Kind of shrill and not very subtle, but nonetheless fascinating. Marcello Mastroianni plays "Snaporaz" (Fellini's nickname for the actor), who gets lost in a nightmare world where he is confronted with feminism, absurd satires of machismo and sexual fantasies and confusion. This film doesn't seem to have a very good reputation, even among Fellini fans, but I was mostly enthralled with its strange, unpredictable rhythms, visually astonishing sets, sense of humor and dreamworld logic. The cinematography (by Guiseppe Rotunno, who did a number of other Fellini films, as well as ALL THAT JAZZ, with which this picture shares some similarities) is delightful and the score is a mix of the usual carnivalesque tunes and eerie, more modern sounds... and one hell of a great Italo-disco song. Some parts are annoying or just too long, but overall it's my favorite of Fellini's later career, a surreal amusement about masculine fear and self-loathing.
40 Reviews
Not a masterpiece but the trademark Fellini genius still shines through
Asa_Nisi_Masa219 March 2006
A few weeks ago, I posted a review of 8½, presently my undisputed Number 1 favourite movie. Still on the subject of Il Maestro, I've recently rewatched City of Women. This is another Fellini movie I'd watched many years ago, in my late teens, and didn't like at all back then. Well, I liked it (with reservations) this time. La città delle donne is one of the most robust, unrepressed and rough-around-the-edges explorations of the specifically Latin nature of machismo, feminism, gender rivalry and sexual politics I have ever seen. Many people don't like La città delle donne, but like 8½ and most Fellini movies of the later period it has an extraordinary, instinctive grasp of the rhythm and symbolic power of dreams. Its irritating aspect is coupled with and impossible to separate from the grasp it has upon the potency of what our psyche hides in among its hidden, ancestral folds - in this case, Marcello Mastroianni's character's but also our very own. This movie worms its way into your own psyche in time - as with other Fellini movies, it seems to reveal scenes that are totally new and surprising, yet strangely familiar to me even though I've never seen them before. As if I'd always been familiar with them, perhaps from a previous life - Fellini seems able to tap into a universal psychic blueprint of the soul, I think that's what it is - only a true Genius could do something like this. He gets to the emotional core of human experience, which means that even though I was never a young man who went to a brothel in 1930s Italy, as he has, there is something of the experience that I can relate to, as if it were universal. I guess the fact that things are rarely LITERALLY represented in his later movies (post-La Dolce Vita), also contributes towards this, making everything more symbolic and hence, universal.
But Città delle donne is also a shrill, over-the-top movie, grating in some ways, ridiculous, dated in others. Character-wise, Marcello is probably at his most repulsive... or perhaps I should say pathetic. But the movie, though flawed and a rehash of some other familiar Fellini themes treated more successfully elsewhere, is also delightful in parts, with a power in the use of visual symbols that I have rarely seen before, even in his own, more overall successful movies. For instance, the whole sequence in Dr Xavier Katzone's grotesque house, especially the mausoleum-like tunnel containing what is essentially the "essence" of his numerous past conquests, as well as the scenes of Marcello floating on the very originally-shaped "hot air balloon", Marcello being chased by the drugged-up teenage girl bullies in their squeaky old jalopies, etc - all scenes I won't be forgetting in a hurry.
If one really finds nothing to like in La città delle donne, it's ultimately still an important document on the gender battles that recent humanity has crossed. Perhaps Italy began these a decade or two later than, for instance, Northern European nations, but it got there eventually and in its own special, culturally individual way that can be compared to no other, since Italian men and women are not German or British or Swedish. Fellini pays tribute to that very Italian type of battle of the sexes here, stereotype-free but ever so evocatively. I have never delighted more in the never-obvious send-up of machismo as with this movie. This may be lost on non-Italian speakers but even the man's name, Katzone, is a phonetic rendering of the vulgar Italian word for... er... "big (male) genitals"! I give La città delle donne a 7½ out of 10 - I would have given it an 8 if it hadn't irritated me with its excesses in certain parts. Oh, what the hell - let's give it an 8/10!
But Città delle donne is also a shrill, over-the-top movie, grating in some ways, ridiculous, dated in others. Character-wise, Marcello is probably at his most repulsive... or perhaps I should say pathetic. But the movie, though flawed and a rehash of some other familiar Fellini themes treated more successfully elsewhere, is also delightful in parts, with a power in the use of visual symbols that I have rarely seen before, even in his own, more overall successful movies. For instance, the whole sequence in Dr Xavier Katzone's grotesque house, especially the mausoleum-like tunnel containing what is essentially the "essence" of his numerous past conquests, as well as the scenes of Marcello floating on the very originally-shaped "hot air balloon", Marcello being chased by the drugged-up teenage girl bullies in their squeaky old jalopies, etc - all scenes I won't be forgetting in a hurry.
If one really finds nothing to like in La città delle donne, it's ultimately still an important document on the gender battles that recent humanity has crossed. Perhaps Italy began these a decade or two later than, for instance, Northern European nations, but it got there eventually and in its own special, culturally individual way that can be compared to no other, since Italian men and women are not German or British or Swedish. Fellini pays tribute to that very Italian type of battle of the sexes here, stereotype-free but ever so evocatively. I have never delighted more in the never-obvious send-up of machismo as with this movie. This may be lost on non-Italian speakers but even the man's name, Katzone, is a phonetic rendering of the vulgar Italian word for... er... "big (male) genitals"! I give La città delle donne a 7½ out of 10 - I would have given it an 8 if it hadn't irritated me with its excesses in certain parts. Oh, what the hell - let's give it an 8/10!
Disagree with other posters -- Outstanding Movie
Enigma70019 February 2007
By the time this movie was made Women's issues were alive in the media of all industrialized nations ... This movie was meant to shock and shock it does. Its not crass ... it is very cerebral and highbrow. The character is lost in a sea of femme weapons. This movie actually depicts well the confusion and men and women in a new age. The movie is full of enticement followed by letdown and weirdness ... as is our daily lives in this new age. Have you ever heard that all a man thinks about is sex ... well this movie takes it to extremes. Its funny, scary, enticing, crazy, dreamy, wild, intellectual, modern. I think one of best of Frederico. He got better with age. The movie characters are all over the edge, too much, too weird ... its all for a point.
Dynamic Set Pieces, Wry Observation, and Marcello Mastrionni Make My Day
museumofdave21 March 2013
My adoration for this seemingly out-of-control fantasia of male fears of woman as individual or Love Goddess is somewhat unreasonable; I do not tire of watching City of Women and have subjected others to Fellini's episodic wandering, loaded as it is with spectacular imagery; remarkably, some of them remain my friends.
