Subscribe to watch - 14-day free trial, then £4.99 a month

15 rating

Fellini triumphantly conjured himself out of writer's block with this magnum opus about a film director experiencing his own creative crisis.

Drama 1963 138 mins

Director: Federico Fellini

Overview

Taking its title from the number of films Fellini had completed up to this point, 8½ features filmmaker Guido (Marcello Mastroianni) being besieged by sycophants and collaborators as he struggles to get started on an unwieldy science-fiction epic. Frequently digressing into surreal and erotic dream sequences, Fellini’s self-reflexive movie about movie-making climaxes with an exuberant parade.

Acclaimed as one the greatest films about artistic expression, 8½ won two Academy Awards and many festival prizes upon its release, and was voted the 10th greatest film of all time in Sight and Sound magazine's most recent survey. Ranked joint 31st in the 2022 Sight and Sound Great Films of All Time poll