Charlotte Chandler is an incredible biographer. Reading 'I, Fellini', has been so liberating. Fellini seems to be so open, so blunt, and transparent no matter what he discusses in this revealing biography. It's easily one of the best psychological intrusions about what a director experiences while making films.
'When I am working on a film, that's the time I am bombarded by the greatest number of outside ideas, ideas not for the film on which I am working. That would be natural, to have ideas for the film in which I've involved, but the ideas that come knocking are for other stories, entirely different ones. These ideas are actually competing for energy, actually a synergy of ideas. The creative forces are let loose, but the creative spirits do not know anything about discipline...the important thing is that you have to be open to life. If you are, the possibilities are infinite. It's important to preserve your innocence and your optimism, especially when it's not easy.' -Fellini
The brilliance of the book is how Charlotte is able to make her subject very relaxed around her. Fellini embodied film; he started out as a cartoonist, met a wonderful woman-Giulietta Masina-who was a excellent actress and they worked together to created award winning films. He received his life achievement award but still struggled to get financing for his films.
There were things he mentioned-like the quote above-that I could really relate to. I was so touched and moved by his relationship with Giulietta. And towards the end of his life it became very rough-physically-and Giulietta remained by his side.
'Giulietta' always worried about me. She made sure my socks matched, wondered if my feet were wet so I wouldn't catch a cold. It's really the countless little things that make or break a marriage. Even when we quarreled, I knew she cared about me. No one else meant so much in my life.' -Fellini
I began to watch Fellini's films back in college. It's the excellent combination of music and image; his films I found to be light, fun, entertaining but can also be sad and troubling-the incredible sequence in 'La dolce Vita' -when Marcello's character runs into his dad. The end result of their scene was unexpected. The last scene in 'La Strada' is surprisingly uplifting. There are several sequences in '8 1/2' that are monumental-the camera work is brilliant throughout the whole film. The scene in the castle in 'La dolce Vita' is incredibly paced. Fellini talks about improvisation-which many people think he did a lot of on his set-which isn't true. Many thought he just made a lot up on the day of...but Fellini was very well prepared but remained open because you can miss out on something special that wasn't planned.
There so much that I can mentioned that I really enjoyed in the book but it's best you just read it, even if you're not a fan but a cinema lover. And this is not to say that I agreed with everything he said, because I don't but it's his honesty about what it is to be a director-that's what fascinates me. He knew the importance of the responsibility that the director beheld.
'Freedom can be a problem, because being a director of films is a responsibility, and responsibility and freedom are in conflict. The money of the few and the lives of the many are in my hands. Films have such power to influence; that, too, is responsibility.' -Fellini
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