8 1/2

( 15 )

Overview

Fresh off of the international success of La Dolce Vita, master director Federico Fellini moved into the realm of self-reflexive autobiography with what is widely believed to be his finest and most personal work. Marcello Mastroianni delivers a brilliant performance as Fellini's alter ego Guido Anselmi, a film director overwhelmed by the large-scale production he has undertaken. He finds himself harangued by producers, his wife, and his mistress while he struggles to find the inspiration to finish his film. The ...
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Blu-ray (Special Edition / Wide Screen / B&W)
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Overview

Fresh off of the international success of La Dolce Vita, master director Federico Fellini moved into the realm of self-reflexive autobiography with what is widely believed to be his finest and most personal work. Marcello Mastroianni delivers a brilliant performance as Fellini's alter ego Guido Anselmi, a film director overwhelmed by the large-scale production he has undertaken. He finds himself harangued by producers, his wife, and his mistress while he struggles to find the inspiration to finish his film. The stress plunges Guido into an interior world where fantasy and memory impinge on reality. Fellini jumbles narrative logic by freely cutting from flashbacks to dream sequences to the present until it becomes impossible to pry them apart, creating both a psychological portrait of Guido's interior world and the surrealistic, circus-like exterior world that came to be known as "Felliniesque." 8 1/2 won an Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film, as well as the grand prize at the Moscow Film Festival, and was one of the most influential and commercially successful European art movies of the 1960s, inspiring such later films as Bob Fosse's All That Jazz 1979, Woody Allen's Stardust Memories 1980, and even Lucio Fulci's Italian splatter film Un Gatto nel Cervello 1990.
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Special Features

Introduction by Filmmaker Terry Gilliam; ; Audio Commentary Featuring Film Critic and Fellini Friend Gideon Bachmann and NYU Film Professor Antonio Monda; ; High-Definition Digital Transfer of a new Restoration of Fellini: A Director's Notebook, a 52 minute film by Federico Fellini; ; The Last Sequence, a 52-minute Documentary from 2003 on Fellini's lost alternate ending for 8 1/2; ; Nino Rota: Between Cinema and Concert, a 48-minute Documentary about Fellini's longtime composer; ; Interviews with Actress Sandra Milo, Director Lina Wertmüller, and Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro; ; Rare Photographs from Bachmann's Collection; ; Gallery of Behind-the-Scenes and Production Photos; ; U.S. Theatrical Trailer; New and Improved English Subtitle Translation; ; Plus: a Booklet featuring Writings by Fellini and Essays by Critics Tullio Kezich and Alexander Sesonske
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Editorial Reviews

All Movie Guide - Lucia Bozzola
After his international smash La Dolce Vita (1960), Federico Fellini found himself saddled with a case of director's block, inspiring him to make 8 1/2 (1963), about fictional director Guido Anselmi's case of director's block, that made visible the intimate workings of creativity. To reveal Guido's state of mind as he struggles with his filmmaking and multiple demands on his private life, Fellini seamlessly interweaves Guido's activities, fantasies, memories and dreams, doing away with any semblance of straight linear narrative structure in favor of Guido's surreally scattered psyche. In so doing, Fellini, like playwright Luigi Pirandello, reflexively examines the artistic process itself; Guido's turmoil paradoxically brings Fellini's eighth-and-a-half feature (the half stood for two shorts), to fruition. Internationally hailed as an innovative masterpiece, and a commercial success, 8 1/2 won Fellini his third Oscar for Best Foreign Film and inspired a generation of filmmakers with the singularly personal artistry that could only be described by the adjective "Felliniesque." Bob Fosse's All That Jazz (1979) and Woody Allen's Stardust Memories (1980) were their own 8 1/2s; Nine was the 1982 Broadway musical version.
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Product Details

  • Release Date: 1/12/2010
  • UPC: 715515051613
  • Original Release: 1963

    • Rating:

  • Source: Criterion
  • Presentation: Special Edition / Wide Screen / B&W
  • Language: Italiano
  • Time: 2:18:00
  • Format: Blu-ray
  • Sales rank: 13,305

