8 1/2 (1963): Fellini’s Oscar-Winning Masterpiece, Starring Mastroianni–Scene By Scene

This year marks the centennial of Federico Fellini, one of the greatest filmmakers of Italy and international cinema.

We celebrate this event with a series of articles about maestro Fellini and his extraordinary rich and diverse film oeuvre, spanning over four decades.

81/2 (Italian title: Otto E Mezzo)

Our Grade: A (***** out of *****)

Narrative Structure (Scene by Scene)

Guido Anselmi (Mastroianni), a famous Italian filmmaker, is suffering from a director creative block. In the first scene, he is stuck in his car amidst a huge traffic jam.

Stalled on his new sci-fi movie, which is to include autobiographical references, he seems to have lost interest in work and life, due to all kinds of artistic, marital, and personal problems.

While attempting to recover from his anxieties at a luxurious spa, Guido hires a well-known critic (Jean Rougeul) to review his ideas for his film, but the critic rejects them as weak, spineless, and confusing.

Meanwhile, Guido has recurring visions of an Ideal Woman (Caludia Cardinale), young, “pure,” naturally smiling woman, who is contrasted with Guido’s voluptuous mistress Carla (Sandra Milo). When Carla visits him from Rome, the disinterested Guido puts her in a separate hotel.

The film’s crew relocates to Guido’s hotel, but he evades his staff, ignores journalists, and refuses to make any creative decisions.

With pressures and anxieties mounting, Guido retreats into childhood memories, spending the night at his grandmother’s villa, dancing with a prostitute (Eddra Gale) on the beach as a schoolboy, and subsequently being punished by his strict Catholic school.

The film critic claims that these memories are too sentimental and ambiguous to be used in Guido’s movie.

He plans to meet a Cardinal in a steam bath (a scene which Guido plans to replicate in his movie), Guido admits that he isn’t happy. The Cardinal responds with quotes from the catechism and offers little insight into his condition.

Guido invites his estranged wife Luisa (Anouk Aimee) and her friends to join him. For a while, it seems the couple will reconcile, but Guido abandons her for his crew.

The crew tours a life-sized rocket ship set built on the beach, and Guido confesses to his wife’s best friend Rosella (Rossella Falk) that he wanted to make a movie that was pure and honest, but he can’t bring himself to say anything honest.

Carla surprises Guido, Luisa, and Rosella outside the hotel, and Guido claims that he and Carla ended their affair years ago. Luisa and Rosella call him on the lie, and Guido slips into a fantasy world where he is the master in a harem of women from his life. They bathe him and spray him with powder, but a rejected showgirl starts a rebellion. The fantasy women attack Guido with harsh truths about his sex life, forcing Guido to whip them back into shape.

The impatient producer (Guido Alberti) forces Guido to review his screen tests, but Guido still can’t make any decisions. The screen tests are for roles portrayed earlier in ​8 ¹⁄₂, such as Carla, the prostitute, the Cardinal, etc. When Luisa sees how harshly Guido represents her in the movie, she flees and declares their marriage is over as Guido is unable to deal with the truth.

Guido’s Ideal Woman arrives in the form of an actress named Claudia, and Guido takes her to visit a proposed set, explaining that his movie is about a burned-out man who finds salvation in an Ideal Woman. Claudia listens before remarking that the protagonist is unsympathetic because he is incapable of love.

Guido calls off the film, but the producer and the staff announce a press conference at the rocket ship set. Guido attempts to escape from the frenzied journalists, and when pressed for a statement, he crawls under a table and shoots himself in the head.

The crew begins to disassemble the rocket ship, and the critic praises Guido for making a smart decision. Guido then has a moment of revelation, he was trying to solve his personal confusion by creating a film to help others.  He now realizes that he needs now is to accept himself and his life for what they really are, and asks Luisa to do the same.

Some musical clowns, led by a young Guido, transform the rocket ship set into a circus, leading all the men and women of Guido’s life down the steps of the set.  Using a megaphone, Guido directs them into a circus ring. It is Carla who opens his eyes, claiming that Guido can’t do without the people in his life. In the end, after doubts and hesitations, Guido and Louisa join the men and women, who hold hands and run around the circle.

Film’s Conception

The film was conceived in the summer of 1960, when Fellini and his wife-actress Guilietta Masina visited the island of Ischia, near Naples. Fellini later said: “I went for a rest cure, at a moment when things were at a low ebb. I was in limbo, taking stock of myself. I needed to reconcile my fears. I asked myself the usual questions: `Who am I? What am I doing? Where am I going?'”

Marcello Mastroianni

Oscar Nominations: 5

Oscar Awards: 2