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{{Short description|1963 film by Federico Fellini}}
{{For|window system developed for the Plan 9|8½ (Plan 9)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = 8½
| image          = 8Mezzo.jpg
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Federico Fellini]]
| screenplay     = {{Plainlist|
* Federico Fellini 
* [[Tullio Pinelli]]
* [[Ennio Flaiano]]
* [[Brunello Rondi]]
}}
| story          = {{Plainlist|
* Federico Fellini
* Ennio Flaiano
}}
| producer       = [[Angelo Rizzoli]]
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Marcello Mastroianni]]
* [[Claudia Cardinale]]
* [[Anouk Aimée]]
* [[Sandra Milo]]
* [[Rossella Falk]]
* [[Barbara Steele]]
* [[Guido Alberti]]
* [[Madeleine Lebeau]]
* {{ill|Jean Rougeul|fr|}}
* [[Caterina Boratto]]
* [[Annibale Ninchi]]
* [[Giuditta Rissone]]
}}
| cinematography = [[Gianni Di Venanzo]]
| editing        = [[Leo Catozzo]]
| music          = [[Nino Rota]]
| studio         = {{Plainlist|
* [[Cineriz]]
* [[Francinex]]
}}
| distributor    = {{Plainlist|
* Cineriz (Italy)
* [[Columbia Pictures|Columbia Films S.A.]] (France)
}}
| released       = {{Film date|df=yes|1963|1|2|[[Acapulco Film Festival|Acapulco]]|1963|2|13|Italy|1963|5|29|France}}
| runtime        = 138 minutes
| country        = {{Plainlist|
* Italy
* France<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/45423|work=BFI Film & Television Database|access-date=27 December 2012|title=8½|publisher=[[British Film Institute]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806002023/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/45423|archive-date=6 August 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>}}
| language       = Italian<!-- Only main language -->
| gross          = $3.5 million (US/Canada [[Distributor rental|rentals]])<ref>"Top Rental Films of 1963", ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'', 8 January 1964 p 37</ref>
}}
'''''8½''''' ({{langx|it|Otto e mezzo|links=no}} {{IPA|it|ˈɔtto e mˈmɛddzo|}}) is a 1963 [[Avant-garde film|avant-garde]] [[comedy-drama]] film co-written and directed by [[Federico Fellini]]. The [[metafictional]] narrative centers on famous Italian film director Guido Anselmi ([[Marcello Mastroianni]]) who suffers from writer's block as he attempts to direct an [[Epic film|epic]] [[science fiction film]]. [[Claudia Cardinale]], [[Anouk Aimée]], [[Sandra Milo]], [[Rossella Falk]], [[Barbara Steele]], and [[Eddra Gale]] portray the various women in Guido's life. An international co-production between France and Italy, the film was shot in black and white by cinematographer [[Gianni Di Venanzo]] and features a score by [[Nino Rota]], with costume and set designs by [[Piero Gherardi]]. Fellini also uses surrealist passages throughout the film to increase its fantastical atmosphere.

''8½'' was critically acclaimed and won the [[Academy Award]] for [[Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film|Best Foreign Language Film]] and [[Academy Award for Best Costume Design|Best Costume Design]] (black-and-white). It is acknowledged as an avant-garde film<ref>[[Alberto Arbasino]] (1963), review of 8½ in ''Il Giorno'', 6 March 1963</ref> and a highly influential classic. It was ranked 10th on the [[British Film Institute]]'s [[The Sight & Sound Greatest Films of All Time 2012|The ''Sight & Sound'' Greatest Films of All Time 2012]] critics' poll and 4th by directors.<ref name=bfi2012>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/greatest-films-all-time|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120902123023/http://www.bfi.org.uk/greatest-films-all-time|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 September 2012|title=The 100 Greatest Films of All Time &#124; Sight & Sound|website=British Film Institute}}</ref><ref name="BFI Directors' Top Ten Poll">{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news/sight-sound-2012-directors-top-ten|title=Directors' 10 Greatest Films of All Time &#124; Sight & Sound|website=British Film Institute|access-date=13 September 2020|archive-date=9 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309025007/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news/sight-sound-2012-directors-top-ten|url-status=dead}}</ref> It is included in the Vatican's compilation of [[Vatican's list of films|45 important films]] made before 1995, the 100th anniversary of cinema.<ref name="Vatican Best Films List">{{cite web|title=Vatican Best Films List|publisher=USCCB|url=http://www.usccb.org/movies/vaticanfilms.shtml|access-date=25 July 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100723032146/http://www.usccb.org/movies/vaticanfilms.shtml|archive-date=23 July 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The film ranked 7th in [[BBC]]'s 2018 list of ''The 100 Greatest Foreign Language Films'' voted by 209 film critics from 43 countries around the world.<ref>{{cite web|title=The 100 Greatest Foreign Language Films|url= https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20181029-the-100-greatest-foreign-language-films|website=bbc|date=29 October 2018|access-date=10 January 2021}}</ref>

It was included on the [[Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism|Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage]]'s [[100 film italiani da salvare|100 Italian films to be saved]], a list of 100 films that "have changed the collective memory of the country between 1942 and 1978".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ecco i cento film italiani da salvare Corriere della Sera|url=https://www.corriere.it/spettacoli/08_febbraio_28/elenco_cento_film_d83cacd8-e5ce-11dc-ab61-0003ba99c667.shtml|access-date=2021-03-11|website=www.corriere.it}}</ref> It is considered to be one of the [[List of films considered the best|greatest and most influential films of all time]].

== Plot ==
Guido Anselmi, a famous Italian film director, is suffering from "[[Writer's block|director's block]]". Stalled on his new [[science fiction film]] that includes [[Semi-autobiographical|thinly veiled autobiographical]] references, he has lost interest amidst artistic and marital difficulties.

While attempting to recover from his anxieties at a luxurious spa, Guido hires a well-known critic to review his ideas for his film, but the critic blasts them. Guido has recurring visions of an Ideal Woman, whom he sees as key to his story. His mistress Carla comes to visit him, but Guido puts her in a separate hotel. The film production crew relocates to Guido's hotel in an unsuccessful attempt to get him to work on the film.

