Eight and a half
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Eight and a half |
| Original title | 8½ |
| Country of production | Italy , France |
| original language | Italian |
| Publishing year | 1963 |
| length | 138 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Federico Fellini |
| script | Federico Fellini Ennio Flaiano |
| production | Angelo Rizzoli |
| music | Nino Rota |
| camera | Gianni di Venanzo |
| cut | Leo Cattozzo |
| occupation | |
| |
Eight and a half (original title: 8½ or Otto e mezzo [ ˈɔtto e ˈmɛddzo ]) is an Italian film by Federico Fellini from 1963. The film has autobiographical traits and deals with the problems and afflictions of a film director.
action
Guido Anselmi is a director who has lost his inspiration and feels unable to finish his current work on a film. He retires to a health resort, but soon everyone appears there whom he actually wanted to escape: his screenwriter, his producer, his wife and his lover. He cannot escape - only in daydreams. His entire environment is harassing him. Although he is in a creative crisis, the production of his new film is in full swing: Guido has an enormous backdrop built, the launch pad for a spaceship.
He is completely confused, has no way out and no answers to questions from actors. He says, "I wanted a simple, honest movie, and now my head is in the most confusion." Again and again Guido withdraws into his daydreams in order to escape the world. These are memories or fantasies, including the idea of a harem in which everyone is at his feet. The transitions from reality to dream are seamless. Visions of an ideal woman emerge again and again, whom Guido sees as the key to his story.
Guido is given the rare opportunity to have a personal audience with a cardinal in the steam room (a scene Guido tries to emulate in his film) and admits he is not happy in the process. The cardinal replies by asking why he should be happy, since that is not his job. Instead of going into Guido, he repeats the sentence Extra ecclesiam nulla salus in different languages and variations, so it is of no help to Guido.
At the end of the film, numerous journalists are on the set and want information from Guido about his film. Guido hides - again in his mind - under the table and shoots himself. Immediately afterwards you can see him talking to his screenwriter. The film was canceled, the journalists left the set, everything is being dismantled. Now appear people dressed in white, clowns, circus people, Guido's parents, his wife, his lover and other people who have played a role in Guido's life. They dance, led by a child, and Guido whispers to Luisa: "Life is a festival, let's experience it together".
Background and interpretations
Fellini worked through his own problems in this film; because he was in a creative crisis. He had all the topics of his new film together and had everything already figured out, but he lacked a plot to give structure to his ideas and thoughts. That was the working title La bella confusione . The start of shooting has been postponed several times. Then the idea occurred to him to make his own creative crisis the subject of the film. So Guido is Fellini's alter ego , he struggles with the same problems in the film as Fellini does in reality.
According to Michael Töteberg , Fellini was also heavily influenced by Carl Gustav Jung and adopted his idea of dreams in his film. For Jung, dreams are metaphorical self-portrayals of the unconscious . When pressured, Guido flees into aggressive daydreams: for example, he takes revenge on his sister-in-law, who calls him a whisker, so that he assigns her a place in his erotic fantasies; he hangs an intellectual who criticizes him.
The apotheosis , the dance at the end, forms the optimistic finale of the film. Guido may not have overcome his crisis, but it doesn't matter. Guido has noticed what is important and describes life as a “festival” to be enjoyed. This view of life is supported by the clowns and circus people who take part in the dance, as well as the child who leads it. Fellini said about the finale, and thus about life itself, that you have to "immerse yourself in this fantastic ballet with all your vitality and only be careful to grasp the rhythm correctly".
All of this adds to the lightness of 8½ . The film is about desperation and yet has a positive, comedic foundation. It does not have the structure of other films, it does not follow a usual framework. Fellini described it as a "middle thing between an incoherent psychoanalytic session and a somewhat haphazard examination of conscience". It therefore seems a bit confusing to many, also due to the often imperceptible transitions from dream to reality. Guido is going through a tangled process. This is also reflected in the film; Guido's situation and development is closely related to that of the film. According to Michael Töteberg, Fellini used "an open composition in which the creative process and the work are inextricably linked". Christian Metz said of the film: " 8½ is the film in which 8½ is made".
Remarks
- The title is an allusion to the number of films Fellini had already made; including six feature films and two short films that are fully counted and one co-directed feature film that is half counted. So this was his eight and a half film.
- Woody Allen's film Stardust Memories has often been compared to 8½ .
- NISI MASA is a network for the promotion of young films, which was named after the magic formula "Asa Nisi Masa" from the film.
- The American feature film Nine is based on the 1982 musical of the same name, which in turn is based on eight and a half .
- The Saarbrücken cinema eight and a half was named after this film.
- From 1992 to 1998, Arte broadcast a ten-minute newscast with the title 8½ every day at 8:30 pm (this was followed by the programs Arte Info and finally Arte Journal , on different dates ) .
Reviews
“In his self-portrait, which is as amusing as it is complex, Fellini relentlessly goes to court with his peers and the cinema; a document of helplessness, but at the same time a piece of filmic self-therapy. A cleverly thought-out "film within a film", which leads to the vision of a solidary, redeemed world. "
"Magical, clever, funny: this is how crisis is fun!"
“Fellini tries to overcome the mental and emotional crisis of a film director in this poor action film, but overloaded with problems. Not only is the clarity of the statement missing, but also the will and courage for it. Still interesting for adult film fans. "
The film was voted number 9 in 2002 by critics of the renowned Sight and Sound magazine in their "List of the ten best films of all time". In a survey of film directors, it even came in 3rd place. In the “List of the Hundred Best Films” published by Focus in 2002, 8½ came in 34th.
Awards
In 1963, eight and a half won the awards of the American National Board of Review and the New York Film Critics Circle for best foreign film and won the Grand Prix of the Moscow Film Festival . In the following year, there were seven awards for the Nastro d'Argento in Italy , including for best film, best director, best screenplay and best supporting actress ( Sandra Milo ) as well as the Danish Bodil as best European film.
At the 1964 Academy Awards , Fellini's film was successful in the categories of Best Foreign Language Film and Best Costumes ; the director, screenwriters and production designers were also nominated there. It was the third overseas Oscar for Italy after the victories of Fellini's works La Strada - The Song of the Road (1957) and The Nights of Cabiria (1958). In the same year, nominations for the Awards of the Directors Guild of America and British Film Academy followed . In 1966 eight and a half won the Japanese Kinema Jumpō Awards for the best foreign film and the best foreign director.
literature
- Deena Boyer: The 200 days of 8½ or how a Fellini film is made (translation by Gerda von Uslar). Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, Reinbek near Hamburg 1963. (French orig. 1963)
- Thomas Koebner : "Eight and a half". In: Thomas Koebner (Ed.): Classic films. Descriptions and Comments. Volume 2: 1947-1964 . Reclam, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-15-009417-8 , pp. 510-518.
- Michael Töteberg (Ed.): Metzler-Film-Lexikon. 2nd, updated and expanded edition, JB Metzler, Stuttgart u. a. 2005, ISBN 3-476-02068-1 , pp. 490f.
- DA Miller: 8½ [Otto e mezzo] (BFI Film Classics). Palgrave Macmillan, Houndmills, Basingstoke 2008, ISBN 978-1-84457-231-1 .
Web links
- Eight and a half in theInternet Movie Database(English)
- Achteinhalb atrotten tomatoes(English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Töteberg (Ed.): Metzler Film Lexikon . P. 491.
- ↑ cf. Roger Ebert on rogerebert.suntimes.com
- ↑ Eight and a half. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ cf. cinema.de
- ↑ Evangelischer Presseverband München, Review No. 282/1963