The fountain of imagination depicted by visual magician Fellini in “8½”

Another last scene that became a fantasy

At the climax, all the people involved in the protagonist's life come down the steps of the launch pad, form a circle, hold hands, and a band of clowns walks between them. The boy in the back playing the flute is Guido from his childhood. The sight of him trudging away is so cute, melancholy, and impressive that it will never be erased from my memory.

Actually, a different video was originally prepared for this last part. When the protagonist suddenly looks up, he finds himself in a railroad dining car, surrounded by people who have been involved in his life, all dressed in pure white, smiling as they stare at him.

There is a legend that Fellini was born on a moving train. In reality, it seems to be a completely fabricated story, and no one knows who spread it, but depending on how you look at it, it's not hard to imagine that this ending is one that Fellini used to his advantage by using the fictional legends surrounding him as a gimmick.

『8½』(c)Photofest/Getty Images

However, when we later took additional shots for the trailer, the final scene of the participants holding hands around the launch pad came out better than I expected. When those involved compared the results, many favored the celebratory latter option, and this was ultimately chosen. He had ordered that the original train version be kept safe, but after a while no one knew where the negative had gone.

This way of enveloping everything in a fantastical haze is a characteristic of Fellini, a visual magician who lingers between light and shadow, joy and sadness, dreams and reality.

Life is truly a circus. The world full of imagination that he left us will no doubt continue to fascinate people even 100 or 200 years from now.

Reference materials

“Fellini Cinema and Life” by Tullio Kejichi, translated by Yasushi Oshiba (2010/Hakusuisha)

"Fellini" by John Baxter, translated by Naoko Mukuta (1996/Heibonsha)

Text: USHIZU ATSUNOBU

Born in Nagasaki in 1977. When he was 3 years old, he saw ``Superman II'' with his father and became fascinated with movies. After The Graduate from Meiji University, he worked for a movie broadcasting channel and then became a movie writer. Currently, in addition to writing for Eiga.com, EYESCREAM, Real Sound Movie Club, etc., he also contributes to media press and theater programs.

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(c) Photofest / Getty Images