The first viewing experience of "Eight and a Half" was very tormenting. Whenever I thought I was about to figure out what the director was trying to do, the camera immediately started drifting away. What I can feel are various fragments, such as the creation driven by desire, the magnanimity and hypocrisy of the male protagonist's game between different women, the most impressive sexual enlightenment and understanding of beauty in childhood, the noncommittal of marriage relationship, And being stuck with characters and stories that I've created, etc... These bits and pieces are jumbled together like a stream of consciousness, making me very anxious about trying to figure out what the director is trying to convey. . So much so that when the movie finally came to an end, I felt that I was finally relieved.
Next, after reading a few movie interpretations, I couldn't help but read "Eight and a Half" again. This time, I noticed a lot of details that were overlooked in the first pass. For example, several female characters such as wife, lover, and muse are finally no longer face-blind, clarifying the emotional state of the male protagonist, and seeing his desire to use moral and religious attempts to restrain the desires of the heart. However, the toughness and authority of morality and religion often go too far. Desires will not be stifled and annihilated, but will only be suppressed and inflated, waiting for opportunities to explode. For me, it is painful to be manipulated and tortured by desire, but the stagnation and emptiness I fall into after getting rid of desire is even more terrible. The film uses the casual words uttered by the writer to just answer one of his own confusions during this period of time.
The actress group play in the climax part is also understood by the age crisis of actresses and even feminism. I admire Fellini's candor about relationships. I also think that the biggest obstacle to women's equality is actually women themselves. Fear of violence (the whip thrown by the male protagonist) and weakness in the face of temptation (the jewelry given by the male protagonist) are the key to women's inability to be independent. The key source of this lies in the evolution of millions of years. Those women who choose to be better than men because of cowardice and greed are the biggest obstacles to women's equality.
I also noticed that Fellini tried to balance his role between director and husband through the male lead, but all he could rely on was familiar lies. But in my understanding, the relationship between the sexes actually includes all other interpersonal relationships. The most important factor that can be maintained for a long time is equal communication, and lies will obviously break this equality. But if both parties adopt a tacit lie, it will cast a layer of false dust on the marriage. After all, marriage cannot be understood in terms of feelings, but only in terms of social contracts. In this way, it is better to accept the utilitarian side of marriage. But Fellini apparently did not want to explore this issue.
There is still a lot of confusion compared to what I see. Maybe in the future, I will find this movie three times, or maybe not. After all, it is really hard for me to indulge in such a dreamy movie.
In my more than 20 years of movie viewing calendar, I have always preferred those poetic movies, such as Abbas Kiarostami, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Ender Lie Tarkovsky, Fei Mu, Hou Hsiao-hsien, and Yang Dechang, the poetic and free-flowing cinematic scenes fascinated me, and the subtle emotions attached to them always have a lingering aftertaste, which makes me reminisce for a long time. . In my opinion, the beauty of movies is nothing but that. Film has always been a master of beauty. It brings together music, writing, painting, architecture and other art forms to present the final appearance of beauty. But after watching this film, I suddenly began to question my kind of wishful thinking. What I call the poetic beauty of movies is actually nothing but the imitation of art forms such as music, writing, painting, architecture, etc. in movies, or at least a mutual complement. But the dreamy film presented by Fellini is much more powerful, and it doesn't even have to be beautiful. Film is film itself, it is not an imitation or reference to any art form. I couldn't help but ask myself: Do I really love movies? Understanding and respecting the film itself, or just fascinated by the excitement and joy it can provide?
Compared to poetry and beauty, perhaps dreams are the essence of movies. This is why Hollywood can be popular all over the world. Dreams have even surpassed the free flow, but can be illusory. And film is undoubtedly by far the most suitable art form to present it. After accepting this theory of film essence, I seem to see my hypocrisy and hypocrisy in front of the film. The poetic beauty that I have always wanted to find through movies is actually just a projection of myself. I have always loved only myself.
At the beginning of 2020, in the hustle and bustle of life and death, I have been re-recording numerous film classics and old master works non-stop. From Woody Allen and Pedro Almodóvar, whom I have always liked, to Ingmar Bergman, who has a taste for it, my loves of cinema are intimate and flamboyant. And Fellini's "Eight and a Half" opened another door for me, a door to a world of cinema that was completely beyond my known understanding. I can't help but start wondering, what's the end of the movie?
View more about 8½ reviews
