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Drama

8½

Otto e mezzo

Year
1963
Length
138 minCriterion 138-minute presentation Version sources ↓

A director unable to make his next film retreats into memories, fantasies, and an ever-growing production circus.

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Language
Italian
FunnyStrangeBeautiful Approachable · For patient viewers Drama
8½: A sculptural paper 8 and fraction become a stairway and circus stage with a director's chair.

Image: Monocurator · source · Original Monocurator artwork

What to expect

Federico Fellini turns creative paralysis into a fluid spectacle where recollection, desire, rehearsal, and present crisis share the same stage. Its self-reflexive form remains influential because confusion becomes choreography rather than confession alone.

How to ease in

Accept that scenes can slide between present reality, memory, fantasy, and imagined direction without warning. Guido’s blocked production is the anchor even when the film floats away from it.

Heads-up

A quick, non-exhaustive note Includes infidelity, misogyny, sexual fantasy, suicidal imagery, and flashing or disorienting sequences.
Momo's Note May contain spoilers Who is Momo? →
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Guido's confusion entertained me, but I was also irritated by the way he draws everyone else into it while remaining unable to answer them. He turns even his evasions into spectacle, and I could not help enjoying that too. Yet when everyone joins the final circle, I did not feel that everything had been forgiven.

— Momo

Momo thinking about this film

Credits & versions

Credits
Cast
Marcello Mastroianni — Guido Anselmi · Claudia Cardinale — Claudia · Anouk Aimée — Luisa Anselmi · Sandra Milo — Carla
Production
Angelo Rizzoli
Cinematography
Gianni di Venanzo

Version map

Criterion 138-minute presentation 138 min 138 minutes is attached only to this named source presentation; no restoration, score, territory, cut, frame rate, or source element is inferred. Source: Criterion Collection — 8½ (1963) Runtime reference · Checked 2026-08-16

Sources for the facts

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