Guido Anselmi (Marcello Mastroianni), a film director stuck for inspiration in the middle of writing a screenplay, is having a midlife existential crisis. His doctors suggest that he withdraw to a health resort. His wife Louisa, his mistress Carla, his friends, his actors and his producer come to pay a visit. They all want him to finish writing the film. Insead, he takes refuge in endless daydreaming. Wandering between memories, dreams and reality, Fellini the artist plays out his own anxiety toward the act of creation.
Copyright 1962. Embassy Pictures
Angelo Rizzoli Presenta
8½ DI FEDERICO FELLINI
The first shot features cars jammed together, waiting, not moving, not unlike the crammed vehicular sardines on the Staten Island Ferry. The camera appears to be stationed on the ledge inside the rear window of a car stuck in the middle, capturing the back of the driver's head in silhouette. The driver is wearing a brimmed hat. The traffic is stationary. Through the front windshield we see a man in the back seat of the car in front of him turning to look a him.
The second shot is from outside the car, slightly elevated. From this angle we can see that it's not a ferry but an underpass, with cars backed up as far as the eye can see.
The camera, inside the car again, pans about and we see the faces of other drivers and occupants while our central character begins to notice steam, or some kind of fumes, coming in through the vents. The driver, whose face we have not yet seen, begins to panic, attempting first to stop the fumes from coming in and then attempting to open the door, which is jammed or immovable for whatever reason. Faces in the other vehicles are staring now, wondering what will happen next as our central character gasps and grunts, becoming increasingly agitated.
The camera pans to a man's face in the next car, who stares without emotion. In another car a lascivious old man is stroking the bare shoulder of an attractive young woman who slithers responsively to his touch.
At this point our central character has managed to get a window open and in a contorted manner he wriggles out and begins floating, ascending above the traffic jam while more faces stare. Arms spread he is moving sunward into the clouds.
The camera catches a glimpse of a strange vertical structure and then cuts to a man on horseback wearing a cape, galloping along a beach.
"Counsellor, I've got him," a man says. The man on the beach in a long-sleeved white turtleneck, holds a rope somewhat the way a boy holds a kite string. "Down, come down," he says, and we see the rope is tied around the ankle of the man who floated up toward the clouds.
The camera cuts to a priest, reading something, who says, "Definitely down." And the floating man begins falling rapidly earthward.
Cut to a dark bedroom, a hand reaching up as an anguished man groans.
Another man wearing a lab coat over a white shirt and tie bursts in, saying, "Excuse me for disturbing you so early. How are you feeling? I'm a great admirer of yours. I'm delighted to meet you. May I?"
We can now see the visitor is a doctor as his nurse joins them from the other room. "May I use your typewriter, sir?" the nurse asks, which she proceeds to do.
"Roll up your sleeve, please. Keep it relaxed," says the doctor.
The camera angle switches to show the front of a newspaper which the patient appears to be reading. When asked how old he is, a voice answers, "43." The newspaper drops away and we see it is the doctor who was reading it. He is smiling, leaning forward with interest. "Well, what are you working on now? Another film without hope?"
This is the first clue about the identity of our central character.
"First time you're taking the cure?" the nurse asks.
"Yes."
We still have not seen the face of this man who was stuck in traffic, escaped, flew toward the sun, crashed to earth and is now being attended to by a doctor and nurse. It's apparent the first sequence was a bad dream. It's also apparent that this is no ordinary film.
After a knock at the door, an older man wearing glasses and a receding hairline enters, hesitating at first because of the presence of medical staff. He says "Good morning," then asks if it is OK to smoke. He's wearing a bathrobe, pajamas and slippers. Are we in a house or a hotel?
The doctor asks our central character to cough, and he coughs. And then to breathe, and he takes a deep breath. The patient's face is still hidden, his robe pulled over his head while he lies face down on the bed.
Mastroianni walks slowly, somewhat dejectedly, into the bathroom and for the first time we see his face, looking haggard, dark bags under his eyes, more like he's been punched in the face than simply exhausted from lack of sleep. Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries begins as he ponders all these things. Newspapers lay strewn about on the floor.
We are now five minutes into the film. Who is this man? And what is going on here? Clue 1: He is a screenwriter/filmmaker whom we shall soon learn is Guido Anselmi. Clue 2: His films are pessimistic downers, lacking in hope.
For the next two minutes the Wagner theme accompanies what might pass as an elaborate scene involving Guido as a passive observer walking through the mud baths compound. The camera pans a parade of staring, indifferent or leering faces, elderly people and others with disabilities. People who know him are demanding something from him... producers and investors want to know what the film will be about. Actresses want to know if they will get a lead role based on the screen tests.
"It's sad for a man to realize how miserably he has failed," someone says about Guido.
* * *
Numerous film makers give a nod to Fellini in later works. Terry Gilliam's Brazil emulates the flying dream in which Sam Lowry soars above the clouds only to be yanked back to grim reality by bureaucratic forces, a deliberate nod to Guido’s kite-string fall from the sky. Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries in Apocalypse Now was consciously selected by Scorscese in response to its use here by Fellini.
Are we watching a Fellini autobiography? At one point Guido says, "I thought I had everything clear in my mind. I wanted to make an honest film, no compromises."
TO BE CONTINUED
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