Guido admits to a [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|cardinal]] that he is not happy. The cardinal offers little insight. Guido invites his estranged wife Luisa and her friends to join him. They dance, but Guido abandons her for his production crew. Guido confesses to his wife's best friend Rosella that he wanted to make a film that was pure and honest, but he is struggling with something honest to say.

Carla surprises Guido, Luisa, and Rosella outside the hotel, and Guido claims that he and Carla ended their affair years earlier. Luisa and Rosella call him on the lie, and Guido slips into a fantasy world where he lords over a harem of women from his life, but a rejected showgirl starts a rebellion. The fantasy women attack Guido with harsh truths about him and his sex life.

When Luisa sees how bitterly Guido represents her in the film, she declares that their marriage is over. Guido's Ideal Woman arrives in the form of an actress named Claudia. Guido explains that his film is about a burned-out man who finds salvation in this Ideal Woman.

Claudia concludes that the protagonist is unsympathetic because he is incapable of love. Broken, Guido calls off the film, but the producer and the film's staff announce a press conference at which the filming will commence. Guido attempts to escape from the journalists and eventually imagines shooting himself in the head.

Guido realizes he was attempting to solve his personal confusion by creating a film to help others, when instead he needs to accept his life for what it is. He asks Luisa for her assistance in doing so. Carla tells him that she figured out what he was trying to say: that Guido cannot do without the people in his life.

As the production crew and cast begin to troop onto the set, Guido's passion revives and he begins to direct. The men and women of the cast and crew start holding hands and walk briskly around in a circle with Guido and Luisa joining them last. The production set is dismantled, Guido salutes the last of the crew members, and the set fades to black.

== Cast ==
{{Cast listing|
* [[Marcello Mastroianni]] as Guido Anselmi, a film director
* [[Claudia Cardinale]] as Claudia, a film star Guido casts as his Ideal Woman
* [[Anouk Aimée]] as Luisa Anselmi, Guido's estranged wife
* [[Sandra Milo]] as Carla, Guido's mistress
* [[Rossella Falk]] as Rossella, Luisa's best friend and Guido's confidante
* [[Barbara Steele]] as Gloria Morin, Mezzabotta's new young girlfriend
* [[Madeleine Lebeau]] as Madeleine, a French actress
* [[Caterina Boratto]] as a mysterious lady in the hotel
* [[Eddra Gale]] as La Saraghina, a prostitute
* [[Guido Alberti]] as Pace, a film producer
* {{ill|Mario Conocchia|it}} as a fictionalized version of himself, Guido's production assistant
* Bruno Agostini as a fictionalized version of himself, the production director
* Cesarino Miceli Picardi as a fictionalized version of himself, the production supervisor
* {{ill|Jean Rougeul|fr|}} as Carini Daumier, a film critic
* [[Mario Pisu]] as Mario Mezzabotta, Guido's friend
* Yvonne Casadei as Jacqueline Bonbon, a former cabaret dancer
* [[Abdalqadir as-Sufi|Ian Dallas]] as Maurice, Maya's assistant
* [[Mino Doro]] as Alberto, Claudia's agent
* Nadia Sanders as Nadine
* [[Edy Vessel]] as a mannequin
* [[Eugene Walter]] as an American journalist
* Mary Indovino as Maya, the clairvoyant
* [[Giuditta Rissone]] as Guido's mother
* [[Annibale Ninchi]] as Guido's father
* [[Olimpia Cavalli]] as Olimpia (uncredited)
* [[Ferdinand Guillaume]] as the clown (uncredited)
* [[Maria Antonietta Beluzzi]] as a prostitute (uncredited)
}}

== Themes ==
''8½'' is about the struggles involved in the creative process, both technical and personal, and the problems artists face when expected to deliver something personal and profound with intense public scrutiny, on a constricted schedule, while simultaneously having to deal with their own personal relationships. It is, in a larger sense, about the search for meaning within a difficult, fragmented life. Like several Italian films of the period (most evident in the films of Fellini's contemporary, [[Michelangelo Antonioni]]), ''8½'' also is about the alienating effects of [[Modernization theory|modernization]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Screening the Past|url=http://www.latrobe.edu.au/screeningthepast/reviews/rev0703/gmolbr15.html|access-date=9 September 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070915134131/http://www.latrobe.edu.au/screeningthepast/reviews/rev0703/gmolbr15.html|archive-date=15 September 2007 |url-status=live}}</ref>Also included are themes of carnal fantasies as in the harem sequence.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kael |first=Pauline |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Age_of_Movies_Selected_Writings_of_P/tkShTL84MrcC?hl=en&gbpv=0 |title=The Age of Movies: Selected Writings of Pauline Kael: A Library of America Special Publication |date=2011-10-27 |publisher=Library of America |isbn=978-1-59853-171-8 |pages=257-262 |language=en}}</ref> 

At this point, Fellini had directed six feature films: ''[[The White Sheik|Lo sceicco bianco]]'' (1952), ''[[I Vitelloni]]'' (1953), ''[[La Strada]]'' (1954), ''[[Il bidone]]'' (1955), ''[[Nights of Cabiria|Le notti di Cabiria]]'' (1957), and ''[[La Dolce Vita]]'' (1960). He had co-directed ''[[Variety Lights|Luci del varietà]]'' (''Variety Lights'') (1950) with [[Alberto Lattuada]],  and had directed two short segments, ''Un'Agenzia Matrimoniale'' (''A Marriage Agency'') in the [[Anthology film|omnibus film]] ''[[Love in the City (1953 film)|L'amore in città]]'' (''Love in the City'') (1953) and ''Le Tentazioni del Dottor Antonio'' from the omnibus film ''[[Boccaccio '70]]'' (1962). The title is in keeping with Fellini's self-reflexive theme: by his count it was his eight-and-a-halfth film.<ref>Bondanella, ''The Cinema of Federico Fellini'', 175</ref>  The working title for ''8½'' was ''La bella confusione'' (''The Beautiful Confusion'') proposed by co-screenwriter, [[Ennio Flaiano]], but Fellini then "had the simpler idea (which proved entirely wrong) to call it ''Comedy''".<ref>Quoted in Kezich, 234</ref>

