Spirits, Fractions and Fellini
madkevin
the roots of neo-realism, penning the screenplay to "Rome: Open City" and filming the
minor neo-realistic classic "I, Vitellonli", Fellini seemed to step further away from
the ideals of that movement with every film he made. By the time of his watershed "8
1/2" (the blueprint for every self-referential film-maker who followed), it was clear
that Fellini was prepared to leave the constraints of rational cinema behind. His
short entry in "Boccaccio '70" was an early indication of where Fellini's filmic
imagination might take him: still, I often wonder how prepared people were for his
first full-length colour film, "Juilet Of The Spirits".
It's easiest to see "Juilet" as the inverse of "8 1/2". "8 1/2" is shot in
monochrome, the main character is male, and concerns the externalized struggle of
artisitic creation; "Juilet" is shot in color, the main character is female, and
concerns a internalized inner mid-life crises. Not polar opposites, perhaps, but
different sides of the same coin.
Fellini approaches this subject with his customary zeal. While "Boccaccio '70"'s use
of color was muted, perhaps inevitably, by the striking image of a hundred-foot-tall
Anita Ekberg coming to life off a billboard, in "Juilet" he approaches color as if he
has been recently granted his sight back after a lifetime of blindness and has been
handed a huge box of crayons. (A word must be said here about Criterion's extrodinary
release: previously, I had only ever watched "Juilet" courtesy of the Contempary
Classics VHS version, and there is simply no comparison. Criterion has outdid
themselves again with a rich, perfect transfer.) Instead of being merely garish, the
colours underscore the emotional state of Juilet throughout the movie, similar if
more flamboyant to, say, Powell and Pressburger's "Black Narcissus".
And really, the movie is all about Juilet. Guiletta Masina, Fellini's real-life wife,
plays Juilet, and she is every bit as wonderful here as she was in "La Strada" or
"Nights Of Cabiria". Reaching the long-needed conclusion that her husband is a
worthless philanderer, Juilet goes through an episodic journey of mid-life
self-discovery, urged along by her dreams and recollections which seem to be crowding
into her everyday reality. Fellini's use of characture and exaggeration is in full
flower here (Fellini's origins as a cartoonist became more apparant as his career
continued), but it never extends to Juilet herself, wisely: she remians a calm center
upon which Fellini's circus revolves. Masina has a remarkable ability to put across
oceans of regret and disappointment with a simple wince; her face always seems open
but reserved, eager but slightly afraid. It's a pity she never made more movies.
Critically, "Juilet" has always marked the beginning of Fellini's latter half of his
artistic career. After the highs of "I, Vitelloni", "La Dolce Vita" and "8 1/2", it
seems to be de rigeur to consider his later works - "Juilet", "Satyricon", "Roma",
"Amarcord", etc. - as lesser. (That Fellini should have been considered a great
filmic artist at all is something of a miracle - he seems to have much too much fun
to be a "serious" artist.) I do not subscribe to that theory, not surprisingly:
Fellini was a risk taker, a circus performer, of a director. He was constantly
pushing the boundaries of cinema, at first against the constraints and conventions of
neo-realism, and eventually against the conventions of narrative cinema itself. He
was always pushing towards a pure cinema of the mind - who else but Fellini could
have ever made a documentary about Rome by recreating the Colessium within the
studio? Not for nothing has he given birth to the term "Felliniesque". Neo-realism
could never have given us the extrodinary images conjured up by Juilet's mind, and
cinema is all the richer for it.
Finally, the end of Juilet's journey never seems as momentous as the getting there.
Fellini wasn't ever really about answers, anyway. Life is a circus, and a circus
never ends - it's just packs up and moves to the next town.
Kevin "Down With Life, Up With Art!" Cogliano
--
===================
" It happens sometimes. People just explode. Natural causes."
- Repoi Man
Frank R.A.J. Maloney
news:r7Ly8.49181$I72.28...@radon.golden.net...
> Few directors to lay claim to such a long stylistic journey as Federico
Fellini. From
> the roots of neo-realism, penning the screenplay to "Rome: Open City" and
filming the
> minor neo-realistic classic "I, Vitellonli", Fellini seemed to step
further away from
> the ideals of that movement with every film he made. By the time of his
watershed "8
> 1/2" (the blueprint for every self-referential film-maker who followed),
it was clear
> that Fellini was prepared to leave the constraints of rational cinema
behind. His
> short entry in "Boccaccio '70" was an early indication of where Fellini's
filmic
> imagination might take him: still, I often wonder how prepared people were
for his
> first full-length colour film, "Juilet Of The Spirits".
>
[deletion]
I enjoyed your essay and having nothing substantive to add.
However, you might forgive me for pointing out that the title of the film
you refer to in the preceding is _I Vitelloni_, the first word being a
plural definite article, not the English first-person-singular pronoun. One
translation of "vitelloni" would be "fat calves", the word being related to
our word "veal". By extension, the title means "The Loafers."
--
Frank in Seattle
___________
Frank Richard Aloysius Jude Maloney
sir juan
in my opinion, you might want to stop watching Fellini's films while drunk.
sir ''oh my, oh oops, oh no, i did it again'' juan
madkevin
> I enjoyed your essay and having nothing substantive to add.
>
> However, you might forgive me for pointing out that the title of the film
> you refer to in the preceding is _I Vitelloni_, the first word being a
> plural definite article, not the English first-person-singular pronoun. One
> translation of "vitelloni" would be "fat calves", the word being related to
> our word "veal". By extension, the title means "The Loafers."
Whoops. Good eye, Frank - a poor typographical error on my part.
Kevin "Who Needs Spell Check Anyway?" Cogliano
madkevin
"sir juan" <jua...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:cd472d82.0204...@posting.google.com...
>
> in my opinion, you might want to stop watching Fellini's films while drunk.
First: It was worth requoting my whole article for that? Good thing I don't pay by
the k.
Second: Stoned, though, is always worth a shot. I saw a midnight showing of
"Casanova" (one of the many generally loathed Fellini films I admire) in a haze of
pot smoke at a theatre that allowed such ridiculous behaviour many moon ago. I
heartily recommend it.
Kevin "Alcohol's A Crutch" Cogliano
--
===================
" It happens sometimes. People just explode. Natural causes."
- Repo Man
Robert Keser
but it was always my least favorite Fellini film (it was the debut of
all the colorful extravaganza that became Fellini's modus operandi
for the rest of his career, but it had an indigestible quality to me
when it first came out, as if Masina was enduring Fellini's obsessions,
not Giulietta's). However, you put the case for it very well, especially:
>
> Finally, the end of Juilet's journey never seems as momentous as the getting there.
> Fellini wasn't ever really about answers, anyway. Life is a circus, and a circus
> never ends - it's just packs up and moves to the next town.
>
Hey, I liked Casanova too, but the best in my estimation is the "Toby
Damit" episode of Histoires Extraordinaires: all Fellini's talents seem
to unify around this story. Have you seen it? (Vadim's episode is pretty
bad, though, and the Malle is just okay).
--Bob Keser