History Film / EightAndAHalf

* WhipItGood: Guido to all the women of his harem. One of them is TooKinkyToTorture.

Creator/ClaudiaCardinale plays Claudia, Guido's "ideal woman" that he casts in the film.

* DrivenToSuicide: Guido in the press conference. Might as well have been a daydream sequence, since he appears again in the next scene.

--> "You see, what stands out at a first reading is the lack of a central issue or a philosophical stance. That makes the film a chain of gratuitous episodes which may even be amusing in their ambivalent realism. You wonder, what is the director really trying to do? Make us think? Scare us? That ploy betrays a basic lack of poetic inspiration."

* AuthorAvatar: Guido, a celebrated film director who can't come up with a story for his next movie, was created by Federico Fellini, a celebrated film director who made this film because he couldn't come up with a story for his next movie.

%%* AuthorAvatar: Guido.

A pseudo-autobiographical 1963 film by Creator/FedericoFellini dealing with a director, Guido Anselmi (portrayed by Creator/MarcelloMastroianni), trying to make a film, but suffering from “director’s block.” To make things worse, his personal life is also going under a lot of stress: his health is not ideal, he doesn’t know where he is standing right now and he has problems with both his wife Luisa (Anouk Aimee) and his lover Carla (Sandra Milo). In other words, everything is conspiring to make his film sink like the Titanic.

One of Fellini’s better known works, it’s a favorite of film directors for showing the trials and tribulations of their career. The movie is generally straightforward, but full of flashbacks and daydream sequences, practically without any warning (sometimes you don’t realize you’re watching a fantasy until later). The title comes from the fact that before making the film, Fellini realized that he had made six features and three shorts (each short being "half"), which added up to seven-and-a-half films. So, obviously, the next movie would be film number '''8½'''.

* AuthorAvatar: Guido.

* CoolShades: Guido wears them because he is a well known director.

* EveryoneComesBackFantasyPartyEnding: All the people from Guido's past come back near the end to join him into a dance number set in a circus stage, where he is the ring master.

* SoapOperaDisease: Carla periodically runs 100-plus-degree fevers with no explanation. She admits, while suffering a bout of such illness, that she and [[YourCheatingHeart her husband]] have learned to live with them.

Compare/contrast with ''Film/AllThatJazz'' and ''Film/WildStrawberries''.

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: The director, talking about Guido's film, basically describing Fellini's film.

* EarWorm: InUniverse. Once Guido hears the famous overture to Music/GioachinoRossini's ''Theatre/TheBarberOfSeville'' played by the orchestra, he just can't get it out of his head. It only lasts about a day though.

%%* BittersweetEnding
%%* ButtMonkey: Conocchia.

%%* GainaxEnding

%%* TheMuse: Claudia.

%%* NiceHat

%%* TheSmartGuy: The writer.

%%* PrettyInMink: Carla.

%%* DaydreamSurprise
%%* DeliberatelyMonochrome

%% ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.

* RideOfTheValkyries: Played for a moment of SoundtrackDissonance, as this rousing theme starts as Guido is stretching in his bathroom, and continues as people mill about his film set aimlessly.

* SoundtrackDissonance: Playing ''Music/RideOfTheValkyries'' to the sight of the resort for the elderly and frail? Check. The music is eventually revealed to be diegetic, but this rather makes the whole thing even more absurd.

Later remade as the stage musical ''Theatre/{{Nine}}'', which itself was later adapted into a movie starring Creator/DanielDayLewis.

One of Fellini’s better known works, it’s a favorite of film directors for showing the trials and tribulations of their career. The movie is generally straightforward, but full of flashbacks and daydream sequences, practically without any warning (sometimes you don’t realize you’re watching a fantasy until later). The title comes from the fact that before making the film, Fellini realized that he had made six features and three shorts (each short being "half") which added up to 7 and a Half films. So obviously the next movie will be film number '''8½'''

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/81_2_movieposter_9154.jpg]]

A pseudo-autobiographical film by Creator/FedericoFellini dealing with a director, Guido Anselmi (portrayed by Creator/MarcelloMastroianni), trying to make a film, but suffering from “director’s block.” To make things worse, his personal life is also going under a lot of stress: his health is not ideal, he doesn’t know where he is standing right now and he has problems with both his wife Luisa (Anouk Aimee) and his lover Carla (Sandra Milo). In other words, everything is conspiring to make his film sink like the Titanic.

A pseudo-autobiographical film by Creator/FedericoFellini dealing with a director, Guido Anselmi (portrayed by Creator/MarcelloMastroianni), trying to make a film, but suffering from “director’s block.” To make things worse, his personal life is also going under a lot of stress: his health is not ideal, he doesn’t know where he is standing right now and he has problems with both his wife and his lover. In other words, everything is conspiring to make his film sink like the Titanic.