According to Italian writer [[Alberto Arbasino]], ''8½'' used techniques similar to, and has parallels with, [[Robert Musil]]'s novel ''[[The Man Without Qualities]]'' (1930).<ref>Gabriele Pedullà, [[Alberto Arbasino]] [2000] [http://www.libraweb.net/articoli3.php?chiave=543&rivista=23&articolo=200302301011 "Interviste&nbsp;–Sull'albero di ciliegie" ("On the Cherry Tree")] in ''CONTEMPORANEA Rivista di studi sulla letteratura e sulla comunicazione'', Volume 1, 2003. Q: In some of your texts written during the 60{{snd}}I'm thinking above all of ''Certi romanzi''{{snd}}critical reflections on questions of the novel [...] are always interlaced in both an implicit and explicit way with reflections on cinema. In particular, it seems to me that your affinity with Fellini is especially significant: for example, your review of ''Otto e mezzo'' in ''Il Giorno''. A: Reading Musil, we discovered parallels and similar procedures. But without being able to establish, either then or today, how much there was of Flaiano and how much, on the other hand, was of [Fellini's] own intuition.</ref>

The film is unusual in that it is a film about making a film, and the film that is being made is the film that the audience is viewing. An example is the dream sequence of "Guido's Harem" where Guido is bathed and carried in white linen by all the women from the film, only to have the women protest for being sent to live upstairs in the house when they turn 30, and "Jacquilene Bonbon" does her last dance.  The Guido's Harem scene is immediately followed by the "Screen Test" depicting the same actors in a theater, each taking the stage for a screen test, being chosen to act for the very scene the audience just watched. This mirror of mirrors is further emphasized at the end where the director Guido sits at the table of the press conference, where the entire table is a mirror reflecting the director in it.

== Production ==
[[File:Marcello Mastroianni in 8½.jpg|thumb|[[Marcello Mastroianni]] as Guido Anselmi]]
In an October 1960 letter to his colleague Brunello Rondi, Fellini first outlined his film ideas about a man suffering from a creative block: "Well then—a guy (a writer? any kind of professional man? a theatrical producer?) has to interrupt the usual rhythm of his life for two weeks because of a not-too-serious disease. It's a warning bell: something is blocking up his system."<ref>Affron, 227</ref> Unclear about the script, its title, and his protagonist's profession, he scouted locations throughout Italy "looking for the film"<ref>Alpert, 159</ref> in the hope of resolving his confusion. Flaiano suggested ''La bella confusione'' (literally ''The Beautiful Confusion'') as the film's title. Under pressure from his producers, Fellini finally settled on ''8½'', a [[Self-reference|self-referential]] title referring principally (but not exclusively)<ref>Kezich, 234 and Affron, 3-4</ref> to the number of films he had directed up to that time.

Giving the order to start production in spring 1962, Fellini signed deals with his producer Rizzoli, fixed dates, had sets constructed, cast Mastroianni, [[Anouk Aimée]], and [[Sandra Milo]] in lead roles, and did screen tests at the Scalera Studios in Rome. He hired [[cinematographer]] [[Gianni Di Venanzo]], among key personnel. But apart from naming his hero Guido Anselmi, he still could not decide what his character did for a living.<ref>Alpert, 160</ref> The crisis came to a head in April when, sitting in his Cinecittà office, he began a letter to Rizzoli confessing he had "lost his film" and had to abandon the project. Interrupted by the chief machinist requesting he celebrate the launch of ''8½'', Fellini put aside the letter and went on the set. Raising a toast to the crew, he "felt overwhelmed by shame... I was in a no exit situation. I was a director who wanted to make a film he no longer remembers. And lo and behold, at that very moment everything fell into place. I got straight to the heart of the film. I would narrate everything that had been happening to me. I would make a film telling the story of a director who no longer knows what film he wanted to make".<ref>Fellini, ''Comments on Film'', 161-62</ref>

[[File:Anouk Aimee - 1963.jpg|thumb|Anouk Aimée as Luisa Anselmi]]When shooting began on 9 May 1962, [[Eugene Walter]] recalled Fellini taking "a little piece of brown paper tape" and sticking it near the [[viewfinder]] of the [[Movie camera|camera]]. Written on it was ''Ricordati che è un film comico'' ("Remember that this is a comic film").<ref>Eugene Walter, "Dinner with Fellini", ''The Transatlantic Review'', Autumn 1964. Quoted in Affron, 267</ref> Perplexed by the seemingly chaotic, incessant improvisation on the set, Deena Boyer, the director's American press officer at the time, asked for a rationale. Fellini told her that he hoped to convey the three levels "on which our minds live: the past, the present, and the conditional - the realm of fantasy".<ref>Alpert, 170</ref>

''8½'' was filmed in the spherical cinematographic process, using [[35 mm movie film|35-millimeter movie film]], and exhibited with an [[aspect ratio (image)|aspect ratio]] of 1.85:1. As with most Italian films of this period, the sound was entirely dubbed in afterwards; following a technique dear to Fellini, many lines of the dialogue were written only during post production, while the actors on the set mouthed random lines. ''8½'' marks the first time that actress [[Claudia Cardinale]] was allowed to dub her own dialogue; previously her voice was thought to be too throaty and, coupled with her [[Tunisia]]n accent, was considered undesirable.<ref>''8½'', Criterion Collection DVD, featured commentary track.</ref> This is Fellini's last black-and-white film.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Newton |first1=Michael |title=Fellini's 8½ – a masterpiece by cinema's ultimate dreamer |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/may/15/fellinis-eight-and-a-half-masterpiece-cinemas-dreamer |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=15 May 2015}}</ref>

In September 1962, Fellini shot the end of the film as initially written: Guido and his wife sit together in the restaurant car of a train bound for [[Rome]]. Lost in thought, Guido looks up to see all the characters of his film smiling ambiguously at him as the train enters a tunnel. Fellini then shot an alternative ending set around the spaceship on the beach at dusk but with the intention of using the scenes as a trailer for promotional purposes only. In the 2002 documentary ''[[Fellini: I'm a Born Liar]]'', co-scriptwriter [[Tullio Pinelli]] explains how he warned Fellini to abandon the train sequence with its implicit theme of [[suicide]] for an upbeat ending.<ref>"The suicide theme is so overwhelming," Pinelli told Fellini, "that you'll crush your film." Cited in ''Fellini: I'm a Born Liar'' (2002), directed by [[Damian Pettigrew]].</ref> Fellini accepted the advice, using the alternative sequence as a more harmonious and exuberant finale.<ref>Alpert, 174-175, and Kezich, 245. The documentary ''L'Ultima sequenza'' (2003) also discusses the lost sequence.</ref>

