User reviews

This film by Fellini is basically the female version of 8 1/2. Instead of delving into the mind of a middle-aged Italian man dealing with problems with his wife and trying to figure out who he really is, it is about a middle-aged Italian woman dealing with problems with her cheating husband and trying to figure out who she really is. (I still can't decide who I like more as a lead in a Fellini film... Masina or Mastroianni.) The film is very enjoyable, and is definitely one of the films I would classify as a work of art. The one thing that really stands out to me, however, is this: It could only exist as a film. Most films are adapted from previously written novels, or at the very least can suffer the indignation of a "novelization" without losing the quality of the story. But I cannot fathom any way a writer could capture this film with words. It is very visual, but could not be painted or drawn either. I think this is one of the few films I've seen that is completely unique to the medium of film. Towards the end of the film, there is a scene where she is trying to avoid voices and images around her while hosting a party. It was at this point that I realized how perfectly every shot was set-up, and that there would be no way anyone could capture the feeling or the images with words.

I would be extremely fascinated to see what the shooting script to this film looked like. It's the fifth Fellini film I've seen, and I must say, I think I can call him my favorite director. He's the only director whom I've been enthralled by every single film I've seen of his. He has a perfect record, 1.000% batting average so far with me. I'm going to keep seeing more, and hopefully I won't ever be disappointed.

Juliet, a plain (relatively speaking) woman (Giulietta Masina) finds the will to leave her philandering husband through strange visions and the weird sybaritic lifestyle of her neighbour Suzy (Sandra Milo). As much as I like Giulietta Masina, I didn't like this film as much the earlier neo-realist work she did with husband Federico Fellini, such as the superb 'La Strada' (1954). I am not a big fan of the flamboyant grotesqueries in which Fellini indulged himself in the 60s (although there are some striking images (both in dreams and in reality) in this film such as the parade on the beach or the strange recurring row of nuns). As usual, Masina, with her beautifully expressive face, is irresistible and although I didn't really like the film, I am glad I watched it.

This was born from a place of pain, but not Federico Fellini's pain. Made as a present to his wife, Giulietta Masina, Juliet of the Spirits is the Technicolor parade of the grotesque dramatization of Giulietta's life dealing with the perennially unfaithful Italian director. You see, she loved Federico, loved him dearly, but his infidelity hurt her. And it's obvious. There are events in this movie based on their relationship, and, according to what I've read, it was all very difficult for Giulietta to get through the filming experience, causing further strain on their relationship.

The film Giulietta is the doting housewife to a successful businessman who never seems to be at home. As the movie begins, she's eagerly preparing for a quiet evening celebration of their fifteenth wedding anniversary, but he comes home with a cadre of friends, openly admitting that he's forgotten their anniversary, and proceeds to let the people run rampant through the house, eventually turning it into a séance. It's here that we get our first hearing of a spirit, calling itself Iris, who talks to Giulietta intermittently throughout the story.

The story is that Giulietta's husband says another woman's name in his sleep, and Giulietta can't let it go because it suddenly makes much of his past behavior, like constantly working late, just make sense. Everyone tells her this or that, but everyone has their own agenda and no one seems willing to actually take Giulietta and what she wants into consideration. Her family dismisses her. The weird hermaphroditic guru tells her to become a sex object. The attractive neighbor woman tries to turn Giulietta into a prostitute in all but name. They're all pushing her away from her husband, but Giulietta never wanted to lose her husband, she wanted him to be who she fell in love with.

She hires a private investigator (something that the real Giulietta did to Federico) to follow her husband around where she discovers that the whispered "Gabriella" is, in fact, a real woman, a model that Giorgio met in his work and now professes he loves in private. The investigators keeps saying that all will be well, that everything can be fixed and made right, but Giulietta barely acknowledges their assurances, knowing the break has occurred.

In many ways, this feels like a prequel to 8 1/2. It's not, mind you, but the characters of Giulietta and Giorgio are very similar to the characters of Luisa and Guido in the earlier film, but earlier in time. The pain for Giulietta is new while for Luisa it was old and malignant. Giorgio still lies about his affairs where Guido is open about his infidelities. Still, Giorgio is no film director. However, the follow up of Juliet of the Spirits from 8 1/2, both stories of infidelity, the first centered on the guilty male and the second on the innocent female, cannot be by accident. The incredibly prevalent use of fantasy and memory, often intertwined with no indication of where one begins and the other ends, is present in both, and the second feels like an extension of the first. It's not just that Fellini was continuing with a new style of storytelling for his films, it's that the one feels like the flip side of the other.

