Editing Federico Fellini (section)

===Art films and dreams (1961–1969)===
[[File:Federico Fellini in the Seventies.jpg|thumb|Federico Fellini]]
A major discovery for Fellini after his [[Italian neorealism]] period (1950–1959) was the work of [[Carl Jung]]. After meeting Jungian psychoanalyst Dr. Ernst Bernhard in early 1960, he read Jung's autobiography, ''[[Memories, Dreams, Reflections]]'' (1963) and experimented with [[LSD]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sostanze.info/esperienza/fellini-e-l039sd|title=Fellini e l' LSD – sostanze.info|website=www.sostanze.info}}</ref> Bernhard also recommended that Fellini consult the ''[[I Ching]]'' and keep a record of his dreams. What Fellini formerly accepted as "his extrasensory perceptions"{{sfn|Kezich|2006|p=224}} were now interpreted as psychic manifestations of the unconscious. Bernhard's focus on Jungian depth psychology proved to be the single greatest influence on Fellini's mature style and marked the turning point in his work from neorealism to filmmaking that was "primarily oneiric".{{sfn|Kezich|2006|p=227}} As a consequence, Jung's seminal ideas on the ''anima'' and the ''animus'', the role of archetypes and the collective unconscious directly influenced such films as ''[[8½|{{Fraction|8|1|2}}]]'' (1963), ''[[Juliet of the Spirits]]'' (1965), ''[[Fellini Satyricon]]'' (1969), ''[[Fellini's Casanova|Casanova]]'' (1976), and ''[[City of Women]]'' (1980).{{sfn|Bondanella|1992|pp=151–154}} Other key influences on his work include [[Luis Buñuel]],{{efn|name=fellini-pettigrew-2003}} [[Charlie Chaplin]],{{efn|name=stubbs-2006}} [[Sergei Eisenstein]],{{efn|name=bondanella-1978}} [[Buster Keaton]],{{sfn|Bondanella|1992|p=8}} [[Laurel and Hardy]],{{sfn|Bondanella|1992|p=8}} the [[Marx Brothers]],{{sfn|Bondanella|1992|p=8}} and [[Roberto Rossellini]].{{efn|name=fellini-pettigrew-marx-brothers}}

Exploiting ''La Dolce Vita''{{'}}s success, financier Angelo Rizzoli set up Federiz in 1960, an independent film company, for Fellini and production manager Clemente Fracassi to discover and produce new talent. Despite the best intentions, their overcautious editorial and business skills forced the company to close down soon after cancelling Pasolini's project, ''[[Accattone]]'' (1961).{{sfn|Kezich|2006|pp=218–219}}

Condemned as a "public sinner",{{sfn|Kezich|2006|p=212}} for ''La Dolce Vita'', Fellini responded with ''The Temptations of Doctor Antonio'', a segment in the omnibus ''[[Boccaccio '70]]''. His second colour film, it was the sole project green-lighted at Federiz. Infused with the [[surrealistic]] satire that characterized the young Fellini's work at ''Marc'Aurelio'', the film ridiculed a crusader against vice, interpreted by [[Peppino De Filippo]], who goes insane trying to censor a billboard of [[Anita Ekberg]] espousing the virtues of milk.{{sfn|Bondanella|2002|p=96}}

In an October 1960 letter to his colleague Brunello Rondi, Fellini first outlined his film ideas about a man suffering 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{{incomplete short citation|date=September 2021}}</ref> Unclear about the script, its title, and his protagonist's profession, he scouted locations throughout Italy "looking for the film",{{sfn|Alpert|1988|p=159}} in the hope of resolving his confusion. Flaiano suggested ''La bella confusione'' (literally ''The Beautiful Confusion'') as the movie's title. Under pressure from his producers, Fellini finally settled on ''{{Fraction|8|1|2}}'', a [[self-referential]] title referring principally (but not exclusively)<ref>{{harvnb|Kezich|2006|p=234}} and Affron, pp. 3–4{{incomplete short citation|date=September 2021}}</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 couldn't decide what his character did for a living.{{sfn|Alpert|1988|p=160}} 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 ''{{Fraction|8|1|2}}'', 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".{{sfn|Fellini|1988|pp=161–162}} The self-mirroring structure makes the entire film inseparable from its reflecting construction.

Shooting began on 9 May 1962. 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".{{sfn|Alpert|1988|p=170}} 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.{{sfn|Kezich|2006|p=245}} Nominated for four Oscars, ''{{Fraction|8|1|2}}'' won awards for best foreign language film and best costume design in black-and-white. In California for the ceremony, Fellini toured [[Disneyland]] with [[Walt Disney]] the day after.

Increasingly attracted to [[parapsychology]], Fellini met the [[Turin]] antiquarian [[Gustavo Rol]] in 1963.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Gustavo Rol – Who was he?|url=http://2000-2013.gustavorol.org/who.htm|access-date=2021-08-09|website=2000-2013.gustavorol.org}}</ref> Rol, a former banker, introduced him to the world of [[Kardecist spiritism|Spiritism]] and [[séances]]. In 1964, Fellini took [[Lysergic acid diethylamide|LSD]]<ref>A synthetic derivative "fashioned to produce the same effects as the hallucinogenic mushrooms used by Mexican tribes". {{harvnb|Kezich|2006|p=255}}</ref> under the supervision of Emilio Servadio, his psychoanalyst during the 1954 production of ''La Strada''.{{sfn|Kezich|2006|p=255}} For years reserved about what actually occurred that Sunday afternoon, he admitted in 1992 that
<blockquote>...&nbsp;objects and their functions no longer had any significance. All I perceived was perception itself, the hell of forms and figures devoid of human emotion and detached from the reality of my unreal environment. I was an instrument in a virtual world that constantly renewed its own meaningless image in a living world that was itself perceived outside of nature. And since the appearance of things was no longer definitive but limitless, this paradisiacal awareness freed me from the reality external to my self. The fire and the rose, as it were, became one.{{sfn|Fellini|Pettigrew|2003|p=91}}</blockquote>

Fellini's hallucinatory insights were given full flower in his first colour feature ''[[Juliet of the Spirits]]'' (1965), depicting [[Giulietta Masina]] as Juliet, a housewife who rightly suspects her husband's infidelity and succumbs to the voices of spirits summoned during a séance at her home. Her sexually voracious next door neighbor Suzy ([[Sandra Milo]]) introduces Juliet to a world of uninhibited sensuality, but Juliet is haunted by childhood memories of her [[Catholic guilt]] and a teenaged friend who committed suicide. Complex and filled with psychological symbolism, the film is set to a jaunty score by [[Nino Rota]].