A kaleidoscope of dreams, ghosts, and memories in Federico Fellini’s first color film, starring Giulietta Masina.
A fickle and cheating husband forgets about his fifteenth wedding anniversary with Juliet (Giulietta Masina), a loyal housewife who whiles away her time at a seaside villa. Instead of a romantic dinner, the couple spend the evening at a loud party, where Juliet takes part in a spiritualist séance. Next morning, she wakes up to a world where the boundary between reality and the imaginary has been erased: her home, the woods, and the beach are filled with mystical visions, memories, and figures from the past. A guru (Valeska Gert) tells her: «Love is a religion. Your husband is your god.» But her encounter with eccentric neighbor Suzy (Sandra Milo) opens up a world of physical freedom that is in a stark contrast to her habitual lifestyle.
Juliet of the Spirits marked an important turn in Fellini’s career: his first film in color, it was also a complete departure from the realism of his early works and the first role after a six-year break for Giulietta Masina, the filmmaker’s wife and star of La Strada and Nights of Cabiria. Despite the average critical reception and being a commercial flop, it was in this baroque film that Fellini’s poetics manifested itself with greatest freedom.
The film will be screened in Italian with Russian subtitles.
«Juliet of the Spirits»
Director: Federico Fellini
Italy, 1965. 145 min.
16+