In both, the fantasies represent that which either draw or repel the respective characters. Guido was trying to create his harem in his head, but it fell apart. For Giulietta, though, her fantasies are nightmares. The final ten minutes do a similar thing to the harem scene in 8 1/2 where everything that has been consuming her comes to a single place, but it's tied into actual physical actions on her part. Giorgio has gone to vacation with Gabriella in Milan, unapologetically but still with a lie, and Giulietta tries to simply go to bed, but the visions of the decrepit bodies leftover from orgies, dead horses, her grandfather who ran away with a young dancer when he was an old man, the distinctive basket that Giulietta's neighbor set up to go into a pleasure treehouse in her unique getup, and Giulietta's younger self all begin filling the empty spaces of her house around her. As she calmly moves through the images, she gains control of what she wants, her younger self as she was in a school production of a martyr's martyrdom where she was burned alive on a rack. Giulietta frees her younger self from the rack and walks away.

Now, Masina and Fellini disagreed with the ending of the film. Fellini saw it as a happy and hopeful ending because Giulietta walking away from the house meant that she was free of the chains that had bound her, but Masina saw it from a much sadder point of view where Giulietta had lost everything and had nothing. Her friends were vapid and unhelpful. The grotesqueries of the other life her neighbor had tried to push her into were distasteful to her. Her husband was gone, and all she had was herself. Her whole life had been a waste. She has no children to take from it. She's been cast out with nothing at all. I think the truth of the ending contains both elements. Giulietta is free from the unloving relationship with her husband, but she also no longer has any support. All that she had believed in failed her, so yes, she can go out and start anew, but she's in her 40s and has been a housewife for fifteen years. Her prospects are probably not great, and on top of that, she doesn't even have a moral base on which to operate because everything she thought was right has been thrown into turmoil.

As Fellini's first foray into feature length color filmmaking, the movie is a joy to look at from beginning to end. He uses colors extensively and specifically all at once. In particular, the color of Giulietta's clothes indicate what he's trying to do in every scene. She often wears white in the beginning, indicating her purity and innocence. When she visits the guru, she wears a green coat that covers a red dress, indicating a safe exterior with a wild interior waiting to come out. When she visits her neighbor's fiancé, a rich Arab, during a party, she wears a bright red dress as though she's ready to partake in the grotesqueries. At the end, she wears a white nightgown indicating that she's rejecting it all and has nothing. However, the colors go beyond that. Her neighbor is often associated with yellow, which is a corrupted form of white and indicates impurity, for instance. The colors are there, they are wonderful to look at, and they all help imbue the proceedings with further meaning.

The movie is rich and dense, firmly fitting into Fellini's new moves stylistically. Embracing color, fantasy, memory, and affectation, Fellini paints a painful portrait of his wife's pain that he doesn't quite seem to understand but is compelling nonetheless. This may not be one of his greatest films, but it does show that his Felliniesque later films can contain worth anyway.

I was 15 years old when I stumbled into a cinema and caught my first Fellini film -- Juliet of the Spirits. I was so jazzed, wowed and bedazzled by it, I'm sure I went back a few more times. It led me to other Fellini films and, since, he's become my favorite film director.

Though at age 15, I shouldn't have been able to relate very well with this story of an Italian middle-aged woman and her crumbling psyche (what with her failing marriage, her unsympathetic relatives and her repressive childhood), the movie made me care about this woman and showed me sights on film that I'd never seen before.

Masina (Fellini's wife), in her performance, has nearly everything to do with making Juliet's story meaningful, even to a teenaged boy in California. The character's thoughts flash, unspoken, across her face. Her fear, her

bemusement, her insecurities--all are writ in italics and I had no trouble empathizing with Juliet.

Fellini, though, makes the film an occasion to witness how far the medium can go in bringing alive a person's inner life. The weird and awful power of (subjective) memory, the dream state, the spectres of loneliness, betrayal and Catholic mythology: all these and more overtake the screen, dominate the imagery and play the antagonists to Juliet who, as seen by the other "real" characters in the story, is just a simple, loving housewife and neighbor. Juliet finally has to face her demons and either vanquish them or go mad. By the end of the film, we know most of her demons, where they came from, whom they represent and what they mean. What an accomplishment!