Early Fellini films such as La Strada and Nights of Cabiria are really fairly conventional films with unconventional characters, easy to follow and memorable for leading characters such as Gelsomina or Cabiria. In the early 1960's, Fellini experimented with drugs and underwent extensive psychoanalysis and the results of experimentation were reflected in his films, which became more personal visions and while delighting some viewers, frustrated others for their lack of linear narrative.
City of Women is one of those, jammed with bizarre imagery, full of often peculiar fantasies, as it follows the Fellini stand-in, Snaporaz, as he cuts a train journey short to follow a female conquest into a world that he has never considered, a world where women dominate, a world that addresses many male anxieties and fears, a dream world full of nightmares. I first saw this film in 1980, and thought it only fair; with the passage of time I think it has only become more relevant to male-female relationships, and the imagery, in contrast with most pallid films made today, visually electrifying. While realizing that others may react in critical horror, my vote for this Fellini is "Nine"!
Early Fellini films such as La Strada and Nights of Cabiria are really fairly conventional films with unconventional characters, easy to follow and memorable for leading characters such as Gelsomina or Cabiria. In the early 1960's, Fellini experimented with drugs and underwent extensive psychoanalysis and the results of experimentation were reflected in his films, which became more personal visions and while delighting some viewers, frustrated others for their lack of linear narrative.
City of Women is one of those, jammed with bizarre imagery, full of often peculiar fantasies, as it follows the Fellini stand-in, Snaporaz, as he cuts a train journey short to follow a female conquest into a world that he has never considered, a world where women dominate, a world that addresses many male anxieties and fears, a dream world full of nightmares. I first saw this film in 1980, and thought it only fair; with the passage of time I think it has only become more relevant to male-female relationships, and the imagery, in contrast with most pallid films made today, visually electrifying. While realizing that others may react in critical horror, my vote for this Fellini is "Nine"!
Entertaining, funny, absurd, visually marvelous.
Ymir45 December 2003
Fellini never made too many films that had absurdly intense sexual themes and dialogue. He made two, and along with `Casanova,' `The City of Women' revolves almost entirely around sex. What `City of Women' has that `Casanova' did not, however, is a beautiful child-like view of things that really makes Fellini's movies fun in the first place. It also has Marcello Mastroianni (one of my favorite actors) and gorgeous surreal cinematography by Giuseppe Rotunno. `City of Women' begins, appropriately enough, with a train going into a tunnel. Marcello Mastroianni is Snaporez, an again man on a train. He begins to flirt with the woman who is sitting across from him and follows her into the bathroom. As he reveals his lustful feelings, the train suddenly stops and she gets out. He runs after her and ends up at a hotel that appears to be hosting a feminist convention, a REALLY exaggerated and completely insane feminist convention. He soon discovers the entire land he is in is populated with women. Snaporaz is both frightened and in awe of the variety of women that surround him, and they represent virtually all viewpoints of feminist issues - from angry man-haters to whores to crazy teenage girls to dancers to roller skaters to older, more motherly women. Throughout the film the women are clearly in total control, and I interpret this film as a womanizer's nightmare, which makes perfect sense.
The film is perfect by no means, but it's still a bit of a treasure if you're a Fellini fan who has explored most of his body of work, and yet are still starved for some Felliniesque fun. This film has that, and a lot of it. The greatest scene in the film is toward the end, where Snaporez crawls under a bed and comes out inside a bright beautiful carnival. He slides down a stylized rollercoaster and mentally goes through some of his life's most memorable sexual situations. This was a marvelous scene, with a beautiful carnival set, and above all, brilliantly scored by Luis Bacalov.
Overall, I have no idea who will like this film. Even Fellini fans seem to dislike it, or even hate it. I found it to be a lot of fun, and visually marvelous.
The film is perfect by no means, but it's still a bit of a treasure if you're a Fellini fan who has explored most of his body of work, and yet are still starved for some Felliniesque fun. This film has that, and a lot of it. The greatest scene in the film is toward the end, where Snaporez crawls under a bed and comes out inside a bright beautiful carnival. He slides down a stylized rollercoaster and mentally goes through some of his life's most memorable sexual situations. This was a marvelous scene, with a beautiful carnival set, and above all, brilliantly scored by Luis Bacalov.
Overall, I have no idea who will like this film. Even Fellini fans seem to dislike it, or even hate it. I found it to be a lot of fun, and visually marvelous.
Of all the Fellini films, this is probably his most erotic
Nazi_Fighter_David16 September 2008
It is not as much a study of eroticism as it is one man's erotic fantasy about the battle between the sexes
A rich, horny Italian (Mastroianni) meets a woman on a train When the train stops, he follows her into a lonely wood, which becomes a futuristic world of forceful women who have almost entirely destroyed completely all men in their society
Mastroianni's character is left alive as a curiosity piece His experiences carry him deeper and deeper into this bizarre fantasy city The film never fully provides passion and erotic lusts, but is tickling and stimulating pleasantly none the less... Fellini's pointthat women resent the fact that men are easily excitedis most effectively carried by Donatella Damiani, a buxom and very beautiful young actress who runs nearly naked throughout the movie
Although the film never tires, it never quite completes its erotic expectations either, giving priority to consider carefully its own bizarre reality It has elements of science fiction and adventure, but is more exactly a fantasy on the estrangement between men and women...
A rich, horny Italian (Mastroianni) meets a woman on a train When the train stops, he follows her into a lonely wood, which becomes a futuristic world of forceful women who have almost entirely destroyed completely all men in their society
Mastroianni's character is left alive as a curiosity piece His experiences carry him deeper and deeper into this bizarre fantasy city The film never fully provides passion and erotic lusts, but is tickling and stimulating pleasantly none the less... Fellini's pointthat women resent the fact that men are easily excitedis most effectively carried by Donatella Damiani, a buxom and very beautiful young actress who runs nearly naked throughout the movie
Although the film never tires, it never quite completes its erotic expectations either, giving priority to consider carefully its own bizarre reality It has elements of science fiction and adventure, but is more exactly a fantasy on the estrangement between men and women...
aka Marcello in Lady-Land... sort of
Quinoa198420 February 2016
The conceit and premise of City of Women, another film by Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini, is the kind that if Fellini didn't come up with, he'd take it and make it his own almost by principle. There's an absolutely wonderful sequence in 8 1/2 where Guido is having a very vivid dream where he is surrounded by women, seemingly ALL the women, that have made an impact in his life. Scorsese once noted about this scene that with Guido he can worship them, hate them, love them, ignore them, but he can't control them. This is very much true in that scene (which includes at one point Guido, played by Marcello Mastroianni, having to use a whip as if the ladies are literal lionesses), and it's the same in this film, where Marcello (this time named just that) gets off of a train (by accident, of course) to follow a rather seductive woman into the woods. This leads him into a giant house filled with... women, ALL the women, any kind that you could think of.
