Guido Anselmi: Film Analysis

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The film 8 ½ centers on a filmmaker, Guido Anselmi, who struggles with the making of a new movie. Throughout the film, we see Guido’s fantasies, dreams, memories, and reality and often the line in between these moments is blurred. It is hard to indisputably tell whether a particular scene is truly happening in the reality of the film. What we do know, though, is that every scene is happening, either consciously or not, for Guido. Even if he does not really live in a house with all of the women in his life, that scene can reveal something about Guido since he is the one having the fantasy. Many of the non-reality moments in the film refer back to his childhood. Similarly, in the reality scenes in the film, we can see that Guido’s decisions …show more content…

In this dream, we see that Guido feels as though he has been a disappointment to his parents and he seeks his father’s approval. His father will not answer the questions that Guido has for him. Rather, as depicted in the image on the right, his father complains that the ceilings in the mausoleum are too low and that it is ugly. He wants Guido to fix this. He then asks Guido about Luisa and Guido lies to him and says that things are fine. His father responds, “you two together have been my joy” (8 ½, 22:19). Guido’s parents, as far as the viewer can tell, had a good marriage and Guido feels guilty that he cannot do the same. “Art Film Reflections,” an online blog, analyzes this scene in the film saying, “this dream further reveals Guido’s psychic orientation. It shows that to some extent he remains in childhood. Even though his parents are now dead, he is still unconsciously trying to please them. He is still trying to live to their expectations, and he feels shame that he has not done so.” We see throughout the film that, whether in reality or fantasy, people are constantly asking Guido questions and insulting his work. This is especially present near the end of the film at the press conference. Whether or not this scene occurs in reality, Guido feels more pressure similar to that from his father. At this point, he has had enough and metaphorically, it is

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