8½

 

Is it an understatement to call Fellini's 8½ (1963) phallocentric? One might emerge from the current revival at Film Forum feeling the movie a parody of itself. There's lots of satire. All the aspirational actresses including the ravishing Claudia Cardinale are parodic figures. But life is a circus, with the director, as the ring leader. So the answer is no. 8½ is not making fun of its central figure. As its title indicates it is the film between La Dolce Vita (1960) and Juliet of the Spirits (1965) and it reveals the workings of Guido (Marcello Mastroianni) and by proxy Fellini's imagination. Does 8½ hold up? The answer is yes and no and that ambiguity may account for the sublime enjoyment that lies in seeing it after all these years, in all its black and white glory.