Fellini talks about Antonioni

from L'Avventura Criterion Collection bonus DVD - Antonioni: Documents and Testimonials
amzn.to/35KzP8v
Federico Fellini interview

[@jackspry9736]

RIP Michelangelo Antonioni (September 29, 1912 - July 30, 2007), aged 94 And RIP Federico Fellini (January 20, 1920 - October 31, 1993), aged 73 You both will be remembered as legends.

[@clarequilty4962]

Carefully chosen words.

[@garrison6863]

That is not the point. What Fellini is saying is that Antonioni insisted on making his films in his own style, even though it did not endear him to the studio chiefs, and the public and even the critics might not be ready for it. This is why he says Antonioni had personal and artistic dignity and character. I really like Antonioni's best films--Blow Up, L'Avventura, La Notte--and they were done in that personal style of his. The last scene of Blow Up is as iconic as it is mesmerizing.

[@FirstPlace97]

Blow Up is my favorite

[@sevvalnurozturk]

La notte was a masterpiece

[@stephenotoole6633]

I love both Fellini and Antonioni but they are from different planets. I like that Fellini spoke of integrity and dignity so even though he may not have been a fan he didn’t diss Antonioni.

[@RGBEAT]

Both incredible directors. Both completely different filmmakers. No need to create a hierarchy. It's not a competition commenters

[@steez3103]

Well said. Art is not competition

[@ZeroChannelZero]

"The side of Antonioni I like best is his consistency." Who else is reminded of famed dog food commercial director Martin DiBergi's praise of a certain eardrum damaging metal band? "I remember being knocked out by their ... punctuality."

[@roberttrzmiel2797]

and that's the point

[@moonlightval13]

*i love film* 🎞

[@hadiputraw8083]

I love youuuu

[@RezaAnghooti-hi6zc]

@@hadiputraw8083 😁

[@user-ux8bw7ue1c]

Sono bravi tutti e due

[@lanolinlight]

Both great directors but Antonioni was more readily accessible to bourgeois intellectuals while anybody with at least one eyeball and a pulse could fall under Fellini's spell. As Fellini said of Chaplin, his own work was beyond words and analysis. But, as Fellini diplomatically implies here, the fellowship of great filmmakers has more to do with tenacity, clarity and commitment to one's own vision.

[@marcob4630]

Damned audio! Hardly understandable

[@merxeddie6474]

Film making like painting ,drama,music and poetry,can accommodate various styles and approaches,Fellini doesn’t appreciate Antonioni’s.

[@unclealand]

So he didn’t like Antonioni’s movies, either.

[@MileOfJoy]

unclealand Exactly, but the good thing is that he didn’t like it CONSISTENTLY.

[@bebaguette766]

@@MileOfJoy This clever comment consistently provides laughter to cineasts.

[@riccardoalcaro8483]

Fellini never understood Antonioni, a man with a much greater grasp of human relations than he ever had. Antonioni focused so much on the man-woman relationship because he instinctively understood that that is the basis of any human relationship, and showed how relationships don't work because of a pathological (thus, acquired, not natural, not physiological) inability of many men and women to develop an identity that springs out of affection, fantasy and originality, rather than a false identity which in fact is identification with abstract constructs such as religious dogmas, moral values, social status, or solipsistic hedonism. Fellini's movies are lengthy monologues by men who have never truly seen a woman in their lives, and therefore are cold deep inside. Antonioni's movies show the cold (yes, consistently), Fellini's hide it (also, consistently). Antonioni was honest because he had this inner clarity, based on affections, while Fellini was dishonest because he never managed fully to overcome depression

[@beflygelt]

this is a bit too black and white for me (one works, one doesn't..), but interesting points

[@riccardoalcaro8483]

beflygelt I understand my comment came out as pretty stark and black-and-white...and to an extent it is black and white. But not in the sense that Fellini wasn’t a great artist. He was. In fact art must’ve been the one thing that saved him from depression, although he never managed to overcome it. But depressed he was, and it shows it so much in his films. No matter how great they are - and La Strada, La dolce vita, 8 and 1/2, Amarcord are all great - Fellini failed to grasp the depth of the human being, which can only come out in inter-human relations. Fellini’s films are monologues - nostalgic, ironic, narcissistic, always solipsistic- by men (they’re always men) who can only reconcile with the world by transforming it into a circus populated by grotesques figures - half-tragic and half-tender. Antonioni, by contrast, goes deep deep inside human relations between real human beings, more often than not relations that don’t work, but he shows you why they don’t work even if he never tells you that explicitly. It’s not by chance that Antonioni focuses so much on women, as you can’t talk of human relationships if you don’t talk about women as much as men. He truly sees women as full human beings, his glance is curious, deep and with no grain of chauvinism or paternalism. He’s ruthless in showing humans as they are, and warm in passing on the message that this is not how things are by nature, but because depression and other ills of the mind depend on a lack of affection, fantasy and creativity. Antonioni is not easy on the viewer because his films stimulate the viewer to engage, they challenge him/her to go beyond entertainment. Fellini is like a fantastic magician who enchants is with his wonderful tricks - but tricks they are. Antonioni tells the viewer: if you connect with the human story I’m telling, it’s because you see a beauty in humans and think that you can be better, warmer, freer than my characters usually are. Fellini says: life is an illusion, let’s have some fun and die partying, sweet on the surface but heavy and empty on the inside. I guess this is even more black and white than my previous comment...

[@naeemmujeeb4581]

@@riccardoalcaro8483 Riccardo, Ive been thinking this for so long, after watching la dolce vita and 81/2. The idea of Solipsism which is a new word I just learnt which puts all my ideas of this film into this one word. I thank you for your response as it helped me put the ideas and experience I got from felini's film into words. Ive decided to start looking into Antonioni in order to get a view of the other side. To decide whether or not Felini's outlook on the world is more acceptable. An alternative would allow me to think about it more and at the end of day its about the different views and ideas you get from these films and how you interpret it which allows you to learn and improve. I dont undestand italian so I use subtitles instead in order to understand. Any other films of any region that you would recommend which provides insightful and thoughtful interpretations such as Felini's does. Thanks again

[@federicofellini8136]

You know nothing of my work

[@arturartur1051]

@@riccardoalcaro8483 the great truth of your comment goes beyond Antonioni's person. Compliments. Thank you.

[@ppuh6tfrz646]

I'd choose Antonioni over Fellini every day of the week. I think Fellini is massively over-rated.