The Road (La strada)

Federico Fellini’s first film, Variety of Lights, failed, and the second, The White Sheikh, also did not find widespread support from the audience. The third and fourth ("Mama's Sons" and "Love in the City") were better received by critics. And already the fifth one secured the director international recognition, the Silver Lion of the Venice Film Festival and the Oscar for the best picture in a foreign language.

The “Road” tells about the life of a teenage girl Jelsomina (her role was played by the spouse Fellini Juliet Mazina), forced instead of a dead sister to go on a journey with a traveling circus performer Zampano. Zampano is rude, cruel and completely devoid of empathy. Nevertheless, sensitive, as if out of this world, Jelsomin has a strange affection for him and seems ready to put up with all his bad deeds.

“Dear” Fellini wanted to show the process of rapprochement of two people and try to uncover the reasons for the deep connection between them. The director noted that the picture was attacked (indeed, some criticized his work) precisely for “a piercing film striving to achieve spiritual rapprochement between Zampano and Jelsomina in some other, supernatural sphere of understanding between a man and a woman”.

“One of the countless human stories is told in The Road, perhaps the poorest and most miserable case of coexistence between people; I’m trying to show how the shell of this coexistence gradually bursts and the embryo of the simplest human community comes into being, ”wrote Fellini in a message to screenwriter and director Massimo Meade as part of a discussion that began in 1955 on the pages of the Contemporaneo magazine.

It is noteworthy that many critics compared the ideas expressed in The Road with the ideas from Dostoevsky's Idiot.

“Nights of Cabiria” (Le notti di Cabiria)

The second Oscar for the best film in a foreign language Fellini brought the picture "Nights of Cabiria." Another important prize - the "Silver Palm Branch" - was awarded to the leading woman star Juliet Mazina. Also at the Cannes Film Festival, the tape received the Special Prize of the International Catholic Organization in the field of cinema.

The film tells the story of a prostitute in Cabiria. The heroine is continually substituted, she finds herself in awkward situations, but at the same time the viewer doesn’t turn her tongue to call her unhappy: the woman tries not to think about her situation and enjoy the little things. Dreaming of a better share, the heroine is at the same time proud of what she has. This simple philosophy helps her overcome difficulties and not envy anyone.

In her signature style, Fellini complements the drama with humorous sketches, which makes the tape even more believable. The defenselessness of Kabiriya against the cruelty of those around it makes the audience empathize with the heroine even more: the heroine of Juliet Mazina turned out to be touching and even a little funny thanks to her childish naivety, spontaneity and blind faith in the best.

Kabiriya is a believer, and experiences genuine emotions at a church holiday. By the way, the image of Kabiriya as a repentant harlot echoes the image of Christian Saint Mary Magdalene (especially since the heroine’s real name is also Mary).

An emotionally rich history is complemented by a visual series, interesting in a variety of locations: these are almost the undeveloped outskirts of Rome, and the central areas, and even the pastoral landscapes of the suburbs.

Sweet Life (La dolce vita)

One of the absolute masterpieces of Fellini is considered the film "Sweet Life", in which the main role was played by Marcello Mastroianni. The hero of the Mastroianni is also called Marcello, he is popular among women and is not shy in his means, but by profession he is not an actor, but a journalist.

The hero revels in a bohemian life and proximity to celebrities - actors, writers, dancers. But social life, which at first pleases the viewer's eye, begins to seem vulgar - one only has to realize that emptiness is hidden behind delicacies, luxurious attire and exquisite manners.

So, Marcello is charming with women - in particular, with the American actress Sylvia, played by the Swedish Anita Ekberg. However, having achieved reciprocity, he immediately loses all interest in passion. At the same time, the hero has a long-standing girlfriend who during the course of their relationship has lost all self-esteem and is suffering from new partner cheating.

The hero of Mastroianni is generally characterized by a consumer attitude towards others. A similar attitude is possessed by his colleague reporter Paparazzo (it was after the “Sweet Life” that this name became a household name).

