An attractive film to look at admittedly, made with an all-too-self-consciously flamboyant camera in some sequences, this still manages to leave me cold. It may be Fellini’s masterpiece, though, if we consider him a stylist of characters in hectic motion, a carnival of oddity, feeling, spirits, nostalgia and feminine charms. The plot can’t really be summed up easily — it’s about Giulietta Masina’s eponymous title character and her feelings, to a certain extent about her husband’s fidelity, though even that seems slightly beside the point — and instead we get 135 or so minutes of great sets, costumes, hair, camerawork, and an almost babble of manic expressionist madness.
FILM REVIEW: Criterion Collection
Director Federico Fellini; Writers Fellini, Tullio Pinelli, Ennio Flaiano and Brunello Rondi; Cinematographer Gianni Di Venanzo; Starring Giulietta Masina; Length 137 minutes.
Seen at home (DVD), London, Wednesday 12 April 2017.