In a clinical setting, Fellini dropped LSD around the time he concocted this film. That may be one reason the movie is so psychedelic. This also was his first feature in color. The music is unforgettable. Costumes should have won the Oscar, but that honor went to "Man for all Seasons".

Incidentally, I've bought and viewed the DVD of this movie. It's quite washed-out and not as good as an available VHS letterboxed version.

I'll always miss Fellini, but am so grateful that he was able to make this film and over a dozen others.

Juliet of the Spirits has become one of my favorite Fellini films. The story involves a woman who discovers that her husband is cheating on her. The forces of family, tradition, the church, and an immoral society all pull at her and force her to make a difficult decision. These forces would be banal in a standard film but Fellini chooses to visualize them as images and dreams. The dream sequences are nearly perfect and create a sharp sense of the hazy logic and unreality of dreams. Other comments (as well as our friend Maltin) have noted that the symbolic nature of the film is a detriment. This is true only if you are constrained by reality and demand that film adhere to the rules you have set down (or more likely had set down for you). Taking the journey with this film is well worth the time and effort. I hesitate to state that a male director has successfully penetrated the inner desires of a woman, but in this case I think Fellini has at least come close to the mark. A film to be looked at, talked about, and enjoyed again and again.

This is the first Fellini movie I ever saw and I just recently viewed the 35mm restored re-release. How beautiful. Fellini captures such wonderful dream-like sequences in brilliant color. Phenomenal! Every scene had such a distinct personality and mood to it. His blend of high and low key lighting, especially in the exposition carries the storyline. Giulietta's associated score is disturbing yet intriguing. The wardrobe and makeup department must have had lots of fun on this film. If you have yet to see a Fellini movie, I suggest this one. A bit creepy, a bit weird, but nonetheless it has a purpose. A tight narrative.

"Juliet of the Spirits" is one way, I suppose, to make a dissatisfied bourgeois housewife's life look intriguing--a colorized "8 1/2" (1963) for writer-director Federico Fellini's actress-wife, Giulietta Masina. Most of this one involves her concern over her husband's philandering, but there's also her childhood memory--apparently, a traumatic event of some sort--of playing the central role of the martyr in a Catholic-school play. Plus, there's the circus of fashion and sex in the world of modeling and other carnivalesque endeavors that seems to surround her through her husband's work and that of her other family members, friends and neighbors. Much of this bombards her as surreal visual and audible hallucinations. I don't care to get into the Freudian or Jungian analysis of her problems, though. That nonsense is quite dull--like a lazy housewife dozing off while sunbathing on a beach. Kudos to Fellini, though, for making it look a sumptuous spectacle.

Instead of the director double standing in for Fellini in "8 1/2," who faces a creative crisis, the housewife here traces her marital trap back to the stage of her religious performance. Eventually, the promise of her salvation involves rescuing that childhood memory. This also seems to be the key, slight as it may be, to suggestions that "Juliet of the Spirits" alludes to Lewis Carroll's Alice books. I've been seeking a bunch of films inspired by that children's literature since reading them, and I came to this after reviewing Woody Allen's "Alice" (1990), which is said to be a reworking of this Fellini film, which also seems to be a slight connection to me having now viewed both, but I digress. If there is some of Carroll's Alice in Fellini's Giulietta, it's in their shared repressed childhood. Of course, the Alice books predate Freud and Surrealism and are nonsense rather than analytical, but they likewise parody their protagonist's outer reality within the dreamworld. That includes nursery rhymes and other prior children's literature. Likewise, "Juliet of the Spirits" ends up parodying film by turning it into a mode for surveillance of the husband's dalliances, or as a source of mockery via television.

Besides, akin to Wonderland, taking place along beaches, gardens and forests, note, too, how this film begins and ends visually. Within the first scene, there is a virtuoso shot through a series of looking glasses--announcing a mirror motif that continues to some extent throughout the picture. And, the ending includes the opening of a small door, so that Giulietta may finally enter the tunnel she's heretofore repeatedly shunned--especially as offered by her Caterpillar of a neighbor, who sports a butterfly tattoo (not as explicit as the White Rabbit ink in "The Matrix" (1990), but still...) and tries to show Giulietta who she may become. Although, with all the ridiculous head gear here, there really ought to be a Mad Hatter about; after all, it was a cat, like the Cheshire one with Alice, that led Giulietta to her neighbor's mad Champagne party (hey, they're Italian--not English). Moreover, the neighbor guides her quite vividly, what with the sex mirror on the ceiling, all of the deflowering going about alongside her flower-covered staircase, and the vaginal-like openings, through a pool slide and a hole to a platform in the trees (where, presumably, more sex is to occur). It's this Wonderland nonsense that's lustrous.

