ElMaruecan82
The 60's were a pivotal period for Fellini where he gained on international stature and self-confidence regarding his artistic talent, but while he managed to create situations I could respond to in his earlier works, the whole time I felt sorry for Guiletta Masina in "Juliet of the Spirits" and I don't mean Juliet, but Guiletta. Guiletta is not Gelsomina or Cabiria, the inspirational misfit who carries a whole film, embodying its emotional core. Guiletta is unusually passive, like carried away by the decadence of the high-class society she lives in, and much more, being probably the least desirable female character from the casting: two realities she can't do nothing about them. I understand the point was to make her look like an outcast, but even within the whole story, something was odd in her character. She was like prisoner in a dream that is not even her own, the dream of her husband, another Fellini's fantasy, using his wife as a ... sorry, for the term, as an excuse. I respect and admire Fellini, but I'm only speaking out of my love for Guiletta Masina, who looks particularly unhappy all through the picture. She creates a disturbing contrast between the dazzling colors that Fellini obviously experiments with a certain delight (it was his first feature film in color) and the dark torments filling her heart with an angry frustration, even more frustrating because she's resigned to keep her grieves silent. But her sad eyes convey this feeling of abandon, of being reduced to a negligible entity by her philandering husband Giorgio. Of course, this is not to say that Masina wasn't "good", her performance fitted the film's subtext, but something was cruelly lacking in her character, it's just as if her soul had no passion whatsoever. She was passive, had her share of disturbing visions, lyrical envies and mystical temptations but I'm sorry, I'm a guy, I'm 30 and I'm sure a woman like Juliet wouldn't have these sort of visions, but Master Fellini would. Damn, I can't believe there would be another film making me talk like a feminist, the first one was "MASH", but this one is much worse because it was presented as a sort of feminine version of "8½", where we'd discover the subconscious of a woman, and that her name is Guiletta leaves up no doubt that she's meant to be the alter-ego of Masina. But what's the deal with a woman capable to talk to some spirits, hiding her most repressed secrets, and being pushed to fulfill her own dreams when she only dreams of peace and stability? The movie could almost pass itself for an introspective journey into the inner torments of middle-aged bourgeois housewife, but this is too cerebral for a Fellini film. And I'm only saying this because if there is one thing I learned from Fellini, it is that he's an artist, a man of images. And looking at the images, I have no doubt this is Fellini's own fantasy speaking, and it's so upsetting that I tend to see Fellini as the alter-ego of the unfaithful Giorgio, Mario Pisu even looks like a clone of Guido, Marcello Mastroianni in "8½" who was supposed to be an alter- ego of Federico Fellini. Indeed, "Juliet of the Spirits" strikes by a dazzling and beautiful cinematography in color, but that's no surprise since the images speak more in Fellini's film than any intelligent or constructive idea. And in "Juliet of the Spirits", Fellini's fans would not be disappointed, they have their share of Fellinian imagery: the circus parades, people dancing in unison, women with voluptuous bodies, curvy forms and sensual lips awakening our most vicious appetites. At first, it pleased my eyes, then it puzzled my mind, then I finally got it and could watch the film, quite relieved: "Juliet of the Spirits" is a MAN's film. It says more about Fellini's personal fantasies than anything about both Juliet and Guiletta combined. Not that it bothered me or prevented me from appreciating it, but then the figure of Masina with her sad look, and resigned face killed some of the enjoyment. I even pitied her more than Juliet, because at least Juliet was still a character. Fellini is not just an artist, he's a complete Mediterranean hedonist, a man of flesh, body, sweat and music, sensations, fruits and wine, the sangria is made of both and tastes like the incarnation of Fellini's sensuality. In contrast, Juliet is a woman who drinks water, she likes transparency, serenity ... but water is also synonym of platitude, which in the context of the film, is synonym of dullness. The word 'Spirits' implies the greater contrast with her husband who's not turned on by things from the other side, but a woman like Juliet, who looks almost asexual with her elf-like looks can be associated to this world. I'm not diminishing Juliet at all, after all, she's classy and elegant and the only character with redeemable qualities, but it's pretty clear Fellini made her look diminutive compared to the other women, hell, she's towered by every one in the film, including her mother and sister. I'm not discussing the artistic value of the film, arty at its best, and if only for being the first Fellini in color and the last to give a prominent role to Guiletta Masina, it deserves one, two, as many viewings as it'd take. But this is not "La Strada" or "Nights of Cabiria", it's more of a colored "8½" using a woman as an excuse. As Fellini's film, it's a great one, but just because it was supposed to be a gift to Masina, to be a film about her, I can't regard it with the same passion. Well, I guess the appreciation of "Juliet of the Spirits" can be translated into one dilemma, to which sensitivity do you most relate to: Fellini's or Guiletta's?
