This film is so special.
Why do we create art? Is it self-indulgence, escapism, search for prestige through a whimsical medium? Or is it to “bury all the dead things we have inside”, to make life more lived, love more loved?
The story depicts contradictions in the successful artist from the point of view of his own subjectivity. All in a very felliniesque way of course.
The world allows him to continue creating while he can get away never facing his own demons. Because he cannot say the truth anymore, as it wouldn’t be what they expect of him. He learns that he needs to live the truth instead, learn how to love again, pull his close ones closer instead of escaping them as he has always done, always dreaming of something beyond, chasing chimeras.
He is a victim of his own unbounded imagination: “Life is a celebration. Let’s live it together! Accept me for what I am, if you want me. It’s the only way we might be able to find each other. “
The film examines questions like: what is the point of being capable of creating all this celebrated art if all that vitalising beauty will never truly permeate the dullness of real life? Is he merely creating items for escapism? If he is such a genius, why can’t he enjoy his own life? Make his own people happier and more fulfilled?
The protagonist might be an artist, but he is grappling with universal questions about how to live, even after seemingly having reached an enviable state in life: of society celebrating the products of your personal imagination and eagerly waiting for you to continue creating on your own terms. The film opens with the iconic image of Guido suffocating in a car in the middle of a traffic jam, followed by a scene of him floating above a beach, tethered to the ground by a rope around his ankle. He is very much capable of flying and ostensibly free to live life on his terms, but something prevents him from truly breaking free and flying. He is hovering, floating, but neither fully airborne nor earthbound. He is not quite on the ground, connected to his surroundings and the important people in his life. Although elevated in the air, he is still a prisoner. Surely this is not a sustainable of living, and the film is meant to depict this limbo state of existential angst.
At this point in his career Fellini was going through this same crisis. Though enormously successful with 8 films in his oeuvre (hence the film’s title ‘8 1/2’), he still found the simplest forms of happiness the most elusive. He dove into Jungian philosophy in search of answers, and much of the results of this spiritual adventure can be seen manifested in this film.
The story is treated in a kind of oneiric, dreamlike sequence of memorable vignettes, some funny, others poignant, others unsettling. It blends memory with dreams, pure subjectivity and beautiful, hypnotic imagery. It is populated with characters dipping in and out between their real identities and their state as an archetype of sorts in the protagonist’s mind. All of this makes the film something magical but also understated, and poignantly realistic. Fellini isn’t scared anymore of trying to be honest while coming across as confused and slightly lost as he embarks on this quest. That’s the reason behind the name “1/2”, instead of being 9 as in his ninth film. He doesn’t know how to name it, he isn’t even sure if it’s a whole film, because it is a film about not being able to make a film. It is half a film because it is folding into itself, like a used napkin.
It is one of those films that will tell you something different every time you watch it depending on what moment of your life you are transiting.
It has so many great quotes like this one:
“My dears… Happiness consists of being able to tell the truth without hurting anyone.”
And my favourite one., which has stuck with me ever since the first time I watched it years ago:
“Guido: Could you walk out on everything and start all over again? Could you choose one single thing, and be faithful to it? Could you make it the one thing that gives your life meaning… just because you believe in it? Could you do that?”
Claudia: I don’t know… could you?”
Guido: No, the character I’m thinking of couldn’t. He wants to possess and devour everything. He can’t pass anything up. He’s afraid he’ll miss something. He’s drained.”
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