Well, almost, anyway, the others are outside the house and Marcello will soon thereafter meet them too. But the point is, Fellini was bound to make a full-throttle, no holds barred cartoon on feminism, and City of Women is at its most, uh, Fellini-esque (that's a term, right?) when he just lets his women go into their mania and as he and cinematographer Giusseppe Rotuno try to keep up (or maybe the DP is trying to keep up with Fellini, if that makes sense).
When Marcello arrives at the first place, there's seemingly hundreds of women, and by and large they're all out to pinpoint just what it is about men they can't stand... seemingly, it's all of it, but mostly it's their domineering sense of entitlement and how they go around thinking only with their genitals. It's so startling a place but Fellini keeps things moving by having it change from lots of women talking at once about what they would/could do to a man to take him down a notch or two, to being (somewhat) quiet while watching a film about old-time feminists in the movies.
All the while Marcello watches and tries to be on the sidelines. When he is caught in the ladies cross-hairs (of course pictures were somehow taken of Marcello acting like he wanted to kiss the mysterious train woman), he leaves, and simply wants to get back to his train. As you can imagine, Fellini doesn't make it that simple, and City of Women becomes a sort of (mostly) rapid-fire odyssey through the wild and crazy ways of women. I think that because Fellini takes things to such exaggerated lengths - and it's almost to places he hasn't quite gone to before, simply with sexual content and innuendo, only Casanova comes close really - and it's so cartoonish that the satire works.
Fellini has these garish, over-the-top figures of femininity, and there are even a couple that want to bed Marcello (like, say, the older lady who offers to first drive Marcello and proceeds to practically sodomize him, only for *her* much older mother to storm in to stop it). But mostly they're out to be at best beguiling and at worst murderous, such as the squad of teenage girls (some maybe younger) driving cars and blasting rock at night and making it so that Marcello has to run away from them driving after him.
I think that two things make this madness work so well more than anything, and this is aside from the mesmerizing camera work and (as usual for this director) eye-catching and just magical production design: Mastroianni's performance, as he centers the film into something for us to react to - we may not totally identify with him (actually, I hope most men don't, he's basically a middle-aged horn-dog deep down), and that there are a few scenes in the second half where Marcello somehow (it's a long story) runs into his wife and they have a heart to heart about what's gone on wrong in their marriage. It's not that suddenly everything gets deathly serious, but the wife, Elena (Prucnal, a very good actress) is very drunk and expounds about all the ways that Marcello has disconnected from her. It feels real enough to suddenly make this more than just a series of episodes through the feminine ego-id-super-egos run amok.
There are moments here and there where it comes close to lagging, or when Fellini is indulging himself so much in his set-pieces of female mania and their lines topping one over another and another. But there's so many brilliant little moments that add up to being an enjoyable, eye-opening experience that has poetic weight. Some of this is just Fellini having a gas; when Marcello is in a hallway and it's like an art exhibit, where he can flick a switch next to the 'canvas' and a woman's portrait pops up and her making sounds of orgasmic delight, and Marcello can't help but click one off and one on musically, it's among the funniest things Fellini's ever concocted. And it leads up to a sequence that is at first exhilarating in a semi-autobiographical way (it feels like a call-back in small part to 8 1/2 again, but more fractured) and then terrifying as him becomes basically the circus exhibit for an audience of women (maybe the same from before) to ogle and throw things at.
In short, it's following Fellini, his alter-ego, and an entire cadre of gorgeous, funny, squealing, maternal, horrifying, garish, sexy, possessed and, of course, uncontrollable women in a spectacle that only sometimes takes itself seriously, which is enough to make its points about how, deep down, some of the feminist movement - when it takes itself too seriously - is apt for mockery.
Well, almost, anyway, the others are outside the house and Marcello will soon thereafter meet them too. But the point is, Fellini was bound to make a full-throttle, no holds barred cartoon on feminism, and City of Women is at its most, uh, Fellini-esque (that's a term, right?) when he just lets his women go into their mania and as he and cinematographer Giusseppe Rotuno try to keep up (or maybe the DP is trying to keep up with Fellini, if that makes sense).
When Marcello arrives at the first place, there's seemingly hundreds of women, and by and large they're all out to pinpoint just what it is about men they can't stand... seemingly, it's all of it, but mostly it's their domineering sense of entitlement and how they go around thinking only with their genitals. It's so startling a place but Fellini keeps things moving by having it change from lots of women talking at once about what they would/could do to a man to take him down a notch or two, to being (somewhat) quiet while watching a film about old-time feminists in the movies.
All the while Marcello watches and tries to be on the sidelines. When he is caught in the ladies cross-hairs (of course pictures were somehow taken of Marcello acting like he wanted to kiss the mysterious train woman), he leaves, and simply wants to get back to his train. As you can imagine, Fellini doesn't make it that simple, and City of Women becomes a sort of (mostly) rapid-fire odyssey through the wild and crazy ways of women. I think that because Fellini takes things to such exaggerated lengths - and it's almost to places he hasn't quite gone to before, simply with sexual content and innuendo, only Casanova comes close really - and it's so cartoonish that the satire works.
Fellini has these garish, over-the-top figures of femininity, and there are even a couple that want to bed Marcello (like, say, the older lady who offers to first drive Marcello and proceeds to practically sodomize him, only for *her* much older mother to storm in to stop it). But mostly they're out to be at best beguiling and at worst murderous, such as the squad of teenage girls (some maybe younger) driving cars and blasting rock at night and making it so that Marcello has to run away from them driving after him.
I think that two things make this madness work so well more than anything, and this is aside from the mesmerizing camera work and (as usual for this director) eye-catching and just magical production design: Mastroianni's performance, as he centers the film into something for us to react to - we may not totally identify with him (actually, I hope most men don't, he's basically a middle-aged horn-dog deep down), and that there are a few scenes in the second half where Marcello somehow (it's a long story) runs into his wife and they have a heart to heart about what's gone on wrong in their marriage. It's not that suddenly everything gets deathly serious, but the wife, Elena (Prucnal, a very good actress) is very drunk and expounds about all the ways that Marcello has disconnected from her. It feels real enough to suddenly make this more than just a series of episodes through the feminine ego-id-super-egos run amok.
