Federico Fellini: His Life and Work

by Tullio Kezich, Minna Proctor (Translator)

A lively and authoritative journey into the world of a cinema master With the revolutionary 8 1/2 , Federico Fellini put his deepest desires and anxieties before the lens in 1963, permanently impacting the art of cinema in the process. Now, more than forty years later, film critic and Fellini confidant Tullio Kezich has written the work by which all other biographies of the filmmaker are sure to be measured. In this moving and intimately revealing account of a lifetime spent in pictures, Kezich uses his friendship with Fellini as a means to step outside the frame of myth and anecdote that surrounds him—much, it turns out, of the director’s own making. A great lover of women and a meticulous observer of dreams, Fellini, perhaps more than any other director of the twentieth century, created films that embodied a thoroughly modern sensibility, eschewing traditional narrative along with religious and moral precepts. His is an art of delicate pathos, of episodic films that directly address the intersection of reality, fantasy, and desire that exists as a product of mid-century Italy—a country reeling from a Fascist regime as it struggled with an outmoded Catholic national identity. As Kezich reveals, the dilemmas Fellini presents in his movies reflect not only his personal battles but those of Italian society. The result is a book that explores both the machinations of cinema and the man who most grandly embraced the full spectrum of its possibilities, leaving his indelible mark on it forever.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, Biography, Art, Italy

464 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Tullio Kezich was an Italian film critic, screenwriter, playwright and actor.

Kezich was born in Trieste. A film critic for Corriere della Sera, he co-wrote the screenplay for the 1988 film, La leggenda del santo bevitore (The Legend of the Holy Drinker), based on the novel by Joseph Roth. Directed by Ermanno Olmi and starring Rutger Hauer, the film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1988.

Recognized as a world specialist on Federico Fellini, his ground-breaking biography of the Italian director, Fellini, la vita e i film (Camunia, 1987), was revised and published in English as Fellini: His Life and Work in 2006. Peter Cowie wrote that the book surpassed all the other works on the director in English, French and Italian. Kezich authored numerous other books on cinema and was also a playwright, whose works have been performed throughout Europe. He died aged 80 in Rome.

Reviews

[Addicted2booksStefania · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have finally finished this book, in light of my finishing my directed research course on Federico Fellini! Here’s the thing, I appreciated the context for the films and some of the ways Fellini’s experiences influenced the films. That being said! The great Dr. Alberto Zambenedetti, my wonderful professor, always emphasized that we could never be sure what was real and what was fiction with Fellini. So in a way, I feel the biographer also fell into Fellini’s trap by taking a autofiction as fact. Anyways, if you are looking for a biography on Fellini, this is the pick!

[Filippo Ulivieri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Parte malissimo con una serie di capitoli raffazzonati e aneddotici, senza ritmo, che accavallano episodi su episodi. Poi, quando Fellini diventa regista, ogni capitolo è dedicato a un film e il libro migliora così tanto che pare scritto da un altro. Kezich ragguaglia sulla trama e sulle idee soggiacenti per ogni progetto, dà un minimo di informazioni sulla produzione e si concentra molto sull'accoglienza del film all'uscita. Punteggiando con frasi felliniane, riesce soprattutto a dare un'impressione veloce ma nitida della personalità e del carattere del regista, caposaldo di ogni biografia fatta bene.

[Geert Verbanck · Rating 4 out of 5]

The maestro really comes alive in these pages. It feels like I've met him. Which is the feeling any good biography should give. Loved it.

[Scott Trinkle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Learned a lot about the life and work of Federico Fellini.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a renowned director who has lived an illustrious life, the contents of this book was pedestrian. The words lacked feeling and the pages felt heavy like a term paper. Where was the conflict in the book? The spark? The mystery? The humor? You know all of the Felliniesque qualities that made up Fellini. I picked up this book in hopes to get to know who the director was as a person, but all I got was a tedious recount of his filmography.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved that Kezich’s biography places a solid emphasis on filmic analysis, which seems to be missing from other filmmakers popular accounts, but I also felt it was missing some more personal information- surprising especially considering how verbose and open the filmmaker was.

[O LCB · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another motivational book

[Buitron David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este libro es exquisito; si bien no me considero un fan de Fellini, debo reconocer que se convirtió en un pilar del séptimo arte al atreverse a hacer cosas distintas en épocas tan decadentes. Como el burro que toco la flauta, así llegó un caricaturista y saliendo siendo el maestro Italiano por excelencia. Un grande, un inmortal. El único que hacía temblar al tiburón Dino De Laurenttis. Excelente libro para los amantes del cine Italiano.

[Cambra · Rating 3 out of 5]

long, but oh so italiano. bravo, tullio.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great insight into the artistic mind of one of the greatest.