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ity] produces the moment of  hesitation between naturalistic and supernatural expla-
nations for events that, Tzvetan Todorov argues, marks all forms of the fantastic genre.
Fellini s attitude might also help explain the increasingly reflexive turn of his later films,
as works like Roma, Orchestra Rehearsal (1979), and And the Ship Sails On (1984) play
at the borders between the lived and filmed worlds. . . . These works freely, if at times
disconcertingly, acknowledge their filmic nature; they explore the points at which reality
and human fantasizings intersect and become something more.18
The  something more which gives 8½ its emotional appeal is drawn from the same
subjective elements which arouse controversy.
Fellini drew on his own experience of Jungian analysis for the film, using dream
notebooks kept since 1960 in addition to fantasies of childhood.19 This provides fer-
tile ground for analysts. The collective will of the Church, the spa and the film crew
can each oppress Guido. The anima the mystical, conservative and female part of
the collective unconscious is represented most obviously by the seductive charms
of Saraghina, whom the priests consider to be a devil. The other character who op-
erates on this level is the mind reader in the restaurant. Alan A. Stone points out
that the message  asa nisi masa , which she scrawls on the blackboard after reading
Guido s mind, is  anima with pig-Latin tags attached. Stone accepts a psychoana-
lytic reading but concludes that  It makes  sense of the film in a way that suggests
self-conscious obscurity and condescending ambiguity rather than passionate inspi-
ration. 20 This implies calculation on Fellini s part, which Stone regards as reductive.
He reviews other interpretations of the film: as a recreation of Dante s purgatory, a
psychiatric drama with Guido as a victim of bipolar depression and as a visual equiv-
alent of stream-of-consciousness writing, with fantasy, memory and reality being
interwoven. Stone argues that the work soars above these simplistic interpretations:
 Like all sublime art, Fellini s improvisations surprise and convince almost in the
same moment. 21 This does not prevent Stone from conceding that Kael s negative
review marked the beginning of Fellini s  creative implosion , as aesthetic ambitions
and the abandonment of storytelling lost him his audience.22 But this is an instance of
judging the film not on its own merits, but on the basis of the director s career.
An alternative assessment of Stone s position is that he baulks at Fellini s aban-
donment of realism in favour of a wholehearted commitment to fantasy. Stone is more
nuanced than this suggests, accepting that Kael is too dismissive, while many of her
colleagues oversimplify. The gist of his criticism is contained in one sentence:  The
8½ (Italy/France, 1963) " 105
film is certainly self-centered, perhaps even disrespectful of its audience, and there
is also in it the narcissistic confusion of self-absorption and creativity. 23 When a
director achieves enough fame and prestige to dictate terms, there is a danger of
film-making to satisfy the ego. Fellini s previous film, La dolce vita, marked his
ascent to directorial stardom, allowing him to realize his aspirations with minimal
compromise. This was the first of Fellini s films with the marked reflexive element
noted by Telotte. Focusing on the process of film-making as in 8½, Day for Night
(François Truffaut, France/Italy, 1973), or The Caiman (Nanni Moretti, Italy/France,
2006) risks being called too clever by half. The device works if the viewer gains in-
sight into the creative process and is not left feeling tricked. Opinions on 8½ remain
equivocal. As with Lawrence of Arabia, film-makers appreciate the director s techni-
cal bravura more than critics if the 2002 Sight and Sound listings of the best films are
any guide.24 An example of critical caution comes from J. Hoberman of New York s
Village Voice:  The movie s major flaw remains its romantic, self-serving portrait of
the artist as a big-time moviemaker. 25 Robin Wood has similar qualms. After dis-
missing criticism of the film s fantasy elements, he continues:
In 8½ one is constantly troubled by doubt as to whether we are meant to find the hero,
with the arrested infantilism apparent in his relationships both with wife and mistress,
so distasteful. Furthermore, Fellini here trades too much on our awareness of his large
measure of self-identification with his hero, whose alleged genius remains for the specta-
tor merely alleged.26
This is an attack on both the characterization of Guido and the self-regarding ele-
ments of the film. In Guido s (and Fellini s) defence, an Italian male sensibility may
look upon his actions differently; the surprise is that the film has drawn little fire
from feminists.27 A counter-argument to the accusation of being self-regarding is that
Fellini outlined the scenario of 8½ to his colleague Brunello Rondi in 1960. It would
be misleading to see the film as a hastily concocted account of his own creative block
when at this early stage the hero had no specific occupation.28
As already noted, the film s ending elicits equally conflicting views. Marilyn Fabe
agrees with the emphasis on self-identification but discerns a final symbolic triumph
of the imagination.29 For Ted Perry, the camera draws back to render Guido less signi-
ficant, thereby incorporating him into the community.30 There is enough ambiguity to
encompass both interpretations, yet are they both too easy? No relationship is resolved
and our hero has not changed. As Stone points out, Guido seems closer to whistling
in the dark than showing genuine elation.31 For some viewers, the ending comes as an
affirmation of life; for others, it is a conceit too far. I find it incoherent, but its most [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]