Juliet Of The Spirits (The Criterion Collection)

When I first saw this film at age 30, it left me depressed. However, as another Amazon reviewer mentioned, the films of Fellini require one to have "lived a little"--and I have to agree. Because when I re-discovered this film in my early 50's, I fell in love with "Juliet of the Spirits" ..... I remember watching JOTS about 10 times; it was helping me through my "second mid-life crisis". Giuletta Masina gives a performance that is both introspective and commanding as "Giuletta"--a character who, while maintaining a healthy core of sanity, is often troubled, tormented and questioning in her search for the enlightenment that will set her free. Nino Rota's soundtrack on its own is brilliant and buoyant--as well as an integral part of the film. I also agree with several other Amazon reviewers who observed that JOTS exists as a complement to Fellini's previous and better known masterpiece, "8 1/2". JOTS provides the alternate, emerging feminist viewpoint missing from "8 1/2". JOTS, as evidenced especially by the final chapter (Chapter 25) of this DVD, also foreshadows the excesses of "Satyricon". There is even an homage to Ingmar Bergman at the end of The Circus Montage (Chapter 11)--which I noticed only after several viewings. In that scene, Giulietta's grandfather is running across the top of a hill towards an old-fashioned airplane, along with the dancer/circus performer (Sandra Milo) and several others; I see this scene as a comic parody of Death leading away certain characters in Bergman's "The Seventh Seal".There are so many scenes in JOTS that I continue to find moving, mystifying and exhilarating after repeated viewings--highlights include the following: The Seance/Evocation of the Spirits (Chapter 3); Giuletta's Dream/Nightmare at the Beach (Chapter 4); The Circus Montage (Chapter 11); Giuletta as a Little Girl on the Fiery Rack in Hell in the Nun's School Play (Chapter 15); The Melancholy Musical Montage during Suzy's Party (Chapter 21); Giuletta's Talk with the Psychoanalyst (Chapter 22); and Giuletta's Final Confrontation with the Spirits (Chapter 25). In Chapter 10, Giuletta encounters the hermaphroditic medium Bishma in a room that is significantly painted red. In this scene, Fellini uses the humming of a standup fan as a sound effect in the background. In this same scene, the sound of the wind, which Fellini makes use of frequently and compellingly in many of his films, arrives with the spirits. As evidence of how real life informed the creation of this often surreal film--the following is a quote from "Notes" by John Baxter in the booklet enclosed in the Criterion DVD of "Juliet of the Spirits": "The Fellinis shared a profound belief in psychic phenomena". In closing--to enjoy this film to its utmost, I recommend "suspension of disbelief".Stephen C. BirdAuthor, "To Be to Is to Was"

This marks the first in what i call the psychedelic Fellini period. While 8.5 has a psychedelic flow to it is based on internal dreamlike subjective commentary by the lead.Juliet as well as Satyricon are completely from a dream world with a transformation of the lead as well like in 8.5. I feel in 8.5 it was more of a breakdown instead of a philosophical journey. Juliet gains knowledge and strength with the psychedelicness while in Satyricon the environment seems to be from another dimension. That being said i feel Juliet falls into the category of the 3 best Fellini films.With Juilet then Satyricon and into Cassanova- these 3 film mark what i feel is Fellini's peak and he appears to agree as well. There is well documented footage of him saying his most realized films were satyricon and cassonova with Cassonova being his favorite.I love his earlier films as well and you sort of have to be familiar with Massinas performance in La Strada to fully appreciate the way Fellini deconstructs her signature roles. By taking away her social identity he makes a powerful move by creating a very dull and aloof character making this the polar opposite of what Fellini fans came to expect from the super animated Massina.For me the weirder the better and this seems to me to be the first fully Felliniesque film.This is more like Cassonova in that the audience is supposed to care and sympathize with a single main character. This film seems to mimic Fellinis real life to a certain degree or at least certain problems high profile artist type's go through within a marriage.While Cassonova gradually gets more and more serious without letting up -Juliet differs by moving in and out of the drama sphere while at the same time always snapping the viewer back into some sort of intentional humor mood by inserting a dreamlike moment.This is a perfect film and a must have for serious Felini fans. There is even a horror element which boarders on early horror/comedy. What is magic about this film is it remains up there with a select few films that i can never get sick of- I watch this film all the time-Another one in this category would be Fire Walk With Me or Scenes from a Marriage, Mo Better Blues-- Andrei Rebelev.

