Federico Fellini’s 8 ½ is a sprawling, convoluted epic, composed of parts autobiographical, dreamscape, and interpretation.  Whole theses could be written on individual scenes, with complexity and purpose layered into each aspect of production. The classic is particularly adept at commenting on film itself, so much that Rodger Ebert called it “the best film ever made about filmmaking.” One of the elements that 8 ½ so brilliantly captures is the struggle of the creator, the artist, and even more so the filmmaker with the fickle nature of artistic creation.

Even the title “8 ½” is a reference to Fellini’s filmmaking, citing the seven movies and 2 short episodes (which supposedly added up to a half) that Fellini had made prior to 8 ½. The title character, Guido Anselmi (Marcello Mastroianni), Fellini’s autobiographical protagonist, is under a great deal of stress. He is in the process of creating his next big film, but lacks a defining creative vision to give the project life. Instead he delays and delays, as the cost of the film continues to rise and the pressure on him grows and grows. Producers, production managers, and actors surround Guido, asking him what to do, and he can barely escape their inquiries. This reflects Fellini’s own struggle with creative vision after the wildly successful La Dolce Vita, and it is apparent that Guido’s angst is something that Fellini understands well.

Writer’s block is a problem that everyone comprehends, probably because writers enjoy discussing their troubles publicly (at least it’s something to write about). The creative muse comes and goes, not always at opportune times. This is especially distressing when dozens of workers and millions of dollars depend on the creative vision of one person. For the entire film Guido is grasping at creative straws: the vision of the spaceship, the angelic role of Claudia (Claudia Cardinale), the autobiographical (within the film’s narrative story) struggle with Catholicism. But the parts never make a coherent whole. Guido is desperate for something, anything to give his film life, but he can never find it. The only relief he finds (and perhaps the creative vision for his next project) is when he makes the decision to abandon the film entirely.

The opening scene of the film is representative of the trapped feeling that Guido (and presumably Fellini) will have for the entire film. Ensnared in traffic, with nowhere to go he slowly begins to suffocate. The camera pauses ever so slightly on the faces of the onlookers, seeping us in their morbid fascination (yet total disinterest) at the spectacle before them. All of a sudden, like a dream, he is free and flying through the clouds- yet still tethered to the ground. And then he falls, and reenters reality. For Fellini and Guido dreams are the only escape from the crushing pressure of reality, only to be pulled rudely back to earth and reawaken to the mess they hoped to leave behind. In the dream Guido can escape from the car he is suffocating in- all it takes is a jump cut for him to be outside of the smoking box. But back in reality there are no such quick solutions to his problems, and he is left wandering the estate, searching for a creative vision to latch on to.