Conversations with Fellini [Paperback]

Costanzo Costantini (Editor), Sohrab Sorooshian (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 30, 1997

Besides creating groundbreaking films, Fellini was a born raconteur who loved giving interviews and creating fictive, often fantastic, versions of his biography. Here is a collection of in-depth interviews by Costanzo Costantini, Fellini’s frequent companion and scribe over a period of three decades. Translated by Sohrab Sorooshian.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Italian film director who created La Strada, Amarcord and a host of other memorable films emerges, in these conversations, as an instinctual talent with no gift for analysis. This appears especially true when confronted by actuarial questions by journalist Constantini: "At what age did you have your first sexual experience?" "What designer clothes do you wear? Do you also sometimes wear flashy waistcoats, like Gogol?" An imperfect translation does not help, which the publisher claims is from the original Italian edition of this book, but awkward Gallicisms such as Fellini's reluctance "to quit Rome," and speaking of an "Enquirer" when an Inquisitor is obviously meant, suggest that translator Sorooshian leaned on an already existing French translation of the book. Constantini ends his book with an account of Fellini's final illness in 1993 that is almost voyeuristically intrusive ("Sometimes Fellini could not even go to the lavatory. He was not fond of the bedpan" and so forth). Constantini first met Fellini in the 1950s and says that he interviewed Fellini two or more times a year from the mid-1950s until 1990 when he became "his permanent escort, both official and semi-official." Sadly, in this compilation of questions and responses, Fellini comes across as an unread, uncultivated fellow, and Constantini gives little hint as to how such a man could have achieved as much as he did.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This is a series of interviews with the late director, who dominated the postwar Italian cinema scene and who one critic called "the most Italian of filmmakers, if not the most Italian of Italians." Fellini expounds on early cinema experiences, his sexual fantasies, and a long marriage to La Strada star Giulietta Masina; offers views of his beloved Fellini's Roma; and ruminates on films, made and unmade. Fellini reflects on television, the medium that gave him his start, and appraises such fellow directors as Charlie Chaplin, Ingmar Bergman, Luis Bu?uel, John Ford, and Martin Scorsese. An admiring journalist who later became his "permanent escort" and "personal reporter," Costantini admits he can't be objective about Fellini, and indeed the interviews are friendly but irreverent. Enlivened by drawings from Fellini's sketchbook and movie stills, this is useful as a record of and tribute to a great director. Recommended for libraries needing an update of Fellini on Fellini (1976; Da Capo, 1996. reprint.).?Stephen Rees, Levittown Regional Lib., Pa.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; First Edition edition (January 30, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156004402
• ISBN-13: 978-0156004404
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,433,732 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fellini's Martini, March 28, 2000

By 

Fraser R. Stowe "Time Enough A. L." (Western MA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Conversations with Fellini (Paperback)

One might expect 200 pages of Fellini interviews to be just for the cinephile who has seen all his films-twice, but this intriguing and delightfully readable collection is a great appetizer about one of cinema's most influential and challenging directors-even for latent fans of film.

The great advantage in this book is Costanzo Constantini's unique perspective as a journalist who interviewed Fellini regularly over 40 years. Constantini has been let into Fellini's life; they became friends, and this relationship often allows very relaxed, informal and sometimes revealing responses from Fellini.

Even in interviews this man is a great storyteller, but Fellini confesses that some of the tales may be very tall. Without apology Fellini admits, "We change our accounts of events continually so as not to bore ourselves" (55). So, this non-fiction assembly of interviews soon becomes a bit of a mystery novel as one realizes s/he must sieve truth from fiction. Somehow this tendency of his isn't too distressing. One chalks it up to his innate cinematic flair or the love of, and talent for, a great story. There is no judging him harshly for this, since it makes for such delightful reading, and the truth is in there somewhere; it's just colorized, embellished and exaggerated for our enjoyment as well as his own. Even Constantini's first-hand account of a "marital-professional skirmish" between Fellini and Giuletta before a screening sounds almost scripted, a joust and good show for the audience. This climate of fibbing lends an almost comic slant to Constantini's section in which he asks this self-confessed exaggerator many, "Is it true that she said...?" and "Did you really say...?" kinds of questions. This may be Constantini's dry, playful intent, much like Fellini's sense of humor which is revealed throughout.

