Federico Fellini: An Analysis

Two of the legendary Italian film director Federico Fellini's films, OTTO E MEZZO, also known as 8 Ð..., which was filmed in 1963; AND THE SHIP SAILS ON, which was filmed in 1983, demonstrate significantly different aspects of this great director's cinematic talent. Separated in time by two decades, created in distinctly different social and cultural environments, and products of very different stages in Federico Fellini's career, the two films reflect contrast much more than they feature similarity. One is very good, and the other is not.

In the early nineteen-sixties Federico Fellini was at the height of his creative power

and genius. LA DOLCE VITA in 1961 and OTTO E MEZZO in 1963 were in my opinion his best films. By the time he filmed AND THE SHIP SAILS ON in 1983, Fellini had lost much of his inspirational and innovative talent, and but for a few lingering moments of inspiration now and again in the later films of his career, he was but a shadow of his former self. His last notable success was in 1974, and his decline was well evident by 1983 in AND THE SHIP SAILS ON.

Focusing our attention at this point upon specific elements of the first film up for discussion, Federico Fellini's 1963 film OTTO E MEZZO, or 8 Ð..., is considered by some cinematic historians to be one of the best films ever made. It is largely a product of the revolutionary, exciting, and dynamic nineteen-sixties, for in every camera shot in the entire film the bodies of women, the eyes of the characters, the shadows of old men's faces, and the bright whiteness of childhood memories threaten to trigger sensory overload in the audience. Every new image and line of dialogue in the film either brings a smile or a new, startling revelation. (Burke 78)

In addition to its vigorous and energetic visual style, OTTO E MEZZO is also characterized by the labyrinthine quality of its plot lines. For example, the protagonist wanders about, seemingly without any direction or purpose, through seemingly endless bizarre episodes in which the crowd of secondary characters comes and goes, sometimes with much fuss and fanfare, sometimes without a sound. The protagonist's detached, bemused expression is a perfect reflection of the camera's own attitude toward each scene, for it observes, but does not engage; it is ready to be amused and fascinated, but never really involved.

In essence, the film centers around the fact that the protagonist Guido, like Fellini himself with LA DOLCE VITA, has just had a big movie hit and now seeks to recover from it at a health spa. Unfortunately, he is hounded there and everywhere by all of the people who depend on him for their happiness or livelihoods, such as his producer, his writer, his mistress, and the actors and actresses who want to be the stars of his next film. Furthermore, the producer has spent a fortune to build a gigantic set of a rocket ship, but Guido has a troubling and potentially catastrophic secret--he doesn't have the slightest idea of what his next movie will be about. (Chandler 148)

The movie proceeds as a series of encounters between Guido and his conscience. He remembers his childhood, his strict parents, his youthful fascination with a tawdry woman who lived down by the beach. His mistress follows him to the spa, and then his chain-smoking, intellectual wife follows, and soon becomes enraged at him, as much for his bad taste in women as for his infidelity.

Then follows one of the most famous sequences in all of modern cinema. In his daydreams, Guido occupies a house with all of the women he has been involved with

in his life, both past and present. Intriguingly and improbably, they all love him and forgive him, and love one another as well. But then comes the inevitable revolt, forcing Guido to establish his authority in an effort to tame them. He fails of course, for it is impossible.

In essence, OTTO E MEZZO is the portrait of a man desperately trying to weld together the carnal and spiritual sides of his nature; the mistress and the wife, the artistic and the commercial. From time to time a muse appears to him: a seductive, calm, smiling dream woman. She offers him the tantalizing possibility that all will be forgiven, and

all will be well. But she is elusive and ethereal, and meanwhile the producer is growing desperate. (Burke 142)

It is significant that Federico Fellini is self-indulgent in this film precisely in order to examine the root of self-indulgence, which intriguingly doubles back on itself like the structure of OTTO E MEZZO itself to become again precise and probing rather than

self-indulgent. In a brilliant manner, Fellini's self-conscious narcissism becomes a savage attack on itself and himself.

Nevertheless, the process is almost painful for the audience to watch, and would indeed be unbearable if it all were not so beautiful and so true. Finding an artist who can so honestly and accurately expose his own psychic inner self and then double back like this to puncture and challenge and explore it again and again, as if with a big hammer, is really quite an impressive feat. It's the kind of volunteer work you don't usually find volunteers for, but Fellini succeeds triumphantly.

The significance has been noted above, but it bears repeating that Fellini directed OTTO E MEZZO on the rebound from the enormous international success of his 1961 film, LA DOLCE VITA, which made him famous, and it remains the definitive film about director's block. (Chandler 130)

In contrast, Federico Fellini's 1983 film, AND THE SHIP SAILS ON is one of the renowned Italian master's most fanciful projects, while at the same time is considered one of the most somber notes in the director's filmography. The film opens with mock-silent newsreel footage, and is purposely covered with pops, skips and scratches. In my opinion, this transformation in mid-scene from such grainy footage to full color and sound is one of the best moments in the film, nothing that follows in this surreal film comes even close to matching it.

The film is set in the year 1914, on the eve of the First World War and the coming

utter and final destruction of Europe's old, cultured aristocracy. AND THE SHIP SAILS ON opens with a luxury liner setting sail from Italy, filled with artists, a royal entourage, and one rhinoceros. The primary point of the liner's voyage is to scatter the ashes of a world-famous diva at sea, but the exotic passengers--blithely unaware of the imminent global conflict just over the horizon--have many, more private intrigues going on behind