planktonrules Review of The Ship Sails On

The Ship Sails On (1983)

I liked it, but the ending left me unsatisfied

[8/10 · 14 December 2005]

This is one weird film--and Fellini intended it to be. The plot doesn't seem all that important, but the "voyage" there is the substance of the film. A luxury liner is chartered by a group of rich admirers of a recently deceased opera diva. Their purpose is to bury her ashes at sea, but the actual burial only takes a very tiny portion of the film. Instead, the focus is on the journey itself and it is done in a combination of SLOW and artistic shot combined with a very surreal sensibility. Sometimes, the people move in a rhythmic fashion, while at others they break into VERY elaborate operatic numbers and the sets are NOT the least bit realistic at times but look more like art nouveau pieces of art. I particularly was captivated by the scene in which the rich travelers visit the boiler room and try to outdo each other in singing. It's just so strange yet compelling. I liked the film very much, but would certainly NOT want a steady diet of this type of movie. About the only thing I really hated was at the very end when the cameras panned back and showed the actual film crew and set. This completely took me out of the weird moment and seemed unnecessary--I wanted to remain stuck in this strange world a little longer and hated to be reminded it was all a movie. This was, by the way, the same reaction I had at the ending to THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO.