“8 ½” Film Deep Focus
La Bella Confusione. The beautiful confusion. This was the original title of the film, perfectly encapsulating the process of filmmaking, as well as the complexity of life.
The 1963 Italian classic, “8 ½,” starring Marcello Mastroianni as Guido Anselmi, explores the process of making a film within the film.
Guido is a film director experiencing “director’s block” and cannot produce what those around him expect to be a revolutionary film. This greatly frustrates Guido and forces him to re-examine every aspect of his life. The women in Guido’s life swerve in and out of the frame and sometimes interact, causing Guido distress. With the abundance of flashbacks to Guido’s childhood, the viewer can infer that he may be attempting to project his past into the future.
It isn’t easy to distinguish whether this is truly Guido’s life or if this is simply a parallel to the director, Frederico Fellini’s life. There is no doubt that Guido is a mirror of Fellini. The entire film examines the process of creating a film, and not only that but creating this film.
For example, a flashback with Guido’s father appears in one of the first scenes. A few scenes later, Guido is presented with three men auditioning for the role of his father from the previous scene. In addition, Fellini masterfully includes a critic as one of the characters who constantly points out flaws in Guido’s film. Fellini intentionally does this to completely disarm critics of “8 ½” by already addressing the faults in his own film.
“8 ½” is considered one of the greatest avant-garde cinema creations of all time. The single-shot camera movement propels the viewer into the scene. The viewer is not watching the scene; instead, the scene is moving around the viewer. This shooting style reminds the viewers of Fellini’s presence in the scene and allows them to experience the film from his perspective.
After directing masterpieces such as “La Strada” (1954) and “La Dolce Vita” (1960), Fellini found himself struggling to create a film of a similar caliber. He explores the curious circumstance when someone is expected to deliver greatness but finds themselves unable to perform. He decided to make a film about the exact problem he was experiencing, and created what is widely regarded as his best film, “8 ½ .“
There is a constant transition between fantasy and reality, as well as the fusion of the two. Fellini aimed to portray the three levels in which the mind operates: “the past, the present, and not the future but the conditional- the realm of fantasy.” How much time do people spend in the realm of fantasy each day? This film sheds light on Guido and Fellini’s life and allows the viewer to examine their own life in the process.
The film ends beautifully with the people who have shaped Guido’s life, dressed in white, walking towards an unknown place in the distance. This scene concludes the chaos and confusion throughout the film, and in a moment of understanding and harmony, Guido arrives at a conclusion. Everything in life doesn’t need to be perfect as long as he can find peace within himself.
Rating: 5/5
Matthew Peters is a first-year majoring in journalism. To contact him, email mbp5830@psu.edu.