There are moments here and there where it comes close to lagging, or when Fellini is indulging himself so much in his set-pieces of female mania and their lines topping one over another and another. But there's so many brilliant little moments that add up to being an enjoyable, eye-opening experience that has poetic weight. Some of this is just Fellini having a gas; when Marcello is in a hallway and it's like an art exhibit, where he can flick a switch next to the 'canvas' and a woman's portrait pops up and her making sounds of orgasmic delight, and Marcello can't help but click one off and one on musically, it's among the funniest things Fellini's ever concocted. And it leads up to a sequence that is at first exhilarating in a semi-autobiographical way (it feels like a call-back in small part to 8 1/2 again, but more fractured) and then terrifying as him becomes basically the circus exhibit for an audience of women (maybe the same from before) to ogle and throw things at.
In short, it's following Fellini, his alter-ego, and an entire cadre of gorgeous, funny, squealing, maternal, horrifying, garish, sexy, possessed and, of course, uncontrollable women in a spectacle that only sometimes takes itself seriously, which is enough to make its points about how, deep down, some of the feminist movement - when it takes itself too seriously - is apt for mockery.
Not very subtle, but still an interesting Fellini
TheLittleSongbird1 August 2012
Continuing my Fellini quest, I found City of Women to be interesting. It is not my favourite Fellini, the pace feels sluggish at times and it is rather shrill and unsubtle in tone. On the other hand, Fellini directs beautifully with his distinctive style most evident. City of Women is visually stunning in scenery, costumes and cinematography. The music is full of cheerful energy and nostalgia, while in terms of writing the autobiographical aspects are interesting, the self-parody and satirical aspects are funny and the dream aspects are appropriately dream-like and in an enchanting way. The story shines with the personal and nostalgic style that is so distinctive of Fellini. The acting is fine, especially from the ever compelling Marcello Mastroianni, though his performances in La Dolce Vita and 8 1/2 are even better.
All in all, interesting but I personally would have preferred more subtlety. 7/10 Bethany Cox
All in all, interesting but I personally would have preferred more subtlety. 7/10 Bethany Cox
Fellini does feminism.
squelcho28 June 2005
I'm not going to pretend that this is classic Fellini, or a masterpiece of Italian/European art-house cinema, but.....there's a lot going on in this movie that rewards a lengthy attention span. Mastroiani plays the archetypal middle-aged menopausal misogynist, the oldest swinger in town, calling women everything but women. Sows, mares, bitches, etc.
Fellini effortlessly sets him up for a long slow surreal fall from grace, deconstructing his fear of women in the process. It's a temporal culture clash, as stiff monochrome macho sexism meets technicolour badass feminism head on.
There's a few of Fellini's sublime production games going on in the background, most notably the orgasm orchestra that builds from the sono-portraits of Marcello's past lovers. The symbolism on display throughout is typically oblique, but it's effortlessly played for laughs in a way that few of his earlier films managed.
I've seen most of Fellini's output, from La Strada to Ginger and Fred, and for me this movie stands out along with those two as an accessible entry point into the satirical world view of one of Italy's most interesting directors.
It's certainly not a masterpiece, but it's definitely a wry look at the sexual mores of the day. And the cinematography ain't bad either.
Fellini effortlessly sets him up for a long slow surreal fall from grace, deconstructing his fear of women in the process. It's a temporal culture clash, as stiff monochrome macho sexism meets technicolour badass feminism head on.
There's a few of Fellini's sublime production games going on in the background, most notably the orgasm orchestra that builds from the sono-portraits of Marcello's past lovers. The symbolism on display throughout is typically oblique, but it's effortlessly played for laughs in a way that few of his earlier films managed.
I've seen most of Fellini's output, from La Strada to Ginger and Fred, and for me this movie stands out along with those two as an accessible entry point into the satirical world view of one of Italy's most interesting directors.
It's certainly not a masterpiece, but it's definitely a wry look at the sexual mores of the day. And the cinematography ain't bad either.
Fellini on a downward slide
hou-320 August 2017
I am a great fan of early Fellini, and as late as Amarcord I still find much to admire. After that, though, there seems to me to be an inexorable decline in originality. By the time we get to this film the decline is definitely in evidence throughout. Freshness has given way to trademark, vitality to predictability. Mastroianni is still there, as cool and enigmatic as ever, and some of the cinematography remains dazzling. But an air of staleness hangs over the whole film, which apart from its other defects is far too long. Fellini fanatics admire it, that much is obvious, and good luck to them. But most simple admirers will pass it by. It is worth adding that in the troubled and deeply unequal world we live in, Fellini's later obsession with the idle rich is looking increasingly frivolous. But maybe that's just me.
A really cool idea that wears thin after just a little while
planktonrules11 March 2007
The idea for this film is amusing. A man is dreaming or in a dream-like world run by angry ultra-ultra-ultra feminists who naturally scare him BUT at the same time, he tries to infiltrate their ranks because he is strongly aroused by one of these women--a lady he met and ALMOST had sex with on a train. Again and again, he tries in vain to find her but must contend with angry women who spout dogma like it's an indoctrination camp. This, combined with the obvious Freudian phallic imagery is used to create a man's worst nightmare--women who don't want him and who laugh at his virility! It's all an Absurdist-Surrealist experiment that just doesn't hold up for long--especially because the movie seems to last an eternity. As a result, the original momentum is lost and odd but not especially interesting characters are introduced (such as the stud who is about to have his 10,000th conquest). About the only thing I DID like about the latter portion of the film was the nightmarish amusement park atmosphere towards the end--seeing Marcello Mastroianni sliding down a seemingly endless slide as he passed midway events was pretty amazing from a technical point of view.
Overall, it's a one joke film that probably would have been better as a short. I know that the "Fellini-heads" out there think everything he did was pure genius, but this one just left me cold after a while. Perhaps I am just a plebe, but this and his other mondo-bizarro films like SATYRICON are bizarre and overdone.
Overall, it's a one joke film that probably would have been better as a short. I know that the "Fellini-heads" out there think everything he did was pure genius, but this one just left me cold after a while. Perhaps I am just a plebe, but this and his other mondo-bizarro films like SATYRICON are bizarre and overdone.
My brief review of the film
sol-6 July 2005
A number of fascinating sequences and a few interesting ideas keep this film afloat when the other element do not work out. The film makes it quite clear within the first hour that what we are witnessing is a dream, and the sets, costumes and hues all reflect a dreamlike state very well. But, we know little of our protagonist before he falls asleep, nor do we see much that he has done, and therefore it becomes all rather meaningless - just a collection of thoughts, rather than anything relating to the "real world". Still, it is certainly quite interesting to watch, as one never knows just what will happen next. The film has a very intriguing screenplay, if not much else, and Marcello Mastroianni is rather good, if not great, in the lead. It is not a brilliant piece of work, especially coming from such a highly praised director, but it is an interesting film, with a gripping dreamlike quality.