After shooting wrapped on 14 October, [[Nino Rota]] composed various circus marches and fanfares that would later become signature tunes of the maestro's cinema.<ref name="Kezich, 245">Kezich, 245</ref>

== Soundtrack ==
{|class="wikitable"
!No.!!Title!!Composer
|-
|1.|| ''La Passerella di Otto e Mezzo''||[[Nino Rota]]
|-
|2a.||''Cimitero''||Nino Rota
|-
|2b.||''Gigolette''||[[Franz Lehár]]
|-
|2c.||''Cadillac / Carlotta's Galop''||Nino Rota
|-
|3.||''E Poi (Walzer)''||Nino Rota
|-
|4.|| ''L'Illusionista''||Nino Rota
|-
|5.|| ''Concertino Alle Terme''||[[Gioachino Rossini]] and [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Piotr I. Tchaikovsky]]
|-
|6.|| ''Nell'Ufficio Produzione di Otto e Mezzo''||Nino Rota
|-
|7.|| ''Ricordi d'Infanza - Discesa al Fanghi''||Nino Rota
|-
|8.|| ''Guido e Luiza - Nostalgico Swing''||Nino Rota
|-
|9.|| ''Carlotta's Galop''||Nino Rota
|-
|10.||''L'Harem''||Nino Rota
|-
|11a.||''Die Walküre''||[[Richard Wagner]]
|-
|11b.|| ''La Ballerina Pensionata (Ça C'Est Paris)''||[[José Padilla (composer)|José Padilla Sánchez]]
|-
|11c.|| ''La Conferenza Stampa del Regista''||Nino Rota
|-
|12.|| ''La Passerella di Addio''||Nino Rota
|}

== Reception ==
===Critical response===
First released in Italy on 14 February 1963, ''8½'' received widespread acclaim, with reviewers hailing Fellini as "a genius possessed of a magic touch, a prodigious style".<ref name="Kezich, 245"/> Italian novelist and critic [[Alberto Moravia]] described the film's protagonist, Guido Anselmi, as "obsessed by eroticism, a sadist, a masochist, a self-mythologizer, an adulterer, a clown, a liar and a cheat. He's afraid of life and wants to return to his mother's womb ... In some respects, he resembles [[Leopold Bloom]], the hero of [[James Joyce]]'s ''[[Ulysses (novel)|Ulysses]]'', and we have the impression that Fellini has read and contemplated this book. The film is introverted, a sort of private monologue interspersed with glimpses of reality&nbsp;.... Fellini's dreams are always surprising and, in a figurative sense, original, but his memories are pervaded by a deeper, more delicate sentiment. This is why the two episodes concerning the hero's childhood at the old country house in [[Romagna]] and his meeting with the woman on the beach in [[Rimini]] are the best of the film, and among the best of all Fellini's works to date".<ref>Moravia's review first published in ''L'Espresso'' (Rome) on 17 February 1963. Quoted in Fava and Vigano, 115–116</ref>

Reviewing for ''[[Corriere della Sera]]'', Giovanni Grazzini underlined that "the beauty of the film lies in its 'confusion'... a mixture of error and truth, reality and dream, stylistic and human values, and in the complete harmony between Fellini's cinematographic language and Guido's rambling imagination. It is impossible to distinguish Fellini from his fictional director and so Fellini's faults coincide with Guido's spiritual doubts. The [[osmosis]] between art and life is amazing. It will be difficult to repeat this achievement.<ref>Grazzini's review first published in ''Corriere della Sera'' (Milan) on 16 February 1963. Quoted in Fava and Vigano, 116</ref> Fellini's genius shines in everything here, as it has rarely shone in the movies. There isn't a set, a character or a situation that doesn't have a precise meaning on the great stage that is ''8½''".<ref>This translation of Grazzini's review quoted in Affron, 255</ref> Mario Verdone of ''Bianco e Nero'' insisted the film was "like a brilliant improvisation&nbsp;... The film became the most difficult feat the director ever tried to pull off. It is like a series of acrobats [sic] that a tightrope walker tries to execute high above the crowd,&nbsp;... always on the verge of falling and being smashed on the ground. But at just the right moment, the acrobat knows how to perform the right somersault: with a push he straightens up, saves himself and wins".<ref>Affron, 255</ref>

