Interiors - February/March 2010

FEDERICO FELLINI: THE FILMS Ravishing his irresistible romanticism generally outweighed
in her evening gown, Anita Ekbergś stroll into the any heavy-handedness. The book makes it clear
waters of Romeś Trevi Fountain in La Dolce Vita is that vision and mood often came before plot, and
indelibly iconic. But did you know that beneath her most of his final films dispense with plot altogether.

frock she was donning thigh-high fishing boots? In A reprinted ˝holy warning˝ condemning La Dolce
the voluptuous new volume Federico Fellini: The Vita for alleged licentiousness upon its release 50
Films, author Tullio Kezich and editor Vittorio Boarini years ago serves as a reminder that Fellini, at the
bring together dozens of such wondrous stills and height of his fame, was a polarizing figure. As the
behind-the-scenes photos from all 25 of the maestroś unforgettable images in this book demonstrate, his
movies, along with revealing essays on the genesis of films have the last laugh n Lawrence Levi, Federico

each. Kezich, who knew Fellini for decades, traces Fellini: The Films, written by Tullio Kezich and edited
his progression from heartbreaking dramas (Nights by Vittorio Boarini, Rizzoli rizzoliusa.com
of Cabiria, 1957) to fanciful, introspective comedies ( 8, 1962) to hallucinatory nostalgia (Amarcord, 1974), even examining the witty TV commercials he made before his death in 1993. Felliniś colorful preparatory drawings—he was a cartoonist before turning to filmmaking—show the source of his films´ carnivalesque, dreamlike ambience. Asketchofhis wife, Giulietta Masina, as the pixieish clown Gelsomina in La Strada accentuates the characterś sweetness; a sketch of the Poe character Toby Dammit, played by Terence Stamp in the 1968 omnibus film Spirits of the Dead, emphasizes his ghoulishness. Felliniś main subject was always ensuality versus spirituality, but his satirical jabs and

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