Jackson Booth-Millard
From director Federico Fellini (Nights of Cabiria, Amarcord), I obviously spotted this Italian film in the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die book, and I was very interested to watch anything that is recommended that highly. Basically in a beautiful house by the ocean are a family of sisters and their Mother (Caterina Boratto), they are all beautiful, but they overshadow naive and spiritually superstitious Giulietta (Juliet) Boldrini (Giulietta Masina). She has had enough of her boring and predictable lifestyle, and she decides she needs to escape, so she sees a psychic fortune teller to get some advice. The seer tells her that she will find a happier life is she joins the sex trade, i.e. become a prostitute and sell her body, and after this she meets her eccentric and sexual neighbour Suzy (Sandra Milo), who is herself a high class prostitute. Giulietta gets into various sexual acts, but she feels really guilty and nervous afterwards and during, and she also finds out that her husband Giorgio (Mario Pisu) is having some sort of affair, on the phone anyway, with a woman named "Gabriella", he also says her name in his sleep, but lies his way out of answering his wife's questions. She fears her husband will leave her for Gabriella, now that she knows who she is, and she starts having visions of spirits accusing her of things and frightening her. The most significant vision though comes towards the end and Giulietta realises that she would have a much better life without Giorgio, and that any emotions she has have been overruled by her superstitions. Also starring Sandra Milo as Iris and Fanny, Luisa Della Noce as Adele, Sylva Koscina as Sylva, Lou Gilbert as Grandfather and Valentina Cortese as Valentina. The performances are as good as you are going to get, but it is the visuals that really make the film what it is, with the leading character escaping into some odd, weird, magical, whatever you want to call it, fantasy world full of colourful sets and costumes, it is a reasonably interesting fantasy drama. It was nominated the Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration and Best Costume Design, and it won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign-Language Foreign Film. Worth watching!
Tim Kidner
Incredibly beautiful this film is, Fellini's first use of colour results in some of the best use of it ever committed to celluloid. With striking design and chic outfits to die for. Unbelievable hats. A witty and playful score, full of 60's European eccentricity.Many scenes are wonderfully conceived and made. Much is sexy - and fun. Fellini himself described "Guiletta of the Spirits" as a 'fairy tale for adults'. However, all of it is one long (I mean over-long long), narrative-free zone, a mishmash of supposedly Guilletta Masina's (Fellini's wife and long standing lead in many of his films) dreams and fantasies. She, as the overlooked wife of husband, played by Mario Pisu, who incidentally played Fellini in the previous film, the autobiographical 8 and a half, finds herself bored, becoming frumpy and unloved. Her friends are younger, sexually active and liberated and she, naturally is envious and frustrated.The actual events of Guilletta's life and her friendship get ever more blurred into fantasy and as the film progresses, this turns into either a self-indulgent slurry of incomprehensible images or dreams of utter beauty and imagination, depending on where your viewpoint stands - and indeed, where the film veers you.The thoughts and fantasies aren't all pleasant and dreamy; paranoid delusions appearing and telling her (the "Spirits" of the title, perhaps) that her husband is cheating on her and that her comfortable life is no longer quite so. Guilletta's acting in previous films had been outstanding, making them unforgettable and truly great. I'm not saying her acting skills are diminished in this, just that it's swamped by all the over-the-top sets and scenes that focus on the fantasy and not her.This viewing was my second and I was fairly determined to follow it and fathom what it all meant. No chance! Let it slip by and enjoy and appreciate the bits you like best. It's also a fairly common belief that the fantasies are Fellini's own and he used this vehicle as an outlet for them. Maybe, after inundating us so successfully and brilliantly in 8 and a half with his own inadequacies, feelings and complexes, found he had yet more that he simply had to get out of his system.Whatever was going through this genius of a director at the time, the film is a must for Fellini fans. For anybody else and especially those who haven't seen the likes of Il Bidone, La Strada, La Dolce Vita and Nights of Cabiria, watch them first. Then you might have a chance to understand - and follow, this master finally losing it. He does so brilliantly but brilliance without substance can get wearying after a while. Practically any other director doing the same would result in a total dud.In my view, a very flawed masterpiece. A contradiction in terms? Well, it is Federico Fellini we're talking about!