Marcello's behavior leads to a logical result: he is experiencing a creative crisis. Fellini does not fall into moralizing and finishes the film with a not-too-tragic note, but unobtrusively pushes viewers to certain conclusions: it is unlikely that a happy future awaits his thoughtless hero.

8 ½ (Otto e mezzo)

No less important (if, in principle, not the most important) for the career of Fellini was the tape 8 ½. The numbered name of this film is explained very simply: in front of it the director shot six full meters, two short ones, which he counted as one, as well as the painting “Variety Lights” paired with Alberto Lattuada (that is, half).

8 ½ is based on two components. First of all, Fellini made the film very personal, autobiographical, reflecting his own condition at the time of filming. It is known that once the master forgot what he planned for a new shooting day, and then decided to display a similar situation on the screen.

In addition, the tape is connected with previous works through the image of the protagonist - the evolutionary stages of the same personality are shown by the example of Moraldo (“Mama's Sons”, 1953), Marcello (“Sweet Life”) and, finally, Guido.

The main character, filmmaker Guido Anselmi, is experiencing a creative crisis. After the resounding success of the previous film (in the case of Fellini himself - “Sweet Life”), he considers himself obligated to give out something equally brilliant. However, inspiration bypasses the hero side, since there is no suitable muse nearby - despite the presence of a wife and a crowd of lovers.

Fellini expressed the torment of creativity in the form of a stream of consciousness, which was previously mastered by another film classics - Bergman.

"8½", like other Fellini tapes, led to extensive discussion among filmmakers, critics and sympathizers. Among other things, experts were struck by the image of the protagonist.

According to the writer Pio Baldelli, in “8½” Fellini reveals herself to the public, appears before her as a fairy-tale character and “pity herself childishly”.

“He wants to say: everything in the world is very complicated, you have to shuffle the cards to understand my contradictions. I am both sincere and deceiving; and pretend and tell tales; I am a traveler and I have a clear mind; I am impotent and at the same time king and wizard in the female kingdom; a caliph and a faithful slave, shortsighted and farsighted, even more so - a man with almost apocalyptic providence; I am pious and blasphemous; I am amusedly amusing myself, but to death is afraid of life. In a word, now, at the peak of my fame, I am announcing my collapse ... ”, wrote Baldelli.

Novelist, journalist Alberto Moravia compared the hero of the tape with Leopold Blum from Joyce's Ulysses and called him “an erotomaniac, sadist, masochist, lighthouse, a man who is afraid of life, yearning for his mother’s chest, a buffoon, a hoaxer and a deceiver.”

It seems that Fellini himself could be satisfied with these characteristics: after all, by his own admission, he was planning to release a film in which he would talk about a person in "different dimensions". However, in the first place, the director tried to make a tape that would become "a manifestation of faith in a person, in human solidarity, a testament to the belief that a person can, if he wants, overcome spiritual depression, despair, silence and even death."

Amarcord

At the age of 53, Fellini brought to the screen some memories of his childhood spent in Rimini. The tape contains elements of the director’s biography, but it’s important to remember: the script was written primarily by Tonino Guerra, and Fellini was responsible for the cinematic implementation.

Translated from the local dialect, "amarcord" means "I remember." Some fans of the classic’s creativity are also impressed by the version according to which the words “bitter thread of love” are encrypted in the title, which indicates nostalgia for the first feelings.

The main themes of the tape are first love and puberty, and they find expression in rather bold physiological details. Also part of the screen time is devoted to relations with parents, self-association with family (and at the same time awareness of one’s own personality).

In addition, it is believed that the tape made a statement regarding the anti-fascist position of the director. Although Fellini’s films are generally not politicized, in this case, the spirit of the 1930s could not have been shown in its entirety outside the political context.

Amarkord, like several other Fellini paintings, was awarded an Oscar as the best foreign language film.