"Marcello... don't come here...."
ElMaruecan8229 August 2019
The opening shot of Fellini's "City of Women" is a train about to enter a tunnel, not exactly the subtlest shot to suggest a certain type of act, but in that case it works perfectly for two reasons: the POV is the train so we don't watch the phallic symbol but its 'target', plus the penetration into darkness foresees the trip into the hearts of darkness that awaits Guido, the film protagonist, played by an aged but still charming Marcello Mastroianni. That darkness is associated with women's liberation might divide opinions, but Fellini is not the man to say 'mea culpa'.
So the film opens in a train, Guido has a fling with a beautiful but rather severe-looking woman, he follows her to the bathroom, obviously not to talk about the latest dress fashion in Milan, the two conclude, the train stops, he follows her again, and finds himself in a feminist convention with the most incongruous set of female characters steaming off centuries of repressed anger and resentment against men and patriarchy, expressing in the most turbulent and truculent way their desire to build a more just society rid of phallocracy and ever archetypes that made Italy the Mecca of Latin seduction. And that's only for starters. If you're surprised by the aesthetics, then it's probably the first Fellini you ever saw, and then I'm afraid you didn't pick the right one.
Indeed, this is a film to satisfy the fans (mildly) and disconcert the newcomers, on the surface, like all Fellini movies, "Cities of Women" is a never-ending succession of disjointed vignettes forcing us to endure with enchantment, disgust, puzzlement and even embarrassment the shenanigans, not of a loony protagonist but of a gallery of female characters who cover the whole spectrum of women's attitudes, from the castrating to the nymphomaniac type, from the kitschy to the one who rhymes with it, from the frigid icy intellectual to the voluptuous matron. And in the content, I'm afraid the film doesn't provide more than a certain view of Fellini regarding the aggressiveness of feminism in the late 70s... and whether he sides with these women or looks at them with amused detachment isn't a matter of opinion, Fellini knows where he stands.
The film was made after his "Casanova", a critic against the Italian Don Juan who tries to pass as a sophisticated bourgeois in order to hide his crass obsessions. It's possible that Fellini had the same defiance against a certain hypocritical expression of feminism which, in the name of positive values: freedom, liberation, independence carried the same vulgar obsessions about sex. And in that cacophony of anti-men slogans, rapidly, a think-thank sessions turns into a heated debated where sexual positions and references to genitals are dropped, so it's not much Fellini criticizing the women that hate men, but the women whose hatred toward men cloud their judgment and bring the worst masculine traits in them.
In a way, every intellectual woman according to Fellini has her mind focused on her vagina or her relationships with men, seeing phallic symbols everywhere, and Guido embodies the point of view of men who, like Fellini, grew up with homely big-bosomed women incarnated by their mothers and aunts, came to age in the post-war era with sexually liberated women but then came the late 70s where religion and patriarchy stopped having a saying in everything. However, Guido doesn't handle the hostility with bad spirit but acts like a man visiting a curiosity, a zoo, and tries to understand with false benevolence what he believes to be a foreign language. To Fellini's defense, this misconception about feminism has hold up a long time until the 1990s... and to his defense again, the exaggeration wasn't that exaggerated.
To make a timely parallel, the film reminded me of Mr. Burns' visit at Yale ("The Simpsons"), Fellini at least had the guts to go against the stream and stick to his guns by expressing his nostalgia for the old-fashioned women, and he does so with the same flamboaynt bravura and extravagant flashiness that made his trademarks. And he does instrumentalize women like he did with his own wife Giuletta Masina in "Juliet of the Spirits", where she was given a rather ungrateful role in a movie that was also venturing in the fantasies of her husband, made of the same kind of attractive women, to whom she didn't belong. In "City of Women", women are all here, but for the biggest part of the film, they're not tantalizing him, "La Dolce Vita" had Anita Ekberg sensually inviting Marcello to "come here", this time, the invitation is reversed.
"O tempora! O mores" said the Romans, and Fellini takes us to a journey where women have seized the microphone. However, being the unapologetic macho he is, he proposes a second immersion in a universe where the roles are reversed again and that's where the film loses its pace. Guido visits the house of a man who had 10000 conquests and what follows is another "8½" fantasy ride, made of naughty games and an interesting trial that reminded me of "Pluto's Judgment Day". As to counterbalance his previous act, Fellini had to get back to another Casanova figure, without any sense whatsoever of restrain and measure, he's an artist so carried away by his instincts that he believes any idea that pops up in his mind deserves to be included.
Which makes the film like half an hour too long while it could have stuck to its initial idea and be a social fantasy-induced comment on feminism and a companion piece of "8½". "City of Women" has dazzling imagery, a wonderful set design, and reflects the powerful imagination of the director, what it lacks is just 'control' and a discipline. But it's still worth the watch as his last hurrah before the 80s, and seriously, it shouldn't offend much because the offensive parts are so cartoonish and over-the-top, they're no worse than a Benny Hill skit.
So the film opens in a train, Guido has a fling with a beautiful but rather severe-looking woman, he follows her to the bathroom, obviously not to talk about the latest dress fashion in Milan, the two conclude, the train stops, he follows her again, and finds himself in a feminist convention with the most incongruous set of female characters steaming off centuries of repressed anger and resentment against men and patriarchy, expressing in the most turbulent and truculent way their desire to build a more just society rid of phallocracy and ever archetypes that made Italy the Mecca of Latin seduction. And that's only for starters. If you're surprised by the aesthetics, then it's probably the first Fellini you ever saw, and then I'm afraid you didn't pick the right one.
Indeed, this is a film to satisfy the fans (mildly) and disconcert the newcomers, on the surface, like all Fellini movies, "Cities of Women" is a never-ending succession of disjointed vignettes forcing us to endure with enchantment, disgust, puzzlement and even embarrassment the shenanigans, not of a loony protagonist but of a gallery of female characters who cover the whole spectrum of women's attitudes, from the castrating to the nymphomaniac type, from the kitschy to the one who rhymes with it, from the frigid icy intellectual to the voluptuous matron. And in the content, I'm afraid the film doesn't provide more than a certain view of Fellini regarding the aggressiveness of feminism in the late 70s... and whether he sides with these women or looks at them with amused detachment isn't a matter of opinion, Fellini knows where he stands.
