The Clowns

This little film tends to stand quietly in the shadows of the great director's other works. It cannot compare to 8 1/2, or La Dolce Vita, but it carries a remarkable quality to it that isn't quite like his other films.

Fellini's circus theme is used here to a remarkable effect. There is a sadness that creeps in and around the film, like a cat watching a canary. It is unlike his other works, not as daring or bold, but worth some consideration.

I had never seen this wonderful film before. I was aware that it had been made for TV, was about clowns, obviously and I had heard reports of terrible picture and sound. So, my blu-ray has been sitting around for some time until, prompted by a viewing of Fellini's first success, we decided to give this a go. It is fantastic. Clearly the quality issues have been dealt with and it would seem that the TV origins meant nothing. If the director was taking it easy after Satyricon, you could have fooled me. This has a magical and majestic extended opening sequence and an astonishing extended ending but in-between it is still all a swirl of exciting, amusing and emotional cinematic wonder. Ostensibly a documentary (we even see the director seemingly working with his crew) but there are illusions upon illusions and even the lovely interviews with elderly historic clowns from back in the day are so woven within the circus tapestry that reflects Fellini's past films, future films and his life itself, that we simply gasp and sigh as we share the maestro's own obvious delight.

As a great admirer of Federico Fellini, I was really taken with I Clowns. It is not one of Fellini's finest like La Dolce Vita, 8 1/2, Amarcord, Nights in Cabiria and La Strada, but has much to recommend it. I did feel at times that some of the dialogue collided into another bit of dialogue a little too much. And while certainly not amateurish at any rate I can think of other Fellini films better in this good, again not bad, actually it is skilled but with a somewhat grainy quality and lacking the dream-like feel of for instance 8 1/2. Faults aside, the costumes are stunning showing a lot of detail, while the settings are just as colourful. Nino Rota's scoring, which is largely made up of parts of his other works, is bright and cheerful, yet doesn't in any way undermine the melancholic ending. The structure of the story is much more focused than Satyricon, and while I did enjoy the documentary-like approach of some scenes, it was the personal and nostalgic charm that is part of Fellini's style all over that made I Clowns so intriguing. The clowns are interesting with more than them that meets the eye, they are not as easy to identify with as some of Fellini's other work but they are hardly detached either. The acting is engaging at feels at least naturalistic. All in all, largely successful and well done if not among Fellini's finest work. 8/10 Bethany Cox

A sentimental journey shot in France and Italy, searching the trace of the great clowns of yesterday, by one of the few filmmakers that showed his love for these performers in his own films, an affection that dates from a childhood experience in his hometown Rimini, which is lovingly recreated in the dream-like opening scene. Made for Italian television, the film shows Fellini meeting a few survivors, talking to clowns' relatives and friends, visiting white clowns, and recreating the style of the old art, as the funeral of a famous clown, that closes the documentary. He even finds and films Anita Ekberg, the star of his 1960 masterpiece, "La dolce vita" (I always thought he saw her a bit as a joke); but what I find curious is that his film crew seems to be integrated by a clownish crowd without make-up. Nino Rota contributed one of his most cheerful scores.

Fellini exposes his great attraction for the clowns and the world of the circus first recalling a childhood experience when the circus arrives nearby his home. Then he joins his crew and travel from Italy to Paris chasing the last greatest European clowns still live in these countries. He also meets Anita Ekberg trying to buy a panther in a circus.

The overrated "I Clowns" is the weakest movie of Fellini that I have ever seen. This documentary is an absolutely personal and boring homage to the clowns and the world of the circus. Maybe Fellini had had a great satisfaction in this tribute since the theme was his childhood obsession; however I found it extremely painful to hear and watch after thirty minutes. If this documentary was a short, it could be more watchable. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Os Palhaços" ("The Clowns")