8½

8½ (1963) is Federico Fellini's Italian-French drama — watch it online on iFILM. At 138 minutes, this is one of the few films that permanently shifted what cinema thought it was allowed to do with memory, desire, and creative paralysis.

Director Guido Anselmi, played by Marcello Mastroianni, has retreated to a spa town on doctor's orders. Rest. Instead, his entire professional and personal world descends: a producer pacing for answers, a wife Luisa (Anouk Aimée) who has run out of patience, a mistress Carla (Sandra Milo) who demands nothing except presence. Guido escapes into his own head — childhood fragments, women from decades past, a mysterious figure drifting through the hallways. Claudia Cardinale appears as an idealized woman who exists only inside his imagination. The film took home two Academy Awards at the 1964 Oscars: Best Foreign Language Film and Best Costume Design. It was released in Italy through Cineriz.

Fellini made 8½ about the impossibility of making anything — and then made something extraordinary out of it. Stream 8½ (1963) online on iFILM.