City of Women

City of Women

1980. Italy. Directed by Federico Fellini. With Marcello Mastroianni, Ettore Manni. Though this is among Fellini’s most controversial and self-indulgent films, Ferretti nonetheless displays a nearly preternatural talent for interpreting and conveying the director’s vision. Based upon rough sketches and drawings supplied by Fellini, the production design features a giant slide lit by thousands of light bulbs and an enormous bed filled with dozens of children, all constructed in Cinecittà studios. While fantastical, Ferretti based many of the sets on actual locations in an effort to achieve an atmosphere of realism tinged with magic. In Italian; English subtitles. 139 min.