Federico Fellini 1921–

Italian director, screenwriter, artist, and actor.

Fellini's films are an intense mixture of fantasy and reality. He often appears to be a naive bystander observing the carnival of life. His films are deeply personal; for example, his wife plays herself in Juliet of the Spirits, the story of their marriage. While many critics find his films imaginative and perceptive, others accuse him of egotism and self-indulgence. But even though the quality of his work is disputed from film to film, his exuberance is undeniable; he revels in the eccentric, the colorful, and the bizarre, but he does not mock the characters he depicts. Rather, he seeks to understand them.

Born in Rimini, Italy, Fellini moved to Florence at the age of seventeen. Already he had acquired traits that reappear in his work: a love of the sea and antipathy toward the Catholic hierarchy. In Florence, he worked as a street artist until he was offered a position in a vaudeville show. He became a gag writer, then progressed to scriptwriting. An assistantship with Roberto Rossellini on Open City exposed him to neorealism, the cinematic movement that used non-professional actors and worked on location, thus bringing about an effect of verism. Fellini's first directing effort, with Alberto Lattuada, was Variety Lights. Though critics deemed it a failure, its revenue enabled him to direct his first solo film, The White Sheik. Its strict adherence to neorealistic style gave little indication, however, of Fellini's creative prowess.

I Vitelloni is regarded as a transitional work that retains various neorealistic elements of The White Sheik while foreshadowing the broader thematic aspects of La Strada, the film which brought Fellini international renown. Fellini used a carnival metaphor in La Strada for his theme, a lonely person's search for love. Some view it as Fellini's first acknowledgement of Christian belief, seeing La Strada's structure as a pilgrimage. Others interpret it in more secular terms. In their opinion, Fellini is merely sympathetic towards all humankind.

La Dolce Vita caused an uproar in Italy due to its condemnation of Rome's upper class. Some critics misunderstood its mockery and felt Fellini was glorifying, rather than lampooning Roman society and its morals. Not surprisingly, it most upset the very people it attacked.

8 1/2 marks a new stylistic development and is considered his most poetic film. Though the story of a filmmaker, 8 1/2 is actually the story of a man in the process of finding himself artistically and personally. It, too, is subject to more complex interpretations that examine Fellini's concern with aging and religious ambivalence.

The films following 8 1/2 have been more intimate, interspersed with fantasy and reality. Some, such as Satyricon, are blatantly flamboyant, and it is in this film that his obsession with the grotesque and bizarre is most evident. His most recent film, Orchestra Rehearsal, received mixed critical reviews due to his controversial treatment of an orchestra rehearsal as a metaphor for the cyclical nature of life.

Although many critics have accused Fellini of immorality and conceit, his uniquely personal means of depicting life has resulted in innovative cinematic expression. Indeed, flaws are considered part of his personal statement. Fellini brushes aside accusations of egotism with "If I made a movie about a filet of sole, it would be about me." (See also Contemporary Authors, Vols. 65-68.)