than almost any other film I’ve ever seen as they are, and have been, incredibly influential to my understanding of art and its creation.
[Image: Fellini, Federico, director. 8 ½. Criterion Collection, 1963].
More than just one scene, this entire film is an excellent representation of an artist’s life and the emotions that are built into it. Guido’s life is somewhere in between complete understanding and complete misunderstanding. When he feels as though his life is going right it veers off course and goes wrong. When he feels as though his life is going wrong it may steer back on course and resume in the proper direction of success. This uncertainty and confusion of one’s own life is something I truly connect with. I, like many others right now, am uncertain about the future and all the possibilities that it holds. What will my next project be? What will my next internship be? Will this job pan out how I expected? These are all questions that fundamentally drive me and similarly drive Guido throughout 8 ½. An uncertainty and unknowingness of the future, especially for an artist and filmmaker, is something that I deeply connect with and start to understand more and more with each idea that begins to unfold and blossom. I think this inability to grasp certainty is something that everyone must deal with at one time or another in their life.
[Image: Fellini, Federico, director. 8 ½. Criterion Collection, 1963].
I’ve only seen 8 ½ a handful of times since I first watched it two years ago. But with every viewing since then I’ve grown to love it more and more until it ultimately ended up on my top-10 list. Its sincerity towards art and creation is honest and unbelievably real. Its portrayal of life, and filmmaking, as an over-the-top circus is something that I really honestly find to be accurate and also somewhat satirical. The formal aspects of Fellini’s filmmaking are also incredibly entertaining and visually pleasing. There are so many chunks of beauty found throughout this 138-minute masterpiece that catch my attention every time and call me back to watch it again and again. I think 8 ½ is one of the few films in existence that perfectly recreates life as well as art and film itself.
[Image: Fellini, Federico, director. 8 ½. Criterion Collection, 1963].
Finally, my favorite quote of the entire film:
Guido – “The truth is: I do not know... I seek... I have not yet found. Only with this in mind can I feel alive and look at you without shame.”
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