The film was made after his "Casanova", a critic against the Italian Don Juan who tries to pass as a sophisticated bourgeois in order to hide his crass obsessions. It's possible that Fellini had the same defiance against a certain hypocritical expression of feminism which, in the name of positive values: freedom, liberation, independence carried the same vulgar obsessions about sex. And in that cacophony of anti-men slogans, rapidly, a think-thank sessions turns into a heated debated where sexual positions and references to genitals are dropped, so it's not much Fellini criticizing the women that hate men, but the women whose hatred toward men cloud their judgment and bring the worst masculine traits in them.
In a way, every intellectual woman according to Fellini has her mind focused on her vagina or her relationships with men, seeing phallic symbols everywhere, and Guido embodies the point of view of men who, like Fellini, grew up with homely big-bosomed women incarnated by their mothers and aunts, came to age in the post-war era with sexually liberated women but then came the late 70s where religion and patriarchy stopped having a saying in everything. However, Guido doesn't handle the hostility with bad spirit but acts like a man visiting a curiosity, a zoo, and tries to understand with false benevolence what he believes to be a foreign language. To Fellini's defense, this misconception about feminism has hold up a long time until the 1990s... and to his defense again, the exaggeration wasn't that exaggerated.
To make a timely parallel, the film reminded me of Mr. Burns' visit at Yale ("The Simpsons"), Fellini at least had the guts to go against the stream and stick to his guns by expressing his nostalgia for the old-fashioned women, and he does so with the same flamboaynt bravura and extravagant flashiness that made his trademarks. And he does instrumentalize women like he did with his own wife Giuletta Masina in "Juliet of the Spirits", where she was given a rather ungrateful role in a movie that was also venturing in the fantasies of her husband, made of the same kind of attractive women, to whom she didn't belong. In "City of Women", women are all here, but for the biggest part of the film, they're not tantalizing him, "La Dolce Vita" had Anita Ekberg sensually inviting Marcello to "come here", this time, the invitation is reversed.
"O tempora! O mores" said the Romans, and Fellini takes us to a journey where women have seized the microphone. However, being the unapologetic macho he is, he proposes a second immersion in a universe where the roles are reversed again and that's where the film loses its pace. Guido visits the house of a man who had 10000 conquests and what follows is another "8½" fantasy ride, made of naughty games and an interesting trial that reminded me of "Pluto's Judgment Day". As to counterbalance his previous act, Fellini had to get back to another Casanova figure, without any sense whatsoever of restrain and measure, he's an artist so carried away by his instincts that he believes any idea that pops up in his mind deserves to be included.
Which makes the film like half an hour too long while it could have stuck to its initial idea and be a social fantasy-induced comment on feminism and a companion piece of "8½". "City of Women" has dazzling imagery, a wonderful set design, and reflects the powerful imagination of the director, what it lacks is just 'control' and a discipline. But it's still worth the watch as his last hurrah before the 80s, and seriously, it shouldn't offend much because the offensive parts are so cartoonish and over-the-top, they're no worse than a Benny Hill skit.
Even a genius can lose his way...
dstanwyck25 February 2016
I doubt there is anyone alive who adores Fellini more than I; the same goes for those who are dead. "8 and a 1/2" influenced me so much so that as a young guy just coming of age, I got on a freighter to Genoa, hitched to Florence for a few months and then finally to Rome: I had to see all of this in person. And did I ever! You get the point. Now, as a man of more mature years, and having seen this film way after its release I can only cry with disappointment. Vincent Canby in the NYT apparently loved it, and Roger Ebert registered enthusiasm, and many of the reviewers on IMDb do as well...but: no body else - I cannot imagine - has ever seen so many of his movies more than once and some of them many times more than once and has always delighted in them. This one just had my jaw dropping at the NON-beauty of it, the clumsiness even, the total lack of story-line. Whereas, as an example, "8 and a 1/2" left one with hope and a sense of grandeur and completion, a sense of beauty, this one left me, at least, sad and dismayed that the genius screwed up. Oh, well - one rotten apple need not - and does not - ruin the whole bunch. I still love him and always will. He must have woken from a nightmare and had to spit it out before it got the better of him. Give me Juliet any day and La Strada and La Dolce Vita and Satyricon and Amarcord et al and let me be transported to heaven rather than the unfortunate hell of this unfortunate movie.
surrealism. and not only
Kirpianuscus29 April 2018
It is not the best Fellini. but it is an useful one. for the fantasies, for references to early films, for Mastroianni, for the use of fears, taboos and grotesque, for the mix of kitsch, fantasies and stereotypes, for the disco music and for the toys and tools of an eerie. it is a not comfortable film. too long, too eccentric, too ambiguous, too strange. but it has a bizarre art of seduction. and, maybe, this is the lead trait defining it. not a satire against feminism and machismo, but a remind of the roots of the crisis for contemporary world. and that did not it a great movie but only an useful one. for the precise verdict. for the meeting with images from nightmares with potential to be bricks of near reality. and for many other reasons. too familiar after 38 de ani from the birth of "La citta delle donne".
A Burlesque Pretentious Statement
XxEthanHuntxX14 January 2021
Fellini stages his own sexual fantasies, his dreams / nightmares in my first look into the renowned director, City of Women. He presents a passionate and articulated reflection on the man-woman relationship, in a realatively sociological way. Fellini brings up many ideas and ideals of equality concerning the feministic movement. But the film is not a one way sphere, it also show the other side of the spectrum, the view view point of a man/men. The most obvius, having a male protagonist as the voyeur's, which works as a potrait of a "typical masculine mind", and also as Fellini himself, he jounreys through the city of women. The film is targeted towards men in general, to confront their own attiude towards women. The film displays various perspective, with not necessarily forcing a specific opinion, but with major interest in femistic intent. By having women do masculine activities towards men, instead of the other way around, which can be proclaimed happends more often to women in this soceity. And by that getting the viewers empathy, etc.
This message is featured in a very skillfull and grandois way, by combining Fellinis characteristics of dreamlike, outrageous, and artistic imagery. Worth to note the containing comedy in the film, while not much, is fantastic.
The beginning of the movie is exciting and full of intruigues, later on, the movie takes a surreal turn and we are introduced to much bigger props of fantasy and a overflow of baroque inventiveness, thus shifting the shape of the film to a utopian world, the experience becomes dreamlike. Here is were I personally lose the tiniest bit of interest in the film, and where my hesitation of giving it a nine is, but very pleased with the end.
"Why did you decide to explore a world that does not belong to you, that you cannot know?", They ask him. "Because I love him and he attracts me",
This message is featured in a very skillfull and grandois way, by combining Fellinis characteristics of dreamlike, outrageous, and artistic imagery. Worth to note the containing comedy in the film, while not much, is fantastic.