Fellini casts his real-life wife, Guilietta Masina, as Guilietta - an upper middle class housewife whose life is coming apart. The film's plot serves a vehicle for some of the most dazzling, psychedelic scenes ever put on film, all before anyone used computer graphics to make cinema more fantastic. Fellini uses costumes, makeup and, most of all casting of supporting actors and extras, to achieve his surrealism.

His first film is color, this is Fellini's most Felliniesque movie.

This is quite possibly the Felliniest of all the Fellini films.

This is a good thing to a point, but I gotta be honest - it really started to wear me out eventually.

The plot here revolves around a middle-aged couple who don't have the best relationship - the husband consistently cheats and lies, and the wife feels intimidated and stuck in the marriage. She has something of a spiritual awakening, however, thanks to mysticism or something (I don't know what to call it - but I kind of hate that stuff and find it hard to buy into, even in a fictional movie), and the film follows her as she works up the courage to leave her husband. It plays out over nearly 2.5 hours. A good deal of it is spent on Fellini doing crazy stuff with sets, costumes, and camera angles in a way that feels distinctly Fellini, and many of these sequences are (I think intentionally) disorientating and sometimes unsettling.

It's all stuff I can kind of appreciate, and I think there's some interesting stuff going on thematically, seeing as Fellini cast his real-life wife in the lead role in a movie about a very bad marriage. If you're in the mood for something like this, it's probably easier to enjoy, rather than just distantly appreciate. But I was only up for like, 90-100 minutes of this; I wasn't really on board by the end. It was just a bit much, and not in a good way, like how La Dolce Vita feels like too much (there, the too-muchness feels purposeful).

This is the first Fellini film I watch, and also it's the first time I found myself riveted and bored at the same time while watching a movie!

This is definitely one of the most eccentric and whimsical movies I've ever watched. Maybe it's too whimsical for its own good!

The movie as a whole didn't work for me, and I'm not really sure that I liked it. It feels like an overlong self-indulgent journey of surrealism. Undeniably, the movie could have been shorter, because it doesn't have too much to say. There is a lack of narrative cohesion, vision and creativity. That made the movie doesn't seem to focus on its main themes, but instead it uses a lot of unnecessary repetitive sub-plots that don't add so much to the main plot.There are a lot of things to admire about it, though.

Juliet of the Spirits is Fellini's first work in color, and it's one of the most beautiful and colorful movies I've seen in my life! It's nothing short of eye-catching. The movie also has a harmonious music that set the tone and created a unique atmosphere from the beginning. I also liked how the hallucination scenes were directed. Some of them were very disturbing, and not easy to watch. Also, the symbolism that has been used to depict the psyche of Giulietta Boldrini is awe-inspiring! From the technical standpoint this movie is almost perfect, except for the editing; it was really awful!

Giulietta Masina delivered a very expressive and emotional performance. I also appreciated the themes of the story. I actually was somewhat invested, once the movie focus on its main story. The only time the movie did so was in the last 20 minutes. I think the ending deserves 5 stars!

(6.5/10)

No spoilers here, just a simple feeling that I have every time I see a FELINNI movie: "There are movies and there is Fellini" This is an art film, as most of Fellini's movies, so I wont try to explain or comment anything on it, everybody has to have his own vision about the movie. Don't try to explain everything, don't try to see flaws in the screenplay, just take it the way it is: a beautiful fantasy. YES, it is very pretentious, if you don't like it or if you don't understand it that means this movies want not meant for you, but for the rest of us! The Criterion version of this movie is pure perfection, even though the 1 channel sound is not enough to get the full experience of this masterpiece. You'll love it or you'll hate it, there is nothing between!

I never thought I would ever rate a Fellini movie so low. Now I understand what it's all about with people who dislike Fellini, and I have to admit that Giulietta degli Spiriti is the pinnacle of overloaded visual psycho-poetry. And pathologically, perversely narcissistic once you understand it is a big blown up marriage therapy that Fellini forces on his wife...

