Rent 8½ (1963)
3.6 of 5 from 229 ratings
2h 18min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Marcello Mastroianni is (Fellini's alter ego) Guido, a successful filmmaker who, embarking on his next film, discovers he has a complete "director's block": he has no story to tell! Harassed by his producers, his mistress (Sandra Milo) and his wife (Anouk Aimee), while struggling to find the inspiration for his film, he increasingly retreats in dreamy recollections of his life and lovers, until fantasy, memories and reality merge in the director's mind - and on screen, in an astonishing, masterful spectacle, culminating in an electrifying triumph of optimism. As Guido-Federico says at the end of 8 1/2: "Life is a party, let's live it together!"
- Actors:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Anouk Aimée, Claudia Cardinale, Sandra Milo, Rossella Falk, Barbara Steele, Madeleine Lebeau, Caterina Boratto, Eddra Gale, Guido Alberti, Mario Conocchia, Bruno Agostini, Cesarino Miceli Picardi, Jean Rougeul, Mario Pisu, Yvonne Casadei, Ian Dallas, Mino Doro, Nadia Sanders, Georgia Simmons
- Directors:
- Federico Fellini
- Producers:
- Angelo Rizzoli
- Writers:
- Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano
- Others:
- Tullio Pinelli, Brunello Rondi, Piero Gherardi
- Aka:
- Otto e mezzo
- Studio:
- Nouveaux Pictures
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama
- Collections:
- 10 Films to Watch if You Like: Amarcord, 10 Films to Watch if You Like: Day For Night, 10 Films to Watch if You Like: Limelight, 21 Reasons to Love, 21 Reasons to Love... Ingmar Bergman, A History of Films about Film: Part 2, A History of Cinemas in Films, Award Winners, Cinema Paradiso's 2024 Centenary Club: Part 3, Cinema Paradiso's Euro 24 Film Festival, Films & TV by topic, Films to Watch If You Like..., Getting to Know..., Getting to Know: Nicole Kidman, Getting to Know: Sophia Loren, Oscar's Two-Time Club, Oscars: Winners & Losers, The Beatles in Film, The Biggest Oscar Snubs: Part 1, A Brief History of Film..., The Instant Expert's Guide, The Instant Expert's Guide to Federico Fellini, The Instant Expert's Guide to Martin Scorsese, The Instant Expert's Guide to: Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Top 10 Best Last Films: World Cinema, Top 10 European Remakes, Top 10 Modern Musicals, Top Films
- Countries:
- Italy
- Awards:
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 11/11/2013
- Run Time:
- 138 minutes
- Languages:
- Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 Mono
- Subtitles:
- English
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.78:1 / 16:9
- Colour:
- B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- The Lost Ending: Fellini and others talk about making 8K2, as well as that film's famously lost alternative ending. (English and Italian)
- Interview with Lina Wertmuller: The 1st woman ever nominated for an Oscar for Best Director, started as Fellini's Assistant Director on 8'/2. She invites us into her home to reminisce about her friend, Federico
- Fellini Tribute: Tribute to Fellini's speech on receiving his Life Achievement Academy Award
- Theatrical Trailers
- Argent Trailer Park, Best Of World Cinema and Outrageous Cult Films
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Reviews (1) of 8½
Wot's it abaught? - 8½ review by IM
Well, it's sumptuously beautiful to look at - and it's in BLACK and WHITE, for goodness sake! Lots of light and shade. The main man is a film auteur like Fellini, trying to start on his next project.
It's very middle class, "glamourous" and very Italian. Everyone who is anyone wears Armmani or some haute couture get up. Men have "mistresses", whatever that was about, so Guido's got his Harvey Weinstein side but he's too nice to appear to take advantage. His wife is strong enough to at least make him feel bad about spending time with Claudia Cardinale and then having the cheek to invite her out to join him on the set! The women confronting each other when sitting at nearby tables in a cafe outside is vey amusing. Squirm, Guido, squirm!
Lots of the characters are women, past and present in Guido's life. There are also a few intellectuals holding forth, such as you'd never see in movie today (too highbrow)! I found the most moving scene early in the movie, with his late mum and dad. You can tell Guido asks his buttoned up, suited-and-booted pa things he never said when his dad was living. They have a chat, and then the old man goes back down into his grave. Some of the memories are of Guido's schooldays in a catholic boys school. A wild woman on the beach gives the kids a thrilling scary show and then the priests tell the boys off. At the end it's music that triumphs. There's a kind of parade of the characters in Guido's life led by some musicians (including a very confident boy flautist!) who lead them all laughing around the set in a sort of dance hall number by the musical chameleon Nino Rota. Maybe it's abaught how an artist gets and develops the ideas for a work of art?
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