Gran película y muy buena edición.

This film is amazing. I watched and became fascinated with 8 1/2 ,and thought if he could make a colour film,it'd be amazing! I was not disappointed by the colour of juliet of the spirits! I heard he used LSD between making 8 1/2 and finishing this film, and it shows through his colour and imagery. Niño rotas musics great also. This surreal film can be both brilliantly happy , but very unsettling. It's happy, stupid even, but serious in its silliness.Her friends and neighbours are extravagant and modern 1960s characters with optimistic ideas of fashion, spirituality etc. It's beautiful really. But not all of it is so surreal; the story of her husbands affair makes perfect sense. Her new neighbours storyline makes some sense. There's actually quite a lot going on but it's all so simply and beautifully presented that it doesn't seem a complex film at all- yet it is.I have even watched his film without subtitles and enjoyed it. It can be taken lightly if preferred, or intensely, as you can get seriously into juliets breakdown.However I'm not sure whether it's everyone's cup of tea. It's very 1960s, surreal, arty, spiritual/deals with mental illness, flamboyant, anti-catholism, has much circus music, and is very Italian. I see those points as positive but who knows?It's also proves that fellinis onky one masterpiece that IS eight and a half, and that IS La Dolce Vita, IS also Juliet of the Spirits. It could be seen as a kind of feminine version of 8 1/2.

Al desembalar el BD-r y comprobar la superficie de grabación, me temí lo peor... y se confirmó. Los responsables de Cinecom (compañía que, afortunadamente, parece haber pasado a mejor vida) han comprimido hasta lo grotesco una película de poco más de dos horas, dando como resultado una imagen micro-pixelada. Uno puede agradecer que, ya que las grandes compañías desdeñan el cine de autor, sean las editoras discretas las que mediante el BD-r hagan posible que los cinéfilos tengamos en nuestros estantes las grandes películas que nos faltan, pero lo que no es de recibo que hagan una atrocidad con ellas: es el caso de "Giulietta de los espíritus". Ahorraros no ya el dinero sino el disgusto.

One of the most fascinating, mysterious and complex Fellini's film. A vision of his wife and their relationship through a tale of betrayal, magic, superstition, erotism and intimacy.The film is like a dream, not just in what happenes but in the way that Fellini shows it, so that both everyday details and more explicit dream-sequence are all quite disorienting, criptical, unsettling: they resemble reality but you feel they are not.There are a lot of references and hints to magic and kabala, esoterism and other stuff. i am not an expert but Fellini was, so if any of you has a knowledge of that, this could be fun to watch it.I did not fully get all the stuff put into this film, but I was amazed by the incredible imaginative power of Fellini, that is not a matter of bizarre solution, but a matter of projecting the most personal and not-linear thought and sensation on a screen. Just like he did in 8 1/2 or in some sequences of all his movies, while still resulting magnetic and mesmerizing. Not like many others after him, who were just confused and weird just for the sake of it. I'm desperately waiting for the blu ray to come out

First, I am getting a refund (though not fully processed as yet) but the description says "All regions" so, living in Canada, I bought it. But when it did not play I contacted the seller and they said it is a B region UK DVD. I tried to get them to acknowledge this and to change the description but their response did not indicate that they got the message and does not indicate they will rectify the situation for future buyers. Beware!!! I would rate the seller response as 3 or 4 stars for fairly fast response and processing the refund, But the fact that the item description as 'all regions' is very misleading and reprehensible to not correct this. The movie of course is brilliant, but my old copy is pretty bad print.