Júlia és a szellemek

An experimental play with colour and a dreamlike, episodically pieced-together story, through which Fellini shows us his apparently confident analysis of the paranoid female psyche. It's not so much about the story, which is only a loose sequence of hallucinogenic fantasies, with the only character undergoing a certain development being the protagonist Giulietta, but rather about the beautiful imagery, with colours capturing the emotions and the nature of the supporting characters, and the masterful composition of both the scenes, whose rhythm is not disturbed even by the carefully edited flashbacks, and the shots themselves – each image is powerful with how everything is stylized and pre-arranged, from the aforementioned colours and sets to the actors' movements themselves, which on the one hand reduces the emotional impact and prevents the viewer from experiencing this almost machine-like system in any deeper way, but on the other it makes the film an admirable work of art, whose every twist and shade may become dull with time, but the respect and the great first impression will remain forever. 80% (2015.10.07)

Typical Fellini. The director focuses his attention on decorations, costumes, bizarre characters, and a huge amount of symbols on the screen, while the plot itself is insignificant. Fellini incorporated autobiographical elements into the story of a housewife dealing with her husband's infidelity. It is a distinctly personal film. For the viewer, it is a feast for the eyes, although due to the number of dream scenes and the loose pace, it certainly isn't a film for everyone. Overall impression: 80%. (2009.05.17)

While it's claimed to be the female counterpart to the more famous 8 1/2, I can't help but see it as just the same struggle with the same things, except it's all in captivating colors, which are truly perfect. But I couldn't get into the film and simply didn't enjoy it. But it does have some values. (2015.05.28)