The Meaning Behind the Scaffold Tower in 8½

I find it fascinating that despite the elaborate spacecraft design, all you can see on-screen of this set is a sky-high, Tetris-like structure of scaffolding. It reminds me of a visit I once made to Cinecittà in Rome, where behind the enormous backlot sets I found a massive network of scaffolding propping up the facades. This structure looked like an artwork in itself. 

Fellini and his production designer, Piero Gherardi, clearly intended the scaffolding in 8½’s final scene as a metaphor. Like Guido’s film, the set is ridiculed by many as a megalomaniacal joke. But once he realizes that his life is the heart of his filmmaking, the meaning of the structure is transformed. The abandoned set is lit up and becomes a stage for celebration. Instead of a select group ascending the stairs to escape an apocalyptic future, all of Guido’s characters descend those same steps. It’s as if they’ve realized that the idea of fleeing reality is preposterous, that there is no other world worth trying for. A symbol of our struggles and failures, the structure is reshaped into something glorious and magical. The bare and unfinished scaffolding is now the story; it doesn’t have to hold anything up. It is compelling in its own right.

This is one of my favorite scenes in film history, partly because it manages to imbue its production design with a deeper layer of meaning and symbolism. As designers we usually think about building worlds, reflecting characters, maintaining historical accuracy. But we rarely get opportunities to make grand symbolic gestures. Very few sets bring us past the surface and take us into the film’s subconscious. That’s the beauty of Fellini’s cinematic language—in his world, anything can be imagined, and everything is up for interpretation. He takes so much freedom in his work, and he gives us that same freedom in return.