Fellinis Stadt der Frauen

I am a great fan of early Fellini, and as late as Amarcord I still find much to admire. After that, though, there seems to me to be an inexorable decline in originality. By the time we get to this film the decline is definitely in evidence throughout. Freshness has given way to trademark, vitality to predictability. Mastroianni is still there, as cool and enigmatic as ever, and some of the cinematography remains dazzling. But an air of staleness hangs over the whole film, which apart from its other defects is far too long. Fellini fanatics admire it, that much is obvious, and good luck to them. But most simple admirers will pass it by. It is worth adding that in the troubled and deeply unequal world we live in, Fellini's later obsession with the idle rich is looking increasingly frivolous. But maybe that's just me.

I'm not going to pretend that this is classic Fellini, or a masterpiece of Italian/European art-house cinema, but.....there's a lot going on in this movie that rewards a lengthy attention span. Mastroiani plays the archetypal middle-aged menopausal misogynist, the oldest swinger in town, calling women everything but women. Sows, mares, bitches, etc.

Fellini effortlessly sets him up for a long slow surreal fall from grace, deconstructing his fear of women in the process. It's a temporal culture clash, as stiff monochrome macho sexism meets technicolour badass feminism head on.

There's a few of Fellini's sublime production games going on in the background, most notably the orgasm orchestra that builds from the sono-portraits of Marcello's past lovers. The symbolism on display throughout is typically oblique, but it's effortlessly played for laughs in a way that few of his earlier films managed.

I've seen most of Fellini's output, from La Strada to Ginger and Fred, and for me this movie stands out along with those two as an accessible entry point into the satirical world view of one of Italy's most interesting directors.

It's certainly not a masterpiece, but it's definitely a wry look at the sexual mores of the day. And the cinematography ain't bad either.

By the time this movie was made Women's issues were alive in the media of all industrialized nations ... This movie was meant to shock and shock it does. Its not crass ... it is very cerebral and highbrow. The character is lost in a sea of femme weapons. This movie actually depicts well the confusion and men and women in a new age. The movie is full of enticement followed by letdown and weirdness ... as is our daily lives in this new age. Have you ever heard that all a man thinks about is sex ... well this movie takes it to extremes. Its funny, scary, enticing, crazy, dreamy, wild, intellectual, modern. I think one of best of Frederico. He got better with age. The movie characters are all over the edge, too much, too weird ... its all for a point.

Continuing my Fellini quest, I found City of Women to be interesting. It is not my favourite Fellini, the pace feels sluggish at times and it is rather shrill and unsubtle in tone. On the other hand, Fellini directs beautifully with his distinctive style most evident. City of Women is visually stunning in scenery, costumes and cinematography. The music is full of cheerful energy and nostalgia, while in terms of writing the autobiographical aspects are interesting, the self-parody and satirical aspects are funny and the dream aspects are appropriately dream-like and in an enchanting way. The story shines with the personal and nostalgic style that is so distinctive of Fellini. The acting is fine, especially from the ever compelling Marcello Mastroianni, though his performances in La Dolce Vita and 8 1/2 are even better.

All in all, interesting but I personally would have preferred more subtlety. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Kind of shrill and not very subtle, but nonetheless fascinating. Marcello Mastroianni plays "Snaporaz" (Fellini's nickname for the actor), who gets lost in a nightmare world where he is confronted with feminism, absurd satires of machismo and sexual fantasies and confusion. This film doesn't seem to have a very good reputation, even among Fellini fans, but I was mostly enthralled with its strange, unpredictable rhythms, visually astonishing sets, sense of humor and dreamworld logic. The cinematography (by Guiseppe Rotunno, who did a number of other Fellini films, as well as ALL THAT JAZZ, with which this picture shares some similarities) is delightful and the score is a mix of the usual carnivalesque tunes and eerie, more modern sounds... and one hell of a great Italo-disco song. Some parts are annoying or just too long, but overall it's my favorite of Fellini's later career, a surreal amusement about masculine fear and self-loathing.