ags123 Maybe this film was shocking and avant-garde in its day, but try sitting through this thing today and you'll find it mind-numbingly dull, self-conscious and embarrassingly over- indulgent. Putting aside all the visual tropes that take up the majority of this film's achingly long 137 minutes and examining the plot, the idea of a woman questioning her life and whether to endure a cheating husband dovetailed nicely with the emerging women's movement of the time. We're over it. We get it. We recognize that women are smarter than that. No need to read more into it than what we see here on screen, which is pretty shallow and way too artsy. For a much better take on the same subject, see Paul Mazursky's 1978 "An Unmarried Woman." The one redeeming feature of "Juliet of the Spirits" is the lively score by Nino Rota which may possibly keep the viewer from dozing off.

jackasstrange This is in fact the first Fellini feature film that I've watched. Basically i was expecting a weird and psychological film, and it delivered exactly what i was expecting plus an excellent soundtrack and great cinematography. It's a work of a genius in my opinion. It has a very slow start, but it is very important, because it shows how 'boring' and sad the life of the protagonist is and how her life works. She is a repressed woman, who never had any liberties on hislife because of the rigid authoritarian education that their parents raised her into. And the story really starts when she started to become suspicious of her husband, that probably is in an extramarital affair. And the story just became weirder and weirder at each scene. But then is also when you start to really get the meaning of all the crazy hallucinations.What i found fantastic was the way the hallucinations are presented in the film. The editing is purposely made in a way that we can't distinguish what is fantasy and what is really happening in the life of Julliete. Just after a while you really get what is happening. A different approach than in the other films of that subject, which made clear to the viewer what is real and what is pure fantasy created by the character. The cinematography and art direction are phenomenal. The beauty and the horror in the images are at same time fascinating and repulsive. Unbelievable. A work of a master, i must say. Because it's exactly what the protagonist think about the images as well. At the same time she wanted to live in the luxury, sinful way, but she as well learned that this kind of life it's wrong and despicable. The soundtrack by the great Nino Rota just adds to it, of course. Definitely a work of art! 9.6/10

Jackson Booth-Millard From director Federico Fellini (Nights of Cabiria, Amarcord), I obviously spotted this Italian film in the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die book, and I was very interested to watch anything that is recommended that highly. Basically in a beautiful house by the ocean are a family of sisters and their Mother (Caterina Boratto), they are all beautiful, but they overshadow naive and spiritually superstitious Giulietta (Juliet) Boldrini (Giulietta Masina). She has had enough of her boring and predictable lifestyle, and she decides she needs to escape, so she sees a psychic fortune teller to get some advice. The seer tells her that she will find a happier life is she joins the sex trade, i.e. become a prostitute and sell her body, and after this she meets her eccentric and sexual neighbour Suzy (Sandra Milo), who is herself a high class prostitute. Giulietta gets into various sexual acts, but she feels really guilty and nervous afterwards and during, and she also finds out that her husband Giorgio (Mario Pisu) is having some sort of affair, on the phone anyway, with a woman named "Gabriella", he also says her name in his sleep, but lies his way out of answering his wife's questions. She fears her husband will leave her for Gabriella, now that she knows who she is, and she starts having visions of spirits accusing her of things and frightening her. The most significant vision though comes towards the end and Giulietta realises that she would have a much better life without Giorgio, and that any emotions she has have been overruled by her superstitions. Also starring Sandra Milo as Iris and Fanny, Luisa Della Noce as Adele, Sylva Koscina as Sylva, Lou Gilbert as Grandfather and Valentina Cortese as Valentina. The performances are as good as you are going to get, but it is the visuals that really make the film what it is, with the leading character escaping into some odd, weird, magical, whatever you want to call it, fantasy world full of colourful sets and costumes, it is a reasonably interesting fantasy drama. It was nominated the Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration and Best Costume Design, and it won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign-Language Foreign Film. Worth watching!

TheAnimalMother A reincarnation of the Buddha is said to have described himself as being, "like the moon upon the water...a reflection. Think of me as your self." He said. Many ancient sages have spoke and been written of seeing The One, the holy God of eternity while looking, gazing, or meditating into a river or pond. For just as God separated the light from the darkness. Fellini too has created his own deep symbolic reflections of the Unfathomable One. Some say that this film, 'Giullietta degli spiriti' is the feminine partner of Federico's previous film 8 1/2. 'An Ode To No One', and 'An Ode To One'. Like two mirrors, the two films reflect the Eternal Lovers in Their breaking, and in Their embrace. Fellini's dialogue and metaphors show a great understanding of The Self, The Divine Marriage, The Sacred Mystery. Fellini is one of the few modern artists who greatly understood the purpose and very nature of art itself. All art imitates life, sure, but human life also is merely an interpretation of that which is truly real. It is obvious by Fellini's work that he himself created his art in order to become more real, to become closer to truth. He created in order to see with more depth and to share this with others. Fellini undoubtedly understood the logic in the seemingly illogical words of the great William Blake when he said "If the doors of perception were truly cleansed, everything would appear as it truly is - infinite.". Fellini understood that all art imitates life, but even more so, he understood that all art imitates the Divine. He also understood that only through this kind of conscious introspection can one become closer and closer to our own True Infinite Nature. People who do not follow spiritual disciplines, or who do not know the work of Carl Jung, or who do not have a good understanding of ancient sacred scripture, will likely miss much of the depth in this film. However that is not to say that those people still won't enjoy it. This is the work of a Divinely inspired genius. Some watch this film and are dazzled by the great colour and flamboyant spectacle of it (And why wouldn't you be?), however truly it is the interweaving of dialogue and relationships that speak even louder than the amazing visuals. "For those who have ears, let them hear!"10/10