''8½'' screened at the [[1963 Cannes Film Festival]] in April to "almost universal acclaim"<ref name="Alpert, 180">Alpert, 180</ref> and was Italy's official entry in the later [[3rd Moscow International Film Festival]] where it won the Grand Prize. French film director [[François Truffaut]] wrote: "Fellini's film is complete, simple, beautiful, honest, like the one Guido wants to make in ''8½''".<ref>Truffaut's review first published in ''Lui'' (Paris), 1 July 1963. Affron, 257</ref> ''Premier Plan'' critics André Bouissy and Raymond Borde argued that the film "has the importance, magnitude, and technical mastery of ''[[Citizen Kane]]''. It has aged twenty years of the avant-garde in one fell swoop because it both integrates and surpasses all the discoveries of experimental cinema".<ref>First published in ''Premier Plan'' (Paris), 30 November 1963. Affron, 257</ref> Pierre Kast of ''Les [[Cahiers du cinéma]]'' explained that "my admiration for Fellini is not without limits. For instance, I did not enjoy ''[[La Strada]]'' but I did ''[[I Vitelloni]]''. But I think we must all admit that ''8½'', leaving aside for the moment all prejudice and reserve, is prodigious. Fantastic liberality, a total absence of precaution and hypocrisy, absolute dispassionate sincerity, artistic and financial courage these are the characteristics of this incredible undertaking".<ref>First published in ''Les Cahiers du Cinéma'' (Paris), July 1963. Fava and Vigano, 116</ref> The film ranked 10th on [[Cahiers du Cinéma]]'s [[Cahiers du Cinéma's Annual Top 10 Lists|Top 10 Films of the Year List]] in 1963.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~ejohnson/critics/cahiers.html|title=Cahiers du Cinema: Top Ten Lists 1951–2009|last=Johnson|first=Eric C.|website=alumnus.caltech.edu|access-date=2017-12-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120327102838/http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~ejohnson/critics/cahiers.html|archive-date=2012-03-27|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Released in the United States on 25 June 1963 by [[Joseph E. Levine]], who had bought the rights sight unseen, the film was screened at the Festival Theatre in [[New York City]] in the presence of Fellini and [[Marcello Mastroianni]]. The acclaim was unanimous with the exception of reviews by [[Judith Crist]], [[Pauline Kael]], and [[John Simon (critic)|John Simon]]. Crist "didn't think the film touched the heart or moved the spirit".<ref name="Alpert, 180"/> Kael derided the film as a "structural disaster" while Simon considered it "a disheartening fiasco".<ref name="Kezich, 247">Kezich, 247</ref><ref>John Simon considered the film's originality was compromised "because the 'dance of life' at the end was suggested by Bergman's dance of death in ''[[The Seventh Seal]]'' (which Fellini had not seen)". Quoted in Alpert, 181</ref> ''[[Newsweek]]'' defended the film as "beyond doubt, a work of art of the first magnitude".<ref name="Alpert, 180"/> [[Bosley Crowther]] praised it in ''[[The New York Times]]'' as "a piece of entertainment that will really make you sit up straight and think, a movie endowed with the challenge of a fascinating intellectual game&nbsp;... If Mr. Fellini has not produced another masterpiece{{snd}}another all-powerful exposure of Italy's ironic sweet life{{snd}}he has made a stimulating contemplation of what might be called, with equal irony, a sweet guy".<ref>First published in the ''NYT'', 26 June 1963. Fava and Vigano, 118</ref> Archer Winsten of the ''[[New York Post]]'' interpreted the film as "a kind of review and summary of Fellini's picture-making" but doubted that it would appeal as directly to the American public as ''[[La Dolce Vita]]'' had three years earlier: "This is a subtler, more imaginative, less sensational piece of work. There will be more people here who consider it confused and confusing. And when they do understand what it is about{{snd}}the simultaneous creation of a work of art, a philosophy of living together in happiness, and the imposition of each upon the other, they will not be as pleased as if they had attended the exposition of an international scandal".<ref>First published in the ''New York Post'', 26 June 1963. Fava and Vigano, 118.</ref> Audiences, however, loved it to such an extent that a company attempted to obtain the rights to mass-produce Guido Anselmi's black director's hat.<ref name="Kezich, 247"/>

