NINE
I am a sometime fan of Frederico Fellini, having seen some but not all of his films. I have seen and adore some of early neo-realist work like, I Vitelloni and La Strada and agree with the recognition of La Dolce Vita as his great masterpiece. The latter film marks the transition of Fellini into his signature, baroque fantastical style and far away from contemporaries like Rossellini and Antonioni.
Fellini’s gift seemed to be his ability to render his observations of the times through his own experience, by directly inserting himself often in the person of Marcello Mastrianni. Fellini watched the transition into the 1960s move from dreary European black and white to mod color. 81/2, upon which Nine is based, may be the most explicitly autobiographical of all of his films, as by then Fellini’s life was in full public view. But whereas Sally Potter documented her writer/director block that resulted in an obsession with Argentine tango obsession in The Tango Lesson, Fellini, in the throes of the 1960s, decided to reveal his soul: his neurotic, self-indulgent dependence on all of many women in his life from mother to mistress.
So it’s 40 years after the primary text and we have a film adaptation of the musical which was produced and ran on Broadway in the 1980s. The film is a musical but can also refer back to the source, and without being anything like a remake can capture more of the spirit of the film. Guido Contini (Daniel Day Lewis) is the Fellini stand in, and when we meet him he is clearly in a crisis. His next film is set to start shooting in 10 days and he has no script (which actually wasn’t unusual for Fellini) and no clear idea of what it should be about. He looks for help from his costume designer (in the play she is a producer) Lili (Judy Dench). When he escapes to a Spa his mistress Carla (Penelope Cruz) and his nearly estranged wife Luisa (Marion Cotillard) appear as well as the rest of the production. Back in Rome, Contini turns to his muse, movie star Claudia (Nicole Kidman) for hope, while all along he reminisces about his nine year old self and his mother (Sophia Loren.) There is a journalist, there is a prostitute played by Kate Hudson and Fergie, and there are many, many more. In fact there are women everywhere, hanging from the scaffolding of the unfinished set symbolizing the impossibility of escape from demands and distraction.
On the one hand it is another star studded musical that attempts to convince us that there really is no difference between acting, singing and dancing in musical theater and being coached, Dancing With the Stars -like, into a convincing approximation. On the other hand it’s close character study. As an ex-dancer, I am always highly critical of these endeavors, as I wax nostalgically about golden age of the MGM musical when actual professional dancers and singers got leads in films. But those days will never