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OK, Turner Classic Movies ran "Juliet of the Spirits" a few weeks ago. I taped the HD version of TCM (not really high-def, just a nice upconvert) and rewatched "Juliet..." again last night (EDIT: TCM will re-air "Juliet of the Spirits" this Sunday overnight at 3AM ET/12AM PT). Other than being way too long (it could easily loose 20-25 minutes from its first half) this was a much better and enjoyable viewing experience than I expected. You're right Sausage, expecting Masina's character personality to be in "La Strada" or "Nights of Cabiria" mode poisoned my initial reception of this movie big time. In fact Giulietta's subdued performance in "Juliet..." is the movie's highlight (despite all the striking visuals her husband throws/stages all around her) precisely for the same reason she was so good in "Cabiria": you can't take your eyes off of her or not care about what's going to happen to her. She's the flip side of her outgoing characters in her earlier Fellini films, the only 'normal' person in a movie universe populated by weirdos and creepy freaks . I still don't like anybody else in the movie except for Suzy (Sandra Milo literally sparks the movie to life when she's on) and still wish that the cheating hubby would have been confronted by his wife. But then the walk into the woods (a scene that left me cold the first time) wouldn't have had the subtle-but-powerful impact of a nuclear bomb going off in the once-repressed life of the protagonist. Guess "Juliet..." is now in the middle of the pack of my watched Fellini movies (ahead of "Roma," the 'Toby Dammit' mini-movie and maybe "I Vitelloni") but there's still "La Dolce Vita," "La Strada" and a few others to plow through. Who knows mr. sausage, maybe third time's the charm.

As a little reference, I'm one of the few people now (but a larger group back in '98) that thought "The Big Lebowsky" (i.e. "Juliet of the Spirits") was a stinkin' disappointment as a follow-up from the Coen Bros. (i.e. Fellini) to their "Fargo" (i.e. "8 1/2") masterpiece. I've seen "Lebowski" a few times since and, while I like it better, I just don't see the out-of-this-world quality that other people see in it that have elevated the flick to cult classic. The body of work by the Coens (Fellini) is so vast and varied though that it's no surprise I and my personal sensibilities may gravitate more towards other movies while many (but not all) consider "Lebowski" ("Juliet of the Spirits") the filmmakers' seminal work. Plenty to choose from.

I had the opposite problem with this movie. Because I had seen Masina in Juliet of the Spirits first and had completely bought her as the bourgeois housewife it then took me a lot of the movie to buy her performance as Cabiria (which turned when they included her inner dialogue which probably also marks the turn in Fellini's career of including his patented internal/external dialogues) and I still haven't accepted her performance in La Strada.

Rich Malloy wrote:I never picked up the Nouveaux disc, and looking back again at the captures I'm not sure I want to... and leaving aside the black levels to concentrate on the white levels - does the obvious contrast boosting of the Nouveaux not bothersome to any of you? I mean, even the weave of Giulietta's hat is completely blown out!

Many years later... Watching the Nouveaux DVD upscaled from my Seiki to my Samsung HDTV there were no blown out whites on the hat's weave. Cult Films will release a blu-ray edition next year (bonus features not yet announced) and this makes me curious if Criterion will release an upgrade to their edition. Very much in favour of this film while understanding others' negative reactions. I am completely won over by everything in this film from the protagonist's quest in the narrative, the cast of characters, the playfulness of Fellini's direction, the music, the cinematography and the production design. Very inspiring for my own ambitions in filmmaking.

Allow me to join the minority chorus calling this Fellini's best-- wow! Has Almodovar ever talked about this film? I kept thinking while watching that whether consciously or not, this movie set the blueprint for so many of his films just as much as Cukor and Sirk et al

david hare wrote: Fri Dec 07, 2018 10:38 pm Some of you there might be aware this is availbale on a good quality Blu Ray from UK label Cult films. The tarnsfer and source are infinitely better than the same label's I VItelloni.

I haven't seen the new blu-ray but the only reviews I've been able to find for it both seemed pretty convinced the image quality was terrible.

There's more discussion of the release of the Cult Films Blu-ray in the dedicated thread for the label here

This is one of those Fellini films that I have not reached yet, so I am afraid that I only really know it from the French & Saunders parody, but it is heartening to know that you liked it domino!

domino harvey wrote: Fri Dec 07, 2018 4:03 am Allow me to join the minority chorus calling this Fellini's best-- wow! Has Almodovar ever talked about this film? I kept thinking while watching that whether consciously or not, this movie set the blueprint for so many of his films just as much as Cukor and Sirk et al

I'm not aware of him specifically calling this one out, but he has called Fellini one of his favorites so it isn't out of the question.