The beginning of the movie is exciting and full of intruigues, later on, the movie takes a surreal turn and we are introduced to much bigger props of fantasy and a overflow of baroque inventiveness, thus shifting the shape of the film to a utopian world, the experience becomes dreamlike. Here is were I personally lose the tiniest bit of interest in the film, and where my hesitation of giving it a nine is, but very pleased with the end.
"Why did you decide to explore a world that does not belong to you, that you cannot know?", They ask him. "Because I love him and he attracts me",
Dreamy and Unpredictable
saraccan29 May 2020
It's eerie, captivating, extremely unpredictable but entertaining all at once. It really feels like a journey through someone else's dream/nightmare. You have a hard time remembering the transitions of different scenes. Sometimes you don't remember why the main character is in there or how he got there. The music, production, costumes, weird characters and dialogue; all set the tone correctly for a confusing movie.
A womanizer man is stranded in a place controlled completely by feminist women with different ideologies and he is trying to make sense of his surroundings.
A womanizer man is stranded in a place controlled completely by feminist women with different ideologies and he is trying to make sense of his surroundings.
Thought provoking and visually stunning
LSF4511 April 2021
City of Women resembles the same attributes that make Federico Fellini a fantastic filmmaker - thought provoking ideas throughout the course of the narrative, visually stunning set pieces and imagery, and tall, almost epic, morality tales that center on humanity's greatest strengths and flaws. City of Women focuses on both men and women; but, it is regarding feminism from a male perspective. This touches on aspects regarding toxic masculinity, sexuality, gender equality, and the subconscious thoughts that make us wonder if we are really meant to have that perfect person. Honestly, as a man watching in 2021, this 1980s film really touches on a lot of aspects of the modern feminist movements of our time. Mastroianni is wonderful as Fellini's lead character. The narrative bobs and weaves, changing courses, much like the locations, focusing on different aspects of sexuality. To be honest, it is similar in some ways to Dante's Inferno. It seems we get deeper and deeper into the subsconscious with each passing section.
Similar in many ways to Fellini's other films, especially 8 1/2, City of Women is a yet another fine film by the auteur.
Similar in many ways to Fellini's other films, especially 8 1/2, City of Women is a yet another fine film by the auteur.
Very good, but, ...
Delrvich18 December 2019
Warning: Spoilers
In my opinion, the ending (commentary on the perfect woman) conflicted on everything that Fellini was leading the viewer to believe.
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Maybe I misunderstood, but, using the story of Snaporaz who was in an unhappy marriage and cheating, it would seem that Fellini was saying that our past experiences, both good and bad, form and or expose who we are and that we are or should be our own perfect woman who we seek to attain. Meaning we should first love ourselves completely knowing and fulfilling our needs before falling in love with anyone else. But, the movie ends with Snaporaz seeing that his wife was the perfect woman.
In the "City of Women", Italian master Fellini films women in order to give them immense glory and unending power.
FilmCriticLalitRao25 February 2009
La Città Delle Donne is not a grotesque film even though it is rightly considered by many as a crazy little tale of a hapless philanderer.In this film,Italian superstar Marcello Mastroianni appears as if he is more of a morbid widower than one of the resourceful male chauvinists who would do everything in order to prevent weak women from usurping power.Feelini freely talks about the never ending confusion of male female relationships especially in the context of transfer of power.He has made a film which will surely have problems in getting understood by all.It can be surmised that even regular,loyal Fellini fans will have problems trying to figure out the hidden message of this film. This is the sole reason why this film necessitates multiple viewing session in order to understand why so much noise was being made about it.The focus in this film is on what all women of the world can achieve if they have solidarity.This has been shown by showing strange ways of women.Men have been reduced to ignominy as there are few taker for them.A major portion of the film is devoted to feminists who have not achieved much over the years.Fellini has shown them as they are and have always been:making fools of themselves.This film is neither pro women nor anti men.It is quite simply a beautiful film for the people who cherish the art of cinema.
Felliniesque Wonders
Tweetienator6 November 2022
La città delle donne aka City of Women is not a perfect movie, but if you like to watch a juxtaposition of grotesque, absurd and by the powers of Eros and Venus driven scenes, this one will be an entertaining experience to you. If I watch one of those very rare moments where movie-making and art meet and greet, I just wonder how it would be, if we would get those kind of movies on a regular basis and not all that Disney, Marvel, Hollywood stuff - Haute cuisine instead of stale and lukewarm Cheeseburgers so to say (a well made Cheeseburger can also be a fine experience for one's tongue). Anyway, La città delle donne is not my most favorite Fellini (Satyricon and La Strada are) but no matter, from time to time I still get myself drowned in this feverish dream and follow Mr. Mastroianni's odyssey.
Fellini lost
Ladiloque4 April 2022
Fellini's thoughts about men-women relationships, genders' role in society, feminism, sexuality, types of men/women, etc translated into a big, slow, lenghty and often cryptic allegory.
The opening and closing scenes are especially funny but despite a dozen of brillant scenes (with the trademark scenographies directly from a circus of the surreal) the core of the movie is quite boring and uninspired. The writer/director wanted to include too much personal stuff, "original/important" philosophical views and still indulge into his hermetic style: as a result he lost touch with the viewer.
Furthermore these views - for what a lazy viewing might let me conclude - aren't that ahead of his time, let alone ahead of our time. Fellini as an artist - despite significant international success and an undeniably unique talent, sensibility and intelligence - formed, matured and got inspired mainly by local/italian topics/settings or - more precisely - universal topics seen from the POV/setting of an italian. Which obviously isn't bad per se, but carries a lot of cultural biases, especially cumbersome if the topics are feminism, genders' roles and sexuality. Therefore I don't really think Fellini's perspective on these themes - while possibly still more sophisticated than the average person in 2022 - is of any interest unless you're specifically interested in his own ideas. All in all I don't fell like suggesting to watch the film to anyone except the most hardcore Fellini fans.
The only unconditional plus comes from Donatella Damiani: among the countless women in the movie she stands out as unforgettably sexy with her voluptuous figure and mischievous attitude. I'm sure even Fellini was in love.
The opening and closing scenes are especially funny but despite a dozen of brillant scenes (with the trademark scenographies directly from a circus of the surreal) the core of the movie is quite boring and uninspired. The writer/director wanted to include too much personal stuff, "original/important" philosophical views and still indulge into his hermetic style: as a result he lost touch with the viewer.
