Ginger e Fred

Before I saw this movie, I had heard how it was considered one of Federico Fellini's more accessible movies. If this was meant of Fellini's films from the sixties on, I can agree with that. The film is basically two things: one big jab at television and giving Giuletta Masina the opportunity to show everyone how adorable she is (she succeeds). The TV angle, however scathing it may have been in 1986; today with the plethora of reality TV shows, the film just seems prescient. The film's very basic storyline is Masina reuniting with old dance partner Marcello Mastroianni for a TV show. Filling in the rest of the movie (and sometimes obscuring the main story) are the many oddball characters scheduled for the TV show. As anyone familiar with Fellini knows, he loves outrageous people. In this film, for example, there are transsexuals, psychics, a midget troupe and a cow with many teats. The first part of the movie, at the hotel, is a little too much because everything is thrown at the viewer at once. The characters, television, Ginger and Fred, all vie for your attention and it can be overwhelming. Once at the studio, the film kind of settles down and one is able to enjoy the film and it's characters. Not one of Fellini's best but also not only for fanatics of Fellini either.

Ginger e Fred is much more a film about the Italian psyche than a film about an old dance team that reunites after 40 years to appear on a TV variety show. It takes place at Christmastime, and having spent Christmas in Rome, the fun-insane carnival atmosphere Fellini depicts is pretty accurate, but exaggerated for film. Walking around Rome I found subconscious playing back bits of the soundtrack and it was only then that I realized how much I love this film. It's also about people who time leave behind. And about two people who are tragically unable to say how much they do love each other. It's also very very funny. Fellini go the idea for the film after seeing his older films butchered on Italian TV. A highlight is an old woman who was paid not to watch TV for a month. She's brought into the studio a mental wreck, swearing she'll never do it again and promises to watch more and more TV.

Ginger e Fred (1986) is one of the few movies (4 in all) Fellini made in the '80s,and the ripest fruit of his late career,the acme of his narrative cinema.(In the 7th decade of the 20th century,Fellini also made relatively few films:only 4,and also 2 sketches.)Is "Ginger ..." Fellini's best movie?I don't know that;but it certainly is the one that I cherish most.Exquisite, unobjectionable, unparalleled cinema? Surely!Within the Fellini criteria,this is a rather simple movie,deprived of experiments,etc.;it is,of course,of no avail to be "told",but not because it lacks a "story",only that it is a simple,uneventful one.A sudden return to what we may call a perennial realism,of a perfect incision and a welcome sobriety of means,a huge appetite for giving an objective and transitive creation (though the resources of grotesque,tenderness,comic,Oneiric ,a detached Inebriety,satire,effects of strange,caricatures,etc.,are also used).It is also a return to a narrative form,and a very comic movie:in this film,Fellini has a content to be told,to be molded and put in an epic shape.The weird people could not miss,on the contrary;but the movie has an obvious realistic aim,in a comical,satirical and tender key.As shape,it is not an essay,but a realist narration,and each thing,though caricatured,is plausible.I would say that Fellini has,in "Ginger ...",so firm a notion on what he wants to say,that he can afford himself to be playful.He can afford it,as the main aim of his movie is so firmly handled.He had some things to say about love,life,old age,career,art,TV,contemporary life,etc.,some very straight things.For this movie,he chosen to deepen in the contemporary world;moreover,here he has not anymore that sense of tearing,of speechless pained,exasperated sensibility that gave a very special note to his '50s movies.A shivering,a feverishness.Mrs. Masina,in her room,looking outside:she sees a Martian landscape.

Throughout his 50 years career,Fellini made some TV creations (such as The Clowns and A Director's Notebook).In "Ginger ...",he expresses all his disgust for that institution,in a very acid charge.Is Fellini ever "non-judgmental", as some would like to believe?Never.

Mastroianni,with his whistles,and licentious jokes,and bad language,and courtesy.Fellini always allowed his actors to be great,to do THEIR creations,he never used them as mere puppets.Must I praise here Mastroianni's perfect mastery of his profession,his exquisite and tasty professionalism,in the noblest sense of this banal word?Fellini was a too generous, too intelligent director,not to let,and not to encourage Mastroianni be himself and give his best.Hence ,Mastroianni's "Pippo" is a whole chapter in the acting's history.(Hitchcock was not content with Clift,and I don't think he was with Newman;Antonioni was not content with Harris.Well,Fellini seemed to like the actors with strong personalities:he had in his movies Mastroianni,Anthony Quinn, Basehart, Broderick Crawford,Sordi,Terence Stamp,Anouk Aimée,François Périer, etc.,etc.!He never disliked or avoided to work with the great actors;this is a sign of his abundant and good-humored endowment,able to engross others' aptitude for creation .With Fellini,the actor's dignity is safe,and restored,the actor is allowed to display his endowment and work,his creation is sustained by the director.)In "Ginger ...",as in some other shows he did as an oldster,Mastroianni finds that exactness,that roundness,that plenitude,that sureness,that pleasantness,that made him maybe the most sure-footed actor.In his youth and maturity,Mastroianni's force came from his dexterity,intrepidity,etc.;now,there is this sheer artistic robustness.

Watch Mastroianni and Mrs. Masina,to see for yourself how far,how deep the actors' art can go.

This wasn't a bad film, though those without previous knowledge of Fellini's films may not like it as much. Giuletta Masina and Marcello Mastroani give their usual great performances. I actually thought Marcello gave one of his better performances here, in that he displayed a great comedic timing. I am mostly familiar with Fellini's pre-1970 films so I was not sure how a film made in the 1980's would do (given how much cinema had changed from the 50's/60's to the 80's), but he still delivers an enjoyable film, thanks in large part to good acting by the two leads. I enjoyed the satirical attack on television and the modern era (advertisting, etc.), which I happen to strongly agree with. The TV show scene near the end contains your typical Fellini "magic" and aesthetics, so I enjoyed that as well. This is by no means comparable to Fellini's masterpieces, but is still a well-made and enjoyable film, and more accessible than some of his more outrageous stuff he's made in past years. 7/10.

Fellini takes a stab at television in this wonderful satire. It's Christmas, and an Italian "Ed Sullivan" type show is having a special, by re-uniting acts that were featured years ago. There is a hilarious (for those in the know) swipe at Woody Allen, who has been parodying Fellini for years. It's a bit deliberately paced, but the chemistry between the stars makes it worthwhile.