8 1/2: A Film with Itself as Its Subject
By December 03, 2001
8 1/2: a bizarre and puzzling title, but one precisely appropriate for this film which announces in its first frame that modernism has reached the cinema Read more »
- Italy, France
- 1963
- 138 minutes
- Black and White
- 1.85:1
- English, French, German, Italian
SYNOPSIS: Marcello Mastroianni plays Guido Anselmi, a director whose new project is collapsing around him, along with his life. One of the greatest films about film ever made, Federico Fellini’s 8½ (Otto e mezzo) turns one man’s artistic crisis into a grand epic of the cinema. An early working title for 8½ was The Beautiful Confusion, and Fellini’s masterpiece is exactly that: a shimmering dream, a circus, and a magic act.
Cast & CreditsOpen
Cast
| Guido Anselmi | Marcello Mastroianni |
| Bruno Agostini | Bruno Agostini |
| Carla | Sandra Milo |
| Luisa Anselmi | Anouk Aimée |
| Gloria Morin | Barbara Steele |
| The Beautiful Woman | Caterina Boratto |
| Claudia | Claudia Cardinale |
Credits
| Producer | Angelo Rizzoli |
| Cinematography | Gianni Di Venanzo |
| Screenplay | Ennio Flaiano, Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli and Brunello Rondi |
| Music | Nino Rota |
| Director | Federico Fellini |
| Production design | Piero Gherardi |
| Editing | Leo Cattozzo |
| Sound | Alberto Bartolomei and Mario Faraoni |
Disc Features
- High-definition digital transfer of restored film elements (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on Blu-ray edition)
- Introduction by filmmaker Terry Gilliam
- Audio commentary featuring film critic and Fellini friend Gideon Bachmann and NYU film professor Antonio Monda
- High-definition digital transfer of a new restoration of Fellini: A Director’s Notebook, a 52-minute film by Federico Fellini
- The Last Sequence, a new 52-minute documentary on Fellini’s lost alternate ending for 8½ (available on Blu-ray edition)
- Nino Rota: Between Cinema and Concert, a compelling 48-minute documentary about Fellini’s longtime composer
- Interviews with actress Sandra Milo, director Lina Wertmüller, and cinematographer Vittorio Storaro
- Rare photographs from Bachmann’s collection
- Gallery of behind-the-scenes and production photos
- U.S. theatrical trailer
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A booklet featuring writings by Fellini and essays by critics Tullio Kezich and Alexander Sesonske
From the CurrentView the Current »
Film Essays
8 1/2: When “He” Became “I”
By December 03, 2001
The typical mid-life crisis, to which we all fall victim in some major or minor degree, came to Fellini with a slight delay. On the 20th of January, 1960, the day of his Read more »