Furthermore these views - for what a lazy viewing might let me conclude - aren't that ahead of his time, let alone ahead of our time. Fellini as an artist - despite significant international success and an undeniably unique talent, sensibility and intelligence - formed, matured and got inspired mainly by local/italian topics/settings or - more precisely - universal topics seen from the POV/setting of an italian. Which obviously isn't bad per se, but carries a lot of cultural biases, especially cumbersome if the topics are feminism, genders' roles and sexuality. Therefore I don't really think Fellini's perspective on these themes - while possibly still more sophisticated than the average person in 2022 - is of any interest unless you're specifically interested in his own ideas. All in all I don't fell like suggesting to watch the film to anyone except the most hardcore Fellini fans.
The only unconditional plus comes from Donatella Damiani: among the countless women in the movie she stands out as unforgettably sexy with her voluptuous figure and mischievous attitude. I'm sure even Fellini was in love.
Great Film!!!
muoio3 November 2005
I loved this film! It is very funny especially the scene in the greenhouse. The film has fantastic visuals. The images and scenes from this film have influence so many modern films of today, such as the indoor rollerskating scene. My favorite scenes are the drugged up nymphet delinquent girls and Mastroianni sliding down a huge slide as his sexual history flashes before his eyes. The scene of the drugged girls reminds me of the glitzy 80s music video or a scene from an Argento horror film. Many believe that this film reflects women in a negative light, but I don't think it shows women in all their glory. Mastroianni is perfect in this role and quite beautiful to look at. I highly recommend it!
Feminist movie?
valadas11 November 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Is it so? Not in my opinion because women are shown as crazy, silly and foolish. The libertine womanizer Snaporaz (Marcello Mastroiani) runs after a woman who was travelling in front of him in a train when the train stops in the middle of a field and the woman goes out there. Then he loses the sight of her and begins searching her in the field. He then arrives to a hotel full of women because there is a feminist convention taking place there. From then on the movie is turning from a realist shape into a fanciful and oneiric one not very understandable till the end when it is shown that he was dreaming everything and wakes up in the train sitting in the same compartment with the woman that had charme d him and two others who were also in his dream. The story is weak and the movíe is saved only by a lot of very imaginative and fanciful images and scenes.
A mess
sweenetto5 November 2005
Although I was born in Italy, I never had the chance to see a movie by Fellini.
Yesterday I decided to fill this gap, watching "La citta' delle donne".
I was very disappointed, not only by the movie, but also by the commentaries included in the DVD (American edition).
*** Some spoilers from now on *** The movie is a total mess. Everything is loud and exaggerated. There are no hints or subtleties. The message the movie aims at conveying, the difficulty of men to deal with women in the modern era with the men losing their predominant position, is screamed. For 20 minutes you can cope with such a visual and acoustic disorder, but I found 140 minutes definitely too much to bear.
I did not find the movie funny either. For example, one of the character's name is Katzone (an Italian vulgar expression for big penis) and guess what? He is a womanizer, he lives in a house full of phallic shaped objects, he has taped the moaning of all women he has slept with, and so on and so forth. Maybe, you can laugh for one second about it, but everything is so obvious, trivial and vulgar that I found it very hard to appreciate.
Mastroianni delivers a great performance, as usual. The problem does not lie in the actors, (actually most of them deliver great interpretations) but in the director's vision of the movie.
The film does not flow. The sequences are not linked appropriately and sometimes are way too long: he could have obtained the very same result (shocking/amusing the audience) in half the time.
Being the movie a dream by a man in his 50's, it is reasonable to express it in such a disorganized and convulsive way. However, I do not need to see a movie to get that feeling, my own dreams are enough.
Fellini was very brave to propose such a theme, especially in a very rigid society as the Italian one. He wanted to be provocative and he succeeded in that dimension. However, he failed at making the audience think about those issues, being only worried at representing his own insecurities and fears.
I also found the movie very arrogant, in the sense that it made me think that Fellini wanted the audience to believe that they were watching not only a movie but "art".
Frankly speaking, this film is so bad that it makes any Tinto Brass production look like a masterpiece.
In the DVD's commentary the people asked to comment on Fellini's work basically said that he was a genius. I think they do not understand what a genius is. Moreover, all the people interviewed do not explain or motivate why they think he was such a great artist.
He might have had a different approach to things, he might have had a personal interpretation of facts, he might have broken the clichés of his time, but defining him a genius is way too much, at least for what he has done with this movie.
I think that labeling him as a genius does not allow him to be pretentious and his movie to be pointless.
I still hope that "8 1/2" is going to change my mind about Fellini's work.
Yesterday I decided to fill this gap, watching "La citta' delle donne".
I was very disappointed, not only by the movie, but also by the commentaries included in the DVD (American edition).
*** Some spoilers from now on *** The movie is a total mess. Everything is loud and exaggerated. There are no hints or subtleties. The message the movie aims at conveying, the difficulty of men to deal with women in the modern era with the men losing their predominant position, is screamed. For 20 minutes you can cope with such a visual and acoustic disorder, but I found 140 minutes definitely too much to bear.
I did not find the movie funny either. For example, one of the character's name is Katzone (an Italian vulgar expression for big penis) and guess what? He is a womanizer, he lives in a house full of phallic shaped objects, he has taped the moaning of all women he has slept with, and so on and so forth. Maybe, you can laugh for one second about it, but everything is so obvious, trivial and vulgar that I found it very hard to appreciate.
Mastroianni delivers a great performance, as usual. The problem does not lie in the actors, (actually most of them deliver great interpretations) but in the director's vision of the movie.
The film does not flow. The sequences are not linked appropriately and sometimes are way too long: he could have obtained the very same result (shocking/amusing the audience) in half the time.
Being the movie a dream by a man in his 50's, it is reasonable to express it in such a disorganized and convulsive way. However, I do not need to see a movie to get that feeling, my own dreams are enough.
Fellini was very brave to propose such a theme, especially in a very rigid society as the Italian one. He wanted to be provocative and he succeeded in that dimension. However, he failed at making the audience think about those issues, being only worried at representing his own insecurities and fears.
I also found the movie very arrogant, in the sense that it made me think that Fellini wanted the audience to believe that they were watching not only a movie but "art".
Frankly speaking, this film is so bad that it makes any Tinto Brass production look like a masterpiece.
In the DVD's commentary the people asked to comment on Fellini's work basically said that he was a genius. I think they do not understand what a genius is. Moreover, all the people interviewed do not explain or motivate why they think he was such a great artist.
He might have had a different approach to things, he might have had a personal interpretation of facts, he might have broken the clichés of his time, but defining him a genius is way too much, at least for what he has done with this movie.
I think that labeling him as a genius does not allow him to be pretentious and his movie to be pointless.
I still hope that "8 1/2" is going to change my mind about Fellini's work.
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