Fellini biographer [[Hollis Alpert]] noted that in the months following its release, critical commentary on ''8½'' proliferated as the film "became an intellectual cud to chew on".<ref name="Alpert, 181">Alpert, 181</ref> Philosopher and social critic [[Dwight Macdonald]], for example, insisted it was "the most brilliant, varied, and entertaining movie since ''Citizen Kane''".<ref name="Alpert, 181"/> In 1987, a group of thirty European intellectuals and filmmakers voted ''Otto e mezzo'' the most important European film ever made.<ref>Bondanella, ''The Films of Federico Fellini'', 93.</ref> In 1993, ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' film reviewer [[Roger Ebert]] wrote that "despite the efforts of several other filmmakers to make their own versions of the same story, it remains the definitive film about director's block".<ref>Ebert,[http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19930507/REVIEWS/305070303 "Fellini's ''8½''"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120916120112/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F19930507%2FREVIEWS%2F305070303 |date=16 September 2012 }}, ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' (7 May 1993). Retrieved 21 December 2008.</ref> ''8½'' was voted the best foreign (i.e. non-Swedish) sound film with 21 votes in a 1964 poll of 50 Swedish film professionals organized by Swedish film magazine ''{{interlanguage link|lt=Chaplin|Chaplin (magazine)|sv|Chaplin (filmtidskrift)}}''.<ref name="Chaplin">{{cite magazine |date=November 1964 |title=De bästa filmerna |magazine=Chaplin |publisher=Swedish Film Institute |pages=333–334}}</ref> ''[[The Village Voice]]'' ranked the film at number 112 in its Top 250 "Best Films of the Century" list in 1999, based on a poll of critics.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/specials/take/one/full_list.php3?category=10 |title=Take One: The First Annual Village Voice Film Critics' Poll |access-date=27 July 2006 |year=1999 |work=The Village Voice |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070826201343/http://www.villagevoice.com/specials/take/one/full_list.php3?category=10 |archive-date=26 August 2007}}</ref> ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' voted it at No. 36 on their list of ''100 Greatest Movies of All Time''.<ref>{{cite web|title = Entertainment Weekly's 100 Greatest Movies of All Time|url = http://www.filmsite.org/ew100.html|publisher = [[Filmsite.org]]|access-date = 19 January 2009|url-status = live|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140331185517/http://www.filmsite.org/ew100.html|archive-date = 31 March 2014|df = dmy-all}}</ref> In 2000, Ebert added it to his "[[Great Movies]]" list, calling it "the best film ever made about filmmaking", concluding "I have seen ''8½'' over and over again, and my appreciation only deepens. It does what is almost impossible: Fellini is a magician who discusses, reveals, explains and deconstructs his tricks, while still fooling us with them. He claims he doesn't know what he wants or how to achieve it, and the film proves he knows exactly, and rejoices in his knowledge."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-8-12--eight-and-a-half-1963|title=8 1/2 movie review & film summary (1963) &#124; Roger Ebert|first=Roger|last=Ebert|website=rogerebert.com/}}</ref> ''8½'' is a fixture on the British Film Institute's ''[[Sight & Sound]]'' critics' and directors' polls of the top 10 films ever made. The film ranked 4th and 5th on critics' poll in 1972<ref>{{cite web|title=The Sight & Sound Top Ten Poll: 1972|url=http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/polls/topten/history/1972.html|website=bfi.org|access-date=13 May 2021|archive-date=8 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141008052122/http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/polls/topten/history/1972.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> and 1982<ref>{{cite web|title=The Sight & Sound Top Ten Poll: 1982|url=http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/polls/topten/history/1982.html|website=bfi.org|access-date=13 May 2021|archive-date=8 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141008062954/http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/polls/topten/history/1982.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> respectively. It ranked 2nd on the magazine's 1992<ref>{{cite web|title=Sight & Sound top 10 poll 1992|url=http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/polls/topten/history/1992.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120618100140/http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/polls/topten/history/1992.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=18 June 2012|website=BFI|access-date=17 February 2015}}</ref> and 2002<ref>{{cite web|title=Sight & Sound Top Ten Poll 2002 The Rest of Director's List|url=http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/polls/topten/poll/directors-long.html|website=old.bfi.org.uk|access-date=12 May 2021|archive-date=1 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170201155933/http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/polls/topten/poll/directors-long.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> ''Directors' Top Ten Poll'' and 8th on the 2002 ''Critics' Top Ten Poll''.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Sight & Sound Top Ten Poll 2002 The Rest of Critic's List|url=http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/polls/topten/poll/critics-long.html|website=old.bfi.org.uk|access-date=12 May 2021|archive-date=13 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160813112813/http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/polls/topten/poll/critics-long.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> It was slightly lower in the 2012 directors' poll, 4th<ref name="BFI Directors' Top Ten Poll"/> and 10th on the 2012 critics' poll.<ref name=bfi2012/> The film was included in ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''{{'}}s [[Time magazine's "All-TIME" 100 best movies|All-Time 100 best movies]] list in 2005.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=''8½''|url=https://entertainment.time.com/2005/02/12/all-time-100-movies/slide/8-12-1963/|magazine=Time|date=13 January 2010 |last1=Schickel |first1=Richard }}</ref> The film was voted at No. 46 on the list of "100 Greatest Films" by the prominent French magazine ''Cahiers du cinéma'' in 2008.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.filmdetail.com/2008/11/23/cahiers-du-cinemas-100-greatest-films/|title=Cahiers du cinéma's 100 Greatest Films|date=23 November 2008}}</ref> In 2010, the film was ranked #62 in ''[[Empire (film magazine)|Empire]]'' magazine's "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema".<ref>{{cite web|title=The 100 Best Films of World Cinema|quote=62. 8½|url=http://www.empireonline.com/features/100-greatest-world-cinema-films/default.asp?film=62|work=Empire}}</ref> It was also ranked number 1 when the {{interlanguage link|Museum of Cinematography in Łódź|pl|Muzeum Kinematografii w Łodzi}} asked 279 Polish film professionals (filmmakers, critics, and professors) in 2015 to vote for the best films.<ref name="Łódź">*{{cite web |url=http://kinomuzeum.pl/?p=14471 |title=Wyniki ankiety: 12 filmów na 120-lecie kina |website=Muzeum Kinematografii w Łodzi |date=29 May 2016 |access-date=14 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160720154602/http://kinomuzeum.pl/?p=14471|archive-date=20 July 2016|url-status=live}}
* {{cite web |url=http://kinomuzeum.pl/?p=14473 |title=ŚWIAT – NAJLEPSZE FILMY według wszystkich ankietowanych |website=Muzeum Kinematografii w Łodzi |access-date=14 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171007135049/http://kinomuzeum.pl/?p=14473|archive-date=7 October 2017|url-status=live}}
* {{cite web |url=http://kinomuzeum.pl/?p=14515 |title=POLSKA – NAJLEPSZE FILMY według wszystkich ankietowanych |website=Muzeum Kinematografii w Łodzi |access-date=18 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171008163431/http://kinomuzeum.pl/?p=14515|archive-date=8 October 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

On the review aggregator website [[Rotten Tomatoes]], ''8½'' has an approval rating of 97% based on 61 reviews, with an average score of 8.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Inventive, thought-provoking, and funny, 8 1/2 represents the arguable peak of Federico Fellini's many towering feats of cinema."<ref>{{cite web|title=8 1/2|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/8-12|website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]}}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], the film has a weighted average score of 93 out of 100 based on 23 critic's reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".<ref>{{cite web|title=8½|url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/-1963|website=[[Metacritic]]}}</ref>

=== Awards and nominations ===
''8½'' won two [[Academy Awards]] for [[Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film|Best Foreign Language Film]] and [[Academy Award for Best Costume Design|Best Costume Design]] (black-and-white) while garnering three other nominations for [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]], [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Original Screenplay]], and [[Academy Award for Best Production Design|Best Art Direction]] (black-and-white).<ref name="Oscars1964">{{cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1964|title=The 36th Academy Awards (1964) Nominees and Winners|access-date=3 November 2011|work=oscars.org}}</ref> The [[New York Film Critics Circle]] also named ''8½'' [[New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Language Film|best foreign language film]] in 1964. The [[Nastro d'Argento|Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists]] awarded the film all seven prizes for [[Nastro d'Argento for Best Director|director]], [[Nastro d'Argento for Best Producer|producer]], original story, screenplay, [[Nastro d'Argento for Best Score|music]], cinematography, and best [[Nastro d'Argento for Best Supporting Actress|supporting actress]] ([[Sandra Milo]]). It also garnered nominations for [[Nastro d'Argento for Best Actor|Best Actor]], Best Costume Design, and Best Production Design.

