8½

8½ features filmmaker Guido (Marcello Mastroianni) being besieged by sycophants and collaborators as he struggles to get started on an unwieldy science-fiction epic. He withdraws to a health resort. His wife Louisa, his mistress Carla, his friends, his actors and his producer come to pay a visit. They all want him to finish writing the film. He takes refuge in endless daydreaming.

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. It was voted the 10th greatest film of all time in Sight and Sound magazine’s most recent survey and ranked joint 31st in the 2022 Sight and Sound Great Films of All Time poll. It features the late Claudia Cardinale as an enigmatic actress and Guido’s “ideal woman”.