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I didn’t know whether to expect a dose of medicine or a miracle. What I got was a breathtakingly gorgeous piece of cinema – though Fellini’s questionable fantasy leaves a bad taste

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Maybe you’re the kind of person who buys a new outfit on Saturday afternoon and then wears it the very same evening. That’s not me. Dresses hang unworn in my wardrobe for weeks while they go ever so slightly out of fashion, because I am very comfortable with deferred pleasures. It’s worth waiting for the right occasion to debut a new pair of shoes or to see a movie for the first time.
So it’s not that I never wanted to see Federico Fellini’s 8½. I knew I would get around to it one day, preferably on a large cinema screen, but that date never presented itself. Some people have attempted gently to dissuade me from watching it, but I assumed that they overestimated my sensitivity. Although clearly no Felliniphile, I have no aversion to the director, having admired some of the films he made before this: the seven and a half that fed into its title. This viewing is overdue for another reason: it’s probably the only film in the Sight & Sound Top 10 list to feature an actor from my hometown. Continue reading...