Don't you worry, that film's narrative would pack a punch while viewed from an iPhone....but that doesn't mean I'll be watching it in that format!

Enjoy! I'm excited to hear your thoughts on it.

Tom & Phillip, why not stop over and we'll screen it in my theatre! I just recieved it yesterday and it comes in a booklet with (reproduction) drawings by Fellini, his insights into set-designs and ideas. There is also a very cool essay...that's in french, which i can't read. I may have to use babelfish to translate:) The French have given this film beautiful packaging and a totally remastered (from original) high-definition transfer. My cinementor actually saw this in theatres when it was released and he's psyched to see it again. Somehow, I don't think the film would carry the narrative wieght on a smaller screen with washed-out colors so thank goodness for high-def!

Agreed, I don't understand why Casonova is widely overlooked. I have seen it twice on the big screen and really enjoyed it....and it's Donald Sutherland in a Fellini film!

Whoa! CASANOVA on Blu-Ray! Oh my God.

I very much look forward to your review of CASANOVA, one of Fellini's most underrated and misunderstood films. I like it a hell of a lot. Of course, it took several viewings (not easy, considering that the film is rarely screened) for me to really get a feel for what the movie really is: a total hatchet job on that bozo Casanova.

I just ordered FELLINI'S CASANOVA on import Blu-ray from France. I've never seen this one either but I'm hoping to do a weekend double-feature.

good points on the lack of love and acceptance in juliet's life. and that can catapult us into a search for a way of learning to love ourself, which is really the crux of this movie. well done!

Philip,

I'm sure you realize I wasn't trying for a GOTCHA question, or anything like that.

I don't see the infidelity itself as being the issue for Juliet or the film. I've always thought it was the fact of the neglect that Juliet suffers from her husband and her family that really drives the movie. She doesn't have a lot of options, does she? Nobody really seems to love her very much, or at least not in the way she needs to be loved. She can't bring herself to join in the frankly rather dull hedonism represented by Suzy, and her hideously made-up iceberg of a mother doesn't offer much of a way out, either.

I don't want to go on too much here about the film, as I'm afraid I'll give away too many of the film's secrets. As much as I love Fellini, I can never entirely escape a sense of disappointment with this film. It feels a little too pat, somehow, there's a tidiness to the resolution that never really works for me. Maybe it is the way that issues dealing with Inner Children are such a cliche now.

I should see it again, it has been a couple of years. Thanks for making me think of it again.

tom,

i love it that you call me out when i'm fishing. (i was definitely looking for the right word in that sentence and i'm not sure i found it).

ok, perhaps it doesn't really rant on the ups and downs of infideltiy, but if there wasn't such a thing as infidelity, this film wouldn't exist. is fellini criticizing infidelity? that's a little hard to say (he seemed fond of it in his own life). he certainly shows how it causes juliet to descend into crisis mode, which allows her to explore her desires and needs and dreams of the perfect relationship (and that, perhaps, is the arguement that this isn't a rant, but a more thoughtful exploration of a theme). but i think perhaps in the end, at least from juliet's postion, he isn't endorsing it. she resists the offer from the young man at susie's party, she resists the opportunity to take part in a four-some with those young men and susie in the tree house.

she doesn't need it, but her husband seems to need it. so, a rant can be something, in my mind anyway, where a writer or filmmaker explores a subject in such as way so some distaste for the subject is illustrated and venom is spewed. i think that happens in this film.

what do you think?

alex, you HAVE to see this film. it's quite a feast.

I've never seen this Fellini classic but will soon have to rectify that omission.

Philip, can you tell me a little more about JULIET OF THE SPIRITS as a rant on infidelity?

Giulietta degli Spiriti (Federico Fellini, 1965)

This film is commonly known in America as Juliet of the Spirits

For many years, this has been my favorite film by Fellini. I love Giulietta Masina, and along with Nights of Cabirira, this is my favorite performance by her. The visual style never ceases to astonish me - the detail for line and color unparalleled. Along with all of Fellini's dreamlike imagery, Nino Rota's music casts a spell on the viewer and offers one of my all time favorite soundtracks.

On the night of her wedding anniversary, Giulietta's husband forgets their planned evening together and shows up with a typically Fellini-esque group of vagabonds. Over the course of the next few days, she learns that her husband is having an affair, and the rest of the film reveals how she comes to terms with the possibility of losing her life partner.

The journey Giulietta takes allows us to see a woman exploring all her inner angels and demons. I've always thought of this film as a kind of feminine companion piece to 8 1/2, as both films are explorations of the psyche of individuals who are facing mid-life crises.

It's hard to imagine a more funny or bodacious rant on infidelity than this movie. Masina's acting is superb, the visual style and use of dreams, fantasies and flashbacks, all come together to establish Giulietta degli Spiriti as vintage Fellini. In addition to La Strada, Nights of Cabiria and Ginger and Fred, this film allows the great actress Giulietta Masina (who was married to Fellini nearly throughout his entire career) a vehicle for her unforgettable tragi-comic persona.