So it is difficult to try to assess this movie on its own merits because it keeps drifting big time into psychoanalytical, even psychotic, territory. Still I will do my best, stick to the facts, the movie experience, not Fellini's personal life.

I am all for innovative film-making but to me, here, Fellini just indulges the graphic-side of his creativity and forgets about getting his story straight. The story is flimsy because it is supposedly all about Giulietta's spirit, that is her live psychoanalysis. So it feels like you are sitting through someone else's therapy, or someone on LSD describing you everything they experience. You pretty soon feel bored and even ill-at-ease with the accumulation of weird details.

And it is long, verrrrrry long for a story about what happens in a bourgeois housewife's mind. I could not watch it in one sitting (lucky I did not go watch it in some art-house) and still it was very difficult to stay concentrated in the second part...

Definitely the epitome of artsy-fartsy. Unfortunately Fellini got praised for it, hence he never parted ways with this egotistical complacency. It works ok with Casanova though, but I'd rather watch again I Vitelloni, La Strada, La Dolce Vita (one of my all-time favorites) and even Otto e Mezzo which I now understand as an unconscious cry for help "okay, look at that, tell me I am a bad self-conscious brilliant film-maker in need of a sobering bomb to get his creative juices flowing again."

Really sort of the female counter part to 8 1/2, It had the same sort of dream/memory/fantasy narrative, and the same sprawling dialogue and humor, the biggest difference was this was about relationships and sexual repression and freedom, had a female lead and was in technicolor, which Fellini really makes great use of, it adds a kelidoscopic psychedelic feel to the whole movie. There really are some amazing visuals and all the dialoge is superb. Though I guess its not so much a female 8 1/2 as it is a caricature of a marriage during the sexual revolution , but it's still a funny and poignant one. Great performances and memory dialog; the sexual revolution as a circus.

A reincarnation of the Buddha is said to have described himself as being, "like the moon upon the water...a reflection. Think of me as your self." He said. Many ancient sages have spoke and been written of seeing The One, the holy God of eternity while looking, gazing, or meditating into a river or pond. For just as God separated the light from the darkness. Fellini too has created his own deep symbolic reflections of the Unfathomable One. Some say that this film, 'Giullietta degli spiriti' is the feminine partner of Federico's previous film 8 1/2. 'An Ode To No One', and 'An Ode To One'. Like two mirrors, the two films reflect the Eternal Lovers in Their breaking, and in Their embrace. Fellini's dialogue and metaphors show a great understanding of The Self, The Divine Marriage, The Sacred Mystery. Fellini is one of the few modern artists who greatly understood the purpose and very nature of art itself. All art imitates life, sure, but human life also is merely an interpretation of that which is truly real. It is obvious by Fellini's work that he himself created his art in order to become more real, to become closer to truth. He created in order to see with more depth and to share this with others. Fellini undoubtedly understood the logic in the seemingly illogical words of the great William Blake when he said "If the doors of perception were truly cleansed, everything would appear as it truly is - infinite.". Fellini understood that all art imitates life, but even more so, he understood that all art imitates the Divine. He also understood that only through this kind of conscious introspection can one become closer and closer to our own True Infinite Nature. People who do not follow spiritual disciplines, or who do not know the work of Carl Jung, or who do not have a good understanding of ancient sacred scripture, will likely miss much of the depth in this film. However that is not to say that those people still won't enjoy it. This is the work of a Divinely inspired genius. Some watch this film and are dazzled by the great colour and flamboyant spectacle of it (And why wouldn't you be?), however truly it is the interweaving of dialogue and relationships that speak even louder than the amazing visuals. "For those who have ears, let them hear!"

10/10

I loved this movie. For me, as a relatively new student of Fellini, I understand that there is a progression in his films over the years. His initial films are more generally coherent stories like "La Strada" and then his later films are more focused on the visual and surreal, like "8 1/2".

This movie is somewhere in between. There is the coherent storyline of Juliet and her philandering husband and all the other strange characters in her life, like family and friends, but then there is also the psychedelic and surreal element of the spirit world that Juliet is in close contact with everyday.

Masina is great as usual--she acts a lot just with her eyes and the expressions on her face.

This film is just a delight. My suggestion is that you don't try to analyze it too deeply. Just sit back and let the colors, settings, costumes, and larger than life characters wash over you.