At the Saint Vincent Film Festival, it was awarded Grand Prize over [[Luchino Visconti]]'s ''[[The Leopard (1963 film)|Il gattopardo]]'' (''The Leopard''). The film screened in April at the [[1963 Cannes Film Festival]]<ref name="festival-cannes.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/3125/year/1963.html|title=Festival de Cannes: 8½|access-date=27 February 2009|work=festival-cannes.com|archive-date=19 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119025138/http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/3125/year/1963.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> to "almost universal acclaim but no prize was awarded because it was shown outside the competition. Cannes rules demanded exclusivity in competition entries, and ''8½'' was already earmarked as Italy's official entry in the later Moscow festival".<ref>Alpert, 180.</ref> Presented on 18 July 1963 to an audience of 8,000 in the [[Moscow Kremlin|Kremlin]]'s conference hall, ''8½'' won the prestigious Grand Prize at the [[3rd Moscow International Film Festival]]<ref name="Moscow1963">{{cite web|url=http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/archives/?year=1963|title=3rd Moscow International Film Festival (1963)|access-date=2012-11-26|work=MIFF|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116210707/http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/archives/?year=1963|archive-date=16 January 2013 }}</ref> to acclaim that, according to Fellini biographer [[Tullio Kezich]], worried the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] festival authorities: the applause was "a cry for freedom".<ref name="Kezich, 247"/> Jury members included [[Stanley Kramer]], [[Jean Marais]], [[Satyajit Ray]], and screenwriter [[Sergio Amidei]].<ref>Kezich, 248</ref> The film was nominated for a [[British Academy Film Awards|BAFTA Award]] in [[BAFTA Award for Best Film|Best Film from any Source]] category in [[17th British Academy Film Awards|1964]]. It won the [[Bodil Award for Best Non-American Film|Best European Film]] Award at [[Bodil Awards]] in 1964. The film also won [[National Board of Review Award for Best Foreign Language Film]].

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="margin:auto; margin:auto;"
|+List of awards and nominations
|-
!Award/Festival
! scope="col" | Category
! scope="col" | Recipient(s)
! scope="col" | Result
|-
! rowspan="5" scope="row" |[[Academy Awards|Academy Award]]
! scope="row" | [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]]
| [[Federico Fellini]] || {{nom}}
|-
! scope="row" | [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen]]
| Federico Fellini, [[Ennio Flaiano]], [[Tullio Pinelli]] and [[Brunello Rondi]] || {{nom}}
|-
! scope="row" | [[Academy Award for Best Production Design|Best Art Direction – Black-and-White]]
| rowspan="2" | [[Piero Gherardi]]|| {{nom}}
|-
! scope="row" | [[Academy Award for Best Costume Design|Best Costume Design – Black-and-White]]
| {{won}}
|-
! scope="row" | [[Academy Award for Best International Feature Film|Best Foreign Language Film]]
| [[Italy]]
|{{won}}
|-
! scope="row" | [[BAFTA Award]]
! scope="row" | [[BAFTA Award for Best Film|Best Film from any Source]]
|{{N/A}}
|{{nom}}
|-
! scope="row" | [[Bodil Awards|Bodil Award]]
! scope="row" | [[Bodil Award for Best European Film|Best European Film]]
|{{N/A}}
|{{nom}}
|-
! scope="row" | [[Cahiers du Cinéma]]
! scope="row" | [[Cahiers du Cinéma's Annual Top 10 Lists|Annual Top 10 Lists]]
| rowspan="4" |Federico Fellini
|{{partial|10th place}}
|-
! scope="row" | [[Directors Guild of America Awards|Directors Guild of America Award]]
! scope="row" | [[Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film|Outstanding Directing – Feature Film]]
|{{nom}}
|-
! scope="row" |[[Moscow International Film Festival]]
! scope="row" |Grand Prix
|{{won}}
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="9" |[[Nastro d'Argento]]
! scope="row" |[[Nastro d'Argento for Best Director|Best Director]]
|{{won}}
|-
! scope="row" |[[Nastro d'Argento for Best Screenplay|Best Screenplay]]
|Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli, Brunello Rondi
|{{won}}
|-
! scope="row" |Best Story
|Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano
|{{won}}
|-
! scope="row" |[[Nastro d'Argento for Best Producer|Best Producer]]
|[[Angelo Rizzoli]]
|{{won}}
|-
! scope="row" |[[Nastro d'Argento for Best Actor|Best Actor]]
|[[Marcello Mastroianni]]
|{{nom}}
|-
! scope="row" |Best Cinematography
|[[Gianni Di Venanzo]]
|{{won}}
|-
! scope="row" |[[Nastro d'Argento for Best Score|Best Score]]
|[[Nino Rota]]
|{{won}}
|-
! scope="row" |Best Production Design
| rowspan="2" |Piero Gherardi
|{{nom}}
|-
! scope="row" |Best Costume Design
|{{nom}}
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2" |[[National Board of Review]]
! scope="row" |[[National Board of Review Award for Best Foreign Language Film|Best Foreign Language Film]]
|{{N/A}}
|{{won}}
|-
! scope="row" |[[National Board of Review: Top Five Foreign Language Films|Top Five Foreign Language Films]]
|{{N/A}}
|{{won}}
|-
! scope="row" |[[New York Film Critics Circle Award]]
! scope="row" |[[New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Language Film|Best Foreign Language Film]]
|{{N/A}}
|{{won}}
|}

== Influence ==
Later in the year of the film's 1963 release, a group of young Italian writers founded [[Neoavanguardia|Gruppo '63]], a literary collective of the [[neoavanguardia]] composed of novelists, reviewers, critics, and poets inspired by ''8½'' and [[Umberto Eco]]'s seminal essay, ''Opera aperta'' (''Open Work'').<ref>Kezich, 246</ref>

"Imitations of ''8½'' pile up by directors all over the world", wrote Fellini biographer [[Tullio Kezich]].<ref>Kezich, 249</ref> The following is Kezich's short-list of the films it has inspired: ''[[Mickey One]]'' ([[Arthur Penn]], 1965), ''[[Alex in Wonderland]]'' ([[Paul Mazursky]], 1970), ''[[Beware of a Holy Whore]]'' ([[Rainer Werner Fassbinder]], 1971), ''[[Day for Night (film)|Day for Night]]'' ([[François Truffaut]], 1974), ''[[All That Jazz (film)|All That Jazz]]'' ([[Bob Fosse]], 1979), ''[[Stardust Memories]]'' ([[Woody Allen]], 1980), ''Sogni d'oro'' ([[Nanni Moretti]], 1981), ''[[Planet Parade]]'' ([[Vadim Abdrashitov]], 1984), ''[[A King and His Movie]]'' ([[Carlos Sorín]], 1986), 1993), ''[[Living in Oblivion]]'' ([[Tom DiCillo]], 1995), ''[[8½ Women]]'' ([[Peter Greenaway]], 1999), and ''[[8 ½ $|8½ $]]'' (Grigori Konstantinopolsky, 1999).

