CINEMATIC Review

JULIET OF THE SPIRITS   ***1/2

Federico Fellini

1965

IDEA:   Juliet, suspecting her husband of cheating, wanders in and out of bizarre hallucinations in order to deal with the discomfort of her life.

BLURB:   Fellini’s wildly flamboyant, ostentatious psychosis of a woman (Giulietta Masina) trying to break free from the literal spirits that haunt her. An abstract circus of lurid grotesques and fanciful seductresses, weaving outrageous characters and ornate surroundings into a haunting dream world that seems more and more apparent to take place entirely within Juliet’s consciousness, pulling at her every which way as she struggles to cope with her husband’s seemingly adulterous lifestyle. Glamorously showy costumes and lavish sets help to create Fellini’s surrealistic portraiture, a highly symbolic and sometimes overly cloudy expression of the feminine psyche. Truly a fierce ride.