Juliet of the Spirits

Juliet of the Spirits (1965)
[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059229/]

The Gist:
So I'm apparently going through a small Fellini phase. This is the fourth Fellini film since my blog's inception. Here we find a couple of interesting deviations for the director: the use of technicolor and the use of surrealism. This was Fellini's first color film and it also become a sort of bridge between his earlier style of filmmaking (more traditional narratives) to his later style (more surreal). However, through all this experimentation with new forms the picture takes on an unwieldy presence. The picture is filled with strong moments and powerful themes that Fellini has touched on before with similar effect (the subject of trust and infidelity for one). And throughout most of the picture I was frequently astonished with one scene or another. However it becomes one of those films were it can be broken down into individual pieces and be declared genius but when you try to view it as a cohesive whole it falls apart. It reminded me of watching Inglorious Basterds, only with that film it sort of worked. You had all these genius, insane little moments that got slapped together and took on an unruly, enjoyable pace. In point, the spontaneity and disorder of the effect fit the form of the film. With Juliet of the Spirits it doesn't come off as well. Instead, you get the feeling that Fellini bit off too much, was trying to say too much, and undermined his film because of it. The result is a pretty great film, but a very flawed film, something that wouldn't be able to hold up to his better work.

On Another Note:
Giulietta Masina, many years later, still awesome. And a great part of the reason the film works so well, she keeps the film grounded in moments where it could have drifted too far into the abstract. Without her presence, this goes from a great but flawed film to a few grades beneath.