One of Fellini's most accessible films (his use of color really helps), he once again plays reality against an active fantasy life... fantasies that combine memory, fears, fleeting desires and the way we imagine the lives of others. For me, one of the things that makes a film 10 star is that it provides something that only film can provide, and this is it; while the presentation is very theatrical, this quick intercutting of time/memory/mood can only be done in film.

While the overall message is a very conservative (pre/anti-feminist) one of it's day, Fellini DOES liberate a woman's fantasy life, and this is the essence of his leading "little woman." The predominant action of the film is in her imagination.

This was the day when middle/upper class Italian women did not work, and Masina represents the "good little woman." Rich enough to have servants, there was little to occupy her time or mind, other than similar friends who have veered to the outre and weird just to have something to do. Masina's character searches more internally, and her fantasies color her vision of the lives of others. (Note that her usual circle of friends are equated with a fantasy of death, and you'll be clued into her psyche as these begin.)

I think you have to have lived a bit to "get" Fillini - I didn't like his work when I was younger - I love this. Also note his use of color as "percieved color" not literal color and this is worth many viewings.

And finally, if you are a larger woman... nothing makes you feel so great about being a large woman as watching Fellini's glorious Amazons!

A masterpiece of 'baroque' film-making or just rambling and self-indulgent? Opinions on this first colour film of Fellini will always be divided. Superlative production values of course, technical virtuosity and a tantalising cast but this remains nonetheless a film without 'heart' which is less about character than about caricature whilst attempts to make the talented but diminutive Giulietta Masina look 'chic' are not entirely successful. I am glad to have finally seen this stylish exercise but would I wish to see it again? Probably not.

I cannot wait to get my hands on my next adventure into the world of Fellini. I was more than impressed, I was captivated. I watched Giulietta degli spiriti (aka Juliet of the Spirits) and I couldn't help but think of other directors that have used Fellini's tactic in today's modern cinema. I think the reason I enjoyed this film so much is because I love the work of these directors, and I could see the homage they were paying in their films to Fellini. I am speaking of directors like David Lynch, Oliver Stone, and Akira Kurosawa. The colors, the images, and the overall elements of this film are original and provocative at the same time. You wouldn't expect this film a film created in 1965. I didn't when I put this film into the DVD player, but then I wasn't sure what to expect when I put Fellini into the player.

The colors are one of the boldest marks of the film. For this to be Fellini's first color film he pulls it off like a professional. The darkened shades to represent insecurity and the unknown, while the bold colors represent happiness and control. You wouldn't expect these emotions could be combined with ease, but Fellini's master brush never misses a beat. This film is told through its colors. From the opening scene where Juliet is choosing which color hair to wear, all the way to the ending where she leaves the bright white house into the darkened unknown, it is the vivacious colors that lead us from point A to point B. The characters are important, but these colors are used to represent the true emotions of the characters even when they are lying to themselves. These colors tell the truth and Fellini controls them.

I was always a believer that Oliver Stone's style of film-making was absurd and at times random, but little did I know that his odd placement of certain images is nothing more than a deep homage to Fellini. Since I have only seen one film, Giulietta degli spiriti, I can only take reference to it, but there were moments when I could have guessed Stone's hand was somewhere in the process. When Juliet sees the spirits, we are suddenly whisked away to a world of haunting images and imagination. We are afraid, yet excited at the same time. The scenes that come to mind are those when Juliet is at the beach and at the end when she finally confronts her demons. While some may see these as a director's "wet dream", I saw these as an insight into Juliet's character. We learn about her troubles, her life, her childhood, and her fears. It is these spirits that help us understand why Juliet is the way that she is, and why she has trouble leaving her cheating husband. They are a "guardian angel" for Juliet, ensuring that she stays true to whom she is even when times seem to be closing in on her. This is seen when she was about to do something sexually that she had not intention of doing. A moment of revenge saved by a spirit.

This was a magnificent story that could be retold today and appeal to mass audiences. Juliet is the common person, dealing with issues that face us today. The horror of discovering your husband is cheating on you and the spirits that you consult to help. Juliet is neither insane nor crazy, nor would I consider this a "tale of terror". This is a story about a normal person who is placed into extraordinary events that cause her to regress to her childhood. This also brings out the spirits from her childhood to help her in her bumpy path.