[[Martin Scorsese]] included ''8½'' on his ballot for the ''Sight & Sound'' poll.<ref>{{cite web| title=Martin Scorsese's Top 10| publisher=British Film Institute| url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/greatest-films-all-time/all-voters/martin-scorsese}}</ref> In conversation with the [[Criterion Collection]], he named it one of his favorites:<blockquote> What would Fellini do after ''La dolce vita''? We all wondered. How would he top himself? Would he even want to top himself? Would he shift gears? Finally, he did something that no one could have anticipated at the time. He took his own artistic and life situation—that of a filmmaker who had eight and a half films to his name (episodes for two omnibus films and a shared credit with Alberto Lattuada on Variety Lights counted for him as one and a half films, plus seven), achieved international renown with his last feature and felt enormous pressure when the time came for a follow-up—and he built a movie around it. ''8½'' has always been a touchstone for me, in so many ways—the freedom, the sense of invention, the underlying rigor and the deep core of longing, the bewitching, physical pull of the camera movements and the compositions...But it also offers an uncanny portrait of being the artist of the moment, trying to tune out all the pressure and the criticism and the adulation and the requests and the advice, and find the space and the calm to simply listen to oneself. The picture has inspired many movies over the years (including ''Alex in Wonderland'', ''Stardust Memories'', and ''All That Jazz''), and we’ve seen the dilemma of Guido, the hero played by Marcello Mastroianni, repeated many times over in reality—look at the life of [[Bob Dylan]] during the period we covered in ''[[No Direction Home]]'', to take just one example. Like with [[The Red Shoes (1948 film)|''The Red Shoes'']], I look at it again every year or so, and it's always a different experience.<ref>{{cite web| title=Martin Scorsese's Top 10| publisher=The Criterion Collection| url=https://www.criterion.com/current/top-10-lists/214-martin-scorsese-s-top-10}}</ref></blockquote>

==Musical adaptation==
The Tony-winning 1982 [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] musical ''[[Nine (musical)|Nine]]'' (score by [[Maury Yeston]], book by [[Arthur Kopit]]) is based on the film, underscoring Guido's obsession with women by making him the only male character. The original production, directed by [[Tommy Tune]], starred [[Raúl Juliá]] as Guido, [[Anita Morris]] as Carla, [[Liliane Montevecchi]] as Liliane LaFleur, Guido's producer and [[Karen Akers]] as Luisa. A 2003 Broadway revival starred [[Antonio Banderas]], [[Jane Krakowski]], [[Mary Stuart Masterson]] and [[Chita Rivera]]. The play was adapted into a [[Nine (2009 live-action film)|2009 film]], directed by [[Rob Marshall]] and starring [[Daniel Day-Lewis]] as Guido with [[Nicole Kidman]], [[Marion Cotillard]], [[Judi Dench]], [[Kate Hudson]], [[Penélope Cruz]], [[Sophia Loren]], and [[Fergie (singer)|Fergie]].<ref>Kezich, 249-250</ref>.The show won two Tony Awards, for Best Musical and Best Score.

== See also ==
* [[Asa Nisi Masa]]
* [[List of Italian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film]]
* [[List of submissions to the 36th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film]]
* [[List of films considered the best]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
* Affron, Charles. ''8½: Federico Fellini, Director''. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1989.
* [[Hollis Alpert|Alpert, Hollis]]. ''Fellini: A Life''. New York: Paragon House, 1988.
* Bondanella, Peter. ''The Cinema of Federico Fellini''. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992.
* Bondanella, Peter. ''The Films of Federico Fellini''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
* Fava, Claudio and Aldo Vigano. ''The Films of Federico Fellini''. New York: Citadel Press, 1990.
* Fellini, Federico. ''Comments on Film''. Ed. Giovanni Grazzini. Trans. Joseph Henry. Fresno: The Press of California State University at Fresno, 1988.
* [[Tullio Kezich|Kezich, Tullio]]. ''[[Federico Fellini: His Life and Work]]''. New York: Faber and Faber, 2006.

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{commons category}}
* {{IMDb title}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes}}
* {{TCMDb title}}
* [http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20000528/REVIEWS08/5280301/1023 ''Chicago Sun-Times'' review] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130216123330/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20000528%2FREVIEWS08%2F5280301%2F1023 |date=16 February 2013 }} by [[Roger Ebert]]
* [https://www.theguardian.com/film/1999/apr/22/derekmalcolmscenturyoffilm.derekmalcolm Guardian.uk review] by [[Derek Malcolm]]
* [https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/173-8-1-2-a-film-with-itself-as-its-subject ''8½: A Film with Itself as Its Subject''] – an essay by Alexander Sesonske at [[The Criterion Collection]]

{{Federico Fellini}}
{{Ennio Flaiano}}
{{Navboxes
|title = Awards for ''8½''
|list =
{{AcademyAwardBestForeignLanguageFilm 1961–1980}}
{{Italian submissions for the Academy Award}}
{{MIFF Main Award|state=collapsed}}
{{National Board of Review Award for Best Foreign Language Film}}
{{New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Language Film}}
}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:8 1 2}}
[[Category:1963 films]]
[[Category:1963 comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:1960s avant-garde and experimental films]]
[[Category:1960s French films]]
[[Category:1960s French-language films]]
[[Category:1960s Italian films]]
[[Category:1960s Italian-language films]]
[[Category:Best International Feature Film Academy Award winners]]
[[Category:Films à clef]]
[[Category:Films about dreams]]
[[Category:Films about film directors and producers]]
[[Category:Films adapted into plays]]
[[Category:Films directed by Federico Fellini]]
[[Category:Films produced by Angelo Rizzoli]]
[[Category:Films scored by Nino Rota]]
[[Category:Films set in Rome]]
[[Category:Films shot in Rome]]
[[Category:Films that won the Best Costume Design Academy Award]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Ennio Flaiano]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Federico Fellini]]
[[Category:French avant-garde and experimental films]]
[[Category:French black-and-white films]]
[[Category:French comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:Italian avant-garde and experimental films]]
[[Category:Italian black-and-white films]]
[[Category:Italian comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:Italian-language comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:Italian-language French films]]
[[Category:Self-reflexive films]]
[[Category:Semi-autobiographical films]]