Giulietta degli spiriti [Juliet of the Spirits] (1965)

Fellini's first color feature film stars his wife Giulietta Masina, whom he last worked with on Le notti di Cabiria.  The result is a bizarre mix of hallucination and surrealism.  The Guiliette of the film is a devoted house wife who enjoys dabbling in séances.  She entertains her extrovert-husband's friends when she'd probably enjoy spending an evening with him alone.  She's happy until she learns that her husband (a director by the way) is having an affair.   This knowledge catapults her psyche into a cluttered mind-spin that's beautiful to behold but kind of boring.  Okay, I'll admit it, this film didn't enthrall me as much as Fellini's other works.  I embraced his experimentation, and an artist responsible for such works as 8 1/2 and  La Strada, is allowed a film like this to showcase his courage to push the envelope, even if he pushes a little too hard.  But such a failure is a fascinating experience at times.  There's great imagery and sexy technicolor costumes and lots of flashy edits that at its time was probably stunning and fresh.  Today it's just blah and kind of dated.  Oh, it's a sixties LCD-influenced picture.   I'm not an expert on Fellini and perhaps I'll go read his biography after I write this but I'm curious how much truth this film mirrors his own relationship with the real Guiliette.  I can image Guiliette reading the script and muttering, "Oh great, here's our dirty laundry out for everyone to see."  Or maybe not, as an artist herself, maybe she charged forward wanting to put herself out there and announce to the world, "Here I am?"  It's certainly a film worth seening if you enjoy older films and want to see Fellini under the influence.  Grade: B-.