This is not to say that this film is without faults. While Fellini has obviously mastered the field of directing, showing us with bold colors and creative storytelling, there is something that could be said about his choice of music. I feel that the music used in this film conveyed a message opposite of what was to be felt. I felt that when we were to be shocked or surprised by Juliet, there should be equal music playing, but instead all I head was this happy go-lucky tune that seemed to trample the overall theme of the film. Perhaps Fellini used most of the money for the colors and story and only had one record left for the soundtrack of the film. Who knows? All I know is that the music used did not work in this film at all. If I could change one aspect of this film to bring it to perfection, it would be the score. What was Fellini thinking?

I would like to say that this first Fellini experience has been magical. I am glad I have the opportunity to share it with everyone, and if you take anything from this review it should be two things. First, don't insult a film until you have viewed it in its entirety, you never know what gems may just need to be polished to glimmer. The saying, "Never judge a book by its cover" applies to films as well. Second, go back to the basics. As I watch more and more older films, I begin to wonder the originality and uniqueness of the directors today. Some of the top performers in their game are beginning to show signs that they have "borrowed" from other directors. Perhaps they are paying homage, but perhaps there is more. Instead of walking out of a theater and saying, "WOW! I wonder why the director put that shot in there" (cause I know all of you think this), perhaps sit back and think about who they are saying "thank you" to. You may discover, as I have, that the original creative mind, no matter the date, can still be a powerful force in cinema.

Grade: ***** out of *****

Juliet of the Spirits (Italian: Giulietta degli spiriti) (1965)

Art film tackles Freud. Disturbing and indulgent, Surreal dreams, strange scenes, A female 8½, Technicolor Fellini!

Tanka, literally "short poem", is a form of poetry consisting of five lines, unrhymed, with the 5-7-5-7-7 syllable format. #Tanka #PoemReview

I used to think I hated Fellini movies. This was thanks to some of his surreal movies of the 60s and early 70s. These are among his most famous and so I am wondering if I am some sort of Neanderthal because I am either indifferent to them or hate them (such as SATYRICON). However, in recent years I have seen several Fellini films I loved--such as Amarcord and Il Bidone among others.

The surreal aspects of 8 1/2 and LA DULCE VITA are present, but restrained. However, with follow-up films like JULIET OF THE SPIRITS and FELLINI SATYRICON, the movies just got more and more and more bizarre and self-indulgent. I suppose they were well-made technically, but I just disliked the VERY bizarre elements and found, for me, they just didn't have much of a payoff for watching them--plus after a while, they just seem overwhelming and tiresome. It was just weird with no apparent purpose. This is actually rather odd, because I really like paintings by Dali and Bosch. But viewing one of these Surrealist paintings is different than spending 90 plus minutes being bombarded with occasionally incoherent images as in these movies.

Juliet of the Spirits actually has very few "normal" moments, as it has a lot of the supernatural, weird imagery and symbolism starting about 10 minutes into the movie. According to IMDb, Fellini claimed to have taken LSD when making this movie. This is very easy to believe!

The weird images are indeed weird, but the "sexy" images and salacious aspects of the film seem very tame by today's standards. In other words, the characters in the movie talk A LOT about sex, but never seem to get around to having any! So, apart from a few random boobies thrown in towards the end, this is not an especially sexy movie about sex and desire.

It's very interesting that the lead in the movie is Fellini's wife, Giulietta Masina. This is because according to the DVD notes from Criterion, this story was a not far from life representation of the Fellini marriage--complete with infidelity by Federico and a strong love of mysticism and spiritualism by Messina. So, it's very hard to tell how much of this is a "tell all" about the Fellinis and how much is fiction.

It's also very interesting because I wonder if Fellini's casting of his wife might represent some sort of not-too-well repressed hostility on his part. For example, the team of Fellini (directing) and Giulietta Masina (leading lady) brought us Nights of Cabiria (where she played a prostitute), La Strada (where she was a waif who was beaten and verbally abused throughout the film) and Juliet of the Spirts (where she is a woman married to an unfaithful man). Even Dali's muse, Gala, was occasionally painted as the Virgin Mary among the thousands of paintings that featured her!

For those of you who love Fellini or have a very high tolerance for this sort of material, you may just love this film. However, the average viewer will most likely be bored by the film. It earned a 3 SOLELY for the beautiful color camera-work plus I threw in an extra point for Masina because I felt sorry for her.