Mjeteconer Just perfect...

LouHomey From my favorite movies..

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

GertrudeStern There's that moment when you're very exhausted before sleep, maybe you're intoxicated or just overworked and underloved. Vivid images surface in the mind's eye. That's Juliet of the Spirits. Fellini touches the senses with both hands -- playing with light and color, things appear unexpectedly, and right when you expect them, they vanish. Everything moves quickly, with opulence.The eponymous Juliet lives a comfortable financial life, but that's about all that's comfortable. Her mom is a certified ice queen and her dad is a nut. Women around her are always losing weight at the behest of "directors", she has a blonde neighbor who oozes sex and all Juliet wants is to get the glow back in her eyes. Her husband, though good-natured enough, is busy and distracted, and worse, he says the name of another woman while sleeping -- the haunting syllables, "Gabriella".Then, Bishma, a clairvoyant, rolls into town. Juliet is summoned to Bishma alone with the question of her husband's fidelity. I had high hopes for the Bishma, but they turned out to be kind of a sub-par prophet, telling Juliet that she needs to please her husband better and suggesting a pair of black fishnets. Juliet holds her own until she loses it and starts having visions of pulse-quickening women in ceiling swings and atop horses. She does get a heartening omen upon her final exit from Bishma's pad: "a good and beautiful change will come tonight".Turns out Bishma is not the false prophet one might have thought. A handsome stranger shows up in Juliet's garden and prepares an elixir -- sangria -- which the Bishma name dropped in their final word. Juliet finds a cat with a bow around it's neck. She adopts some artistic, spiritual and sexual advisors who make her ride bikes through the rain. Her visions grow ever more powerful. She experiences things; she gets liberated.Juliet of the Spirits is a circus. You're in for tons of delightfully frilly headgear, impertinent canoodling, quoting of Lorca, private investigators, catholic-guilt-driven apparitions and magic telescopes. Very nice on the eyes.

steffism Many symbols in this movie really want us to embrace the 60s values: peace, love, liberation...emerging is the new spirit of Giulietta...Not in chronological order but just a few listed: 1. Ethereal, translucent white poppies of Suzy's garden symbolize peace. 2. The séance message: "love for everybody". 3. The martyr's rack represents an acceptance of her life sacrifice.Giulietta came to understand her need to love herself and release herself willingly from those bonds placed on her as a child.Overall, this is a message about overcoming the spirits...referring to a New Testament verse: "Try the spirits, whether they are of God or the Devil" (1 John 4:1-5).A key theme is Rota's masterful score: the music represents a parody of life, the circus-like performance that all people put on for the sake of appearances; Giulietta did not want to be a part of the charade of this staged life-style of wigs, make-up, costumes, affected glamour, etc. Rather, rooted in her domestic and maternal arts, she wanted to be true to her convictions albeit within the narrow confines of her guilt-ridden upbringing. When she faced the various spirits of the age, Giulietta came to see that they were all, according to their own opinions, trying to guide her to take their own various paths...but they were not paths she could choose...according to her own sensibilities she would be free from all of the externally imposed expectations others in her life seemed to desire for her...she found her own path in the end. She walks to stage right...into the unknown future, alone, but filled with a desire to take a break from her home and garden...to explore the world beyond the comfort zone of her own making...the knowledge of having made the decision to be true to herself, to make peace, love, and liberation her focus, filled her with a new spirit, that of unlimited adventure and hope.

TheLittleSongbird I have a lot of admiration for Federico Fellini and his films. His style is not for everybody, people will find it fascinating complete with beautiful visuals, a personal and nostalgic sense of storytelling and characters that are not what they seem on first glance, but others may find him/them self-indulgent or dull. While I can understand the latter viewpoint, I belong in the those who find him/them fascinating camp.Juliet of the Spirits is not my favourite Fellini film. My pick for best is between La Dolce Vita and 8 1/2, though I also give Nights of Cabiria a big shout out for being the film that resonated with me the most emotionally. Amarcord and La Strada are also splendid. In fact of the nine films seen so far(including this, Casanova, Roma and Satyricon) even my least favourite so far, Satyricon which I found his weirdest film and a little disjointed, have many points of merit.A perfect film? Not quite for me. I did feel that a few scenes did feel less focused than others in terms of tone and that a couple dragged. Then again, like with all Fellinis, I think a couple of re-watches might do the trick.But Juliet of the Spirits has many things to admire about it. While not all the scenes worked entirely for me, I found the mix of dreams, Jungian psychology, spiritualism and astrology very interesting, if perhaps not as spellbinding to watch as 8 1/2, and much more even and less jumpy in structure than Satyricon. The characters I was at least engaged with, I didn't quite identify the whole step of the way with the titular character completely like with Nights of Cabiria and La Strada, but again unlike Casanova I didn't find her a detached character either.Visually, Juliet of the Spirits is stunning. The use of vibrant colours, beautiful settings and colourful costumes are as ever a feast for the eyes. Fellini's direction is overall superb, the films I cited as my favourites in the first paragraph, as well as Roma, had more of a personal and nostalgic value, but the sense of craftsmanship and care that goes in every film of his I've seen really shines through here. Nino Rota's score is bright, characterful and not too obtrusive.Giulietta Masina is a big part of why Juliet of the Spirits works very well on the whole. Her ever expressive face makes for a both spirited and moving performance. The supporting cast support her well. All in all, an interesting and very good film if falling short just of greatness. 8/10 Bethany Cox

PWNYCNY Whenever one looks at their watch while watching a movie, that's a sure sign that there is a problem with the movie. It's a long movie made to seem even longer when one has to deal with subtitles. In all fairness, a movie should be judged in its own language or when dubbed; not when one has to read subtitles. With that understanding, this movie is critiqued. The movie attempts to dramatize the plight of a middle aged mousy looking woman who is experiencing some kind of personal crisis involving her husband. Although the premise generates interest it is dramatically a dud. In trying to seek the truth the woman experiences all kinds of visions and has flashbacks recalling people in her life, all of whom are caricatures. The caricatures are very amusing, which is a part of the movie which is charming, and the husband, who is really quite likable, is revealed for what he is, a cheat. Yet the movie is dramatically flat due in part to the leading lady who, although quite likable, simply is a blank. The movie is beautifully photographed. If you want a movie with a great cast, this is it. If you want a movie about marital faithlessness, skip it. Actually, at second thought, the movie doesn't work because Juliet is so frumpy looking that it's not surprising that her handsome husband would stray.