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits
Marcello Mastroianni Guido Anselmi
Claudia Cardinale Claudia
Anouk Aimée Luisa Anselmi
Sandra Milo Carla
Rossella Falk Rossella
Madeleine Le Beau French Actress
Mario Pisu Mezzabotta
Barbara Steele Gloria Morin
Neil Robinson Agent for French actor
Mino Doro Claudia's agent
Eugene Walter The Journalist
Eugene Walter The Journalist
Gilda Dahlberg Journalist's Wife
Annie Gorassini Producer's Girl Friend
Ian Dallas Mindreader
Guido Alberti The Producer
Mario Conocchia Producer
Cesarino Miceli Picardi Production Inspector
John Stacy Accountant
Mark Herron Luisa's Admirer
Rosellin Como Friend
Matilda Calnan Older Journalist
Eddra Gale La Saraghina
Georgia Simmons Anselmi's grandmother
Edy Vessel Model
Annibale Ninchi Anselmi's Father
Giuditta Rissone Anselmi's Mother
Maria Antonietta Beluzzi Screen-Test Candidate for La Saraghina
Caterina Boratto Fashionable Woman
Olimpia Cavalli Miss Olympia
Dina de Santis Two Young Girls in Bed
Tito Massini The Cardinal
Polidor Clown in the Parade
Jean Rougeul Writer
Technical Credits
Federico Fellini Director, Screenwriter
Leo Cattozzo Editor
Otello Fava Makeup
Ennio Flaiano Screenwriter
Piero Gherardi Costumes/Costume Designer, Production Designer
Adrianna Olasio Editor
Tullio Pinelli Screenwriter
Angelo Rizzoli Producer
Brunello Rondi Screenwriter
Nino Rota Score Composer
Gianni Di Venanzo Cinematographer
Lina Wertmüller Asst. Director
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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5
( 15 )
Rating Distribution

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(11)

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Sort by: Showing all of 15 Customer Reviews

  • Posted October 1, 2010

    more from this reviewer

    I Also Recommend:

    Nights of Cabiria
    La Strada

    One Fellini Film that falls flat . . .

    I've become a bigger fan of Federico Fellini, but not because of this film. While the film drones on for what seems like forever, the audience follows the trials and tribulations of the director/producer of a proposed film. That is, the movie is a film about film . . . confused?

    Well, add to this Fellini's penchant for symbolism, and you end up with an almost Bergmanesque montage that just won't go away. I've loved film for years, but one of the greatest attributes of a film is its evanescence. A good movie should appear, present its story/philosophy/plot, then get out of the way.

    Like a lengthy infomercial, 8-1/2 seems to go on and on and on, while the audience is subjected to Fellini's dream sequences, fantasy characters, and a psychoanalysis of Mastroianni's character.

    For cinemaphiles who have been this route before, suffice it to say that I would rather sit through Bergman's "Scenes from a Marriage" three times, than try to endure 8-1/2 again . . .

    1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    Overlong but enjoyable.

    In 8 1/2, Fellini had created an abstract composition --a making of a film within a film. Mercello (Fellini's alter-ego) is commissioned to make a film; altho (like in Woody Allen's Stardust Memories) he wants the film to have ''meaning.'' He doesn't want his pics to cater to general moviegoers, an interesting foreshadow of the US movie industry today --altho Fellini didn't specifically intend this. A nice yet overlong climax where Fellini represents life as a circus. Altho an amusing film,it is extremely difficult to watch Fellini's masterwork. It took me several viewings to enjoy (& understand ) this film. But like many great cinematic works, several viewings are necessary. Therefore, we can distingush from what we call a film to a movie; respectively, education from entertainment. Not to say that 8 1/2 was simply pedagogic. A lot of humorous anecdotes make there way in this picture. But movie people would feel awkward watching a film like 8 1/2. Unless, you are a ''cinema'' buff. . . give it a try.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

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