"8½" is a masterpiece of Italian cinema in the 1960s
. The film is a great attempt to use a camera to explore the inside of characters. The story of this film is very simple, but the film successfully reflects the protagonist's mental journey. The epoch-making significance of the film is that it penetrates into the characters' hearts, which include their associations, imaginations, dreams, hallucinations, subconscious minds, and so on. The dream at the beginning of the film lays down the tone style and structure of the whole film, indicating that the film is composed of dreams and reality. In the passages after the beginning of the film, there are many places of dreams and fantasy. Everywhere seems to be a break in the narrative of reality, but in fact it is closely integrated with the environment. These fantasies point to the character's heart, and together with the character's external actions, they construct a three-dimensional and vivid person. Although there are multiple interpretations of these passages in the film, they are not vague and obscure monologues, but have a definite inner direction
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"8½" is a classic work. Through the presentation of memories, fantasy, and dreams, the film metaphors a story about film creation, as well as the film itself. The intermittent hallucinations and memories in the film break the integrity of the main line of reality. In the shots showing the master princess's world, shaking, spatial distortion, and peculiar composition also make the picture appear in a state of broken balance. However, as the plot progresses, the sense of imbalance will be resolved and balance will be restored. The film gains a unique tension through the transformation of breaking and restoring balance. The protagonist’s memories and hallucinations have almost spanned his entire growth experience, and the film only sifted out the essence from the protagonist’s overall memory. This sort of screening seems to squeeze a complete and full life, but the exaggeration of the image, the concentration of symbols, and the unique lens language give the audience more visual elements. Thus, in every fragment of the film, the audience can enjoy the tension of art
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