We are the hollow men in this last of meeting places we grope together and avoid speech. Gathered on this beach of the torrid river.
1953-09-17
N/A
103 min
Five young men dream of success as they drift lazily through life in a small Italian village. Fausto, the group's leader, is a womanizer; Riccardo craves fame; Alberto is a hopeless dreamer; Moraldo fantasizes about life in the city; and Leopoldo is an aspiring playwright. As Fausto chases a string of women, to the horror of his pregnant wife, the other four blunder their way from one uneventful experience to the next.
I will admit that I still struggle to quite understand the awe Fellini seems to generate amongst fans. His films are beautifully shot but usually involve the most shallow of individuals faffing around in a vacuous world of privilege and emptiness. This one is much the same - "Fausto" (Franco Fabrizi) is a bit of a playboy who is stuck in an unhappy marriage with the sister of his friend "Moraldo" (Franco Interlenghi). He still plays away from home, and she usually forgives him until at last she has had enough and absconds with their child. He and his friend set off to find her... Perhaps he has grown up, and he does really care? I didn't really know, nor care myself. The characters are womanising, drunken, louts - good looking, I suppose - but their arrogance towards those less fortunate is irritating; their attitudes towards women - an approach I find common in Fellini films - almost prehistoric. It does have some moments of comedy and is a joy to watch from any aesthetic perspective. Good, but not great....
