Intervista

While shooting a movie about his arrival to Cinecittà to interview a famous star, Federico Fellini is interviewed by the Japanese television. Fellini highlights and revisits the beginning of his career portrayed by the young actor Sergio Rubini in the early 40's. Then he casts new characters for his next movie, "Amerika", from Franz Kafka. Later Marcello Mastroianni performing Mandrake visits Fellini and his producers, cast and crew and together they pay a visit to Anita Ekberg in her country cottage. Last but not the least, Fellini foresees the end of the golden era to the cinema industry with the competition of the television.

The beautiful and simple "Intervista" is a nostalgic "movie of a documentary of a film-making" that envisions the increasing competition to the television in this segment and consequent end of the golden era of the cinema industry and mostly of the movie theaters. The climax of the story is certainly with the unforgettable and most famous scene of the Italian cinema with Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg in the fountain of "La Dolce Vita". I would give a penny for the thoughts of Anita and Marcello while seeing that magic moment of their youth again. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Entrevista" ("Interview")

Watching Fellini's "Intervista" is a mixed bag--sadness, frustration because it is not better... coupled with moments of brilliance. I'm not sure there is a more poignant moment in the movies than the scene of a wrinkled Marcello Mastroianni and obese Anita Ekberg wistfully watching their former youthful black & white selves in "La Dolce Vita" being projected on a makeshift screen. That scene alone is a richly-charged commentary on time, memory, regret, self-delusion, love, missed opportunity, life and death--unlike any other I have ever seen.

Intervista is one of the best films I've ever seen. The strong sense in all Fellini films that reality is like a big, sad circus is even stronger in this film because fact and fiction, past and present become so confused. The fictitious carnival appears to be reality. And isn't that maybe quite a realistic view?

There is not only the usual sense of nostalgia: because the film looks back at decades of Fellini nostalgia, the nostalgia is double. Who can watch the older Anita and Marcello looking back at La Dolce Vita with dry eyes? The only possible critic could be that the film is, like all Fellini movies, little coherent, but then, isn't that as well like life itself?

Intervista maybe isn't the most famous Fellini films, it certainly is one of the better ones and with that one of the best films in cinematographic history.

I don't know what the reviewers were thinking, but with Ebert leading the pack, it might be safe to say that they weren't thinking at all.

Intervista is an amazing film. It takes the shape of a fake documentary, in which Fellini looks at, and pokes fun at, his entire career. In the end it is an homage, not to himself, as other reviewers have suggested, but to film itself. Praise for a medium which never ceases to amaze viewers and film makers alike with it's capacity to project and create our dreams.

This was the second to last film the famed director, Fellini, made and it was his most personal. Instead of being a traditional film, this is much more like having a personal visit with him as he shows you around Cinecittà Studios in Rome. Sometimes he talks to the camera (or in many cases, the fictional Japanese crew interviewing him--a plot device to represent the audience), sometimes you just watch somewhat random scenes as they are shot and other times you watch Fellini and his friends as they reminisce--such as when Marcello Mastroianni pops by the set and Fellini, impulsively, takes him on a road trip to see Anita Ekberg. While this all seems unscripted and at the spur of the moment, it was all staged for the film but it has a real home movie quality about it. At Ekberg's home, all of Fellini's guests view scenes from LA DULCE VITA (starring Mastroianni and Ekberg) and there is a very strong nostalgic air about the party.

The total effect of all these elements was a lot like climbing inside Fellini's mind and it also gave a lot of amazing insights into the film making process. Because of this it was a lot like Truffaut's DAY FOR NIGHT, though a bit different because DAY FOR NIGHT stuck more to a traditional script (a movie about a movie being filmed) and seemed a lot less frivolous and fun. Fellini's is more of a "warts and all" and appears to be more spontaneous and ad-libbed--though because of some of the grand sets and the visit to Ekberg's, it obviously was staged to look spontaneous. My advice is to see this film and DAY FOR NIGHT. DAY FOR NIGHT is rated higher, but because of all the sentimentality of INTERVISTA, I preferred it slightly.

While I have never been a huge fan of Fellini, I have seen most of his films and really enjoyed having some insights into his psyche. Most of it came as no surprise (such as the use of phallic imagery--Fellini's sexuality was never repressed in his films), but some was very sweet and charming. It was nice to see him as both director and actor--so why is the film rated so poorly??!!

By the way, when the film was made, Miss Ekberg was 56 years-old and Mr. Mastroianni was 63. I was rather irritated with an IMDb review that complained about her being "obese" and him being "wrinkled". This was cruel and shallow, as most women would die to look that ravishing at 56 and most men would love to be a charming old rogue at 63! What do you expect at that age? Hmm? To quote Ekberg in a recent interview, "I'm very much bigger than I was, so what? It's not really fatness, it's development." Bravo.

PS--If you like this film, try watching Vincenzo Mollica's documentary on the film that's included on the DVD for INTERVISTA. It does a nice job of explaining some of the plot elements and features clips not only from this movie but several other Fellini films. My favorite part was learning that Miss Ekberg's plunge into the Trevi fountain in LA DULCE VITA was done in February!!