The film student will enjoy Fellini's thoughts on Neorealism, and Catholicism. And of course there are his perspectives on his actors, collaborators, his films and the various circulating interpretations, but less of this than one might expect. The many tasty Fellini quotes on broad ranges of topics that Constantini serves become the highlights here. It's truly wonderful to behold his talent for succinctly capturing very ethereal ideas. On the special charm of cinema that's been robbed by TV's inundation: "The cinematographic image is deprived of its most profound meaning, its magical, dreamlike, mysterious quality. It is deprived of its secret charm, which takes its nourishment from the obscure relationship that each of us has with the unconscious" (132). Further revealing another angle of his genius, is the way he beautifully and effortlessly expresses the rare, rejuvenating sanctuary and exhilaration of creativity and returning to one's element, "Once, I arrived on the set with a galloping fever, but as soon as I looked through the lens it went away. When you're filming you feel like yourself again, a director without age, outside of time, without infirmities, invulnerable" (137). Switching disciplines again, he discusses his long-held interest in psychology and states his bold views on the subject, "It's ridiculous not to believe in psychoanalysis. It's like not believing in chemistry or mathematics" (195-196).

The favorites are those in which his dry, ironic sense of humor beams through. Concerning his filmmaking offers from Iran and Saudi Arabia, "Perhaps they wanted me to make a film on the religious and mystical feelings engendered by petroleum" (98). A high point for this reader is certainly this quote with a nod to the greatness of his own influence. He was speaking about how he wished he was allowed more time when accepting his Lifetime Achievement Oscar in 1993, "Had my time not been so rigorously rationed, maybe I could have made a speech that was intelligent, spirited, pleasant, detached and emotional-Felliniesque, in a word" (171).

Though a Fellini filmography is included at the end, knowing the dates of each interview might help those less familiar with its chronology. Otherwise, one needn't worry too much about how many Fellini films s/he has seen. Sure it would help to be a fan of some of his films, but the most enjoyable insights are the rich, intimate portraits of: a man; his creativity, vision and processes; his playfulness and sense of humor; and be they perfectly truthful or not, his stories well told.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A treat for foriegn film buffs!, November 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Conversations with Fellini (Paperback)

A real treat with insight but mostly recommended for fans of Fellini,this book not only helps one understand some of the bases of this strange but incredibly unique filmmaker, it's also a very entertaining read. Among the highlights are his views on Bergman and Kubrick. It contains little talk about about the meaning of Fellini's films but for fans of him or world cinema - enjoy.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the best about ONE OF THE VERY BEST., May 26, 2001

By 

M. Packo (Stratford, CT United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Conversations with Fellini (Paperback)

There can be no doubt that the maestro was a magnificent talker: frank, witty, engaging, poetic.... Need I go on? Truly blessed with the gift of gab - amongst so many other talents, in fact, the way in which he chatted up his films was, at times, more entertaining than watching some of them.

Fellini was a marvelous, uniquely fascinating character, all this is clear from reading these fragmentary interviews. Unfortunately, what is sorely lacking from the questions Constantini asks is what most readers would primarily want to discover in reading this book. Yes the incidentals of his life are important, and interesting, and necessary. Yes the anecdotes about Mastroianni and Eckberg and so on are amusing. But what about the hows of his approach, the whys of his style? There is just too much missing here to really make it worth our while. Federico Fellini the filmmaker is actually under-represented!

Though he probably would not have answered those sorts of questions all that directly we would still learn a little more about, for example, why Fellini always liked to loop his dialog in such an offbeat way, or why he chose to dolly and pan through his scenes so busily, or how he came to prefer so peculiar a rhythmn to his editing. THESE are the kinds of questions I think any real admirer of his work would love to try teasing answers from him about. Too little about the way of the art, too much about the way of the career.

The maestro deserves better -- and got it! Read I, FELLINI instead. On the plus side, though: nice cover, excellent font and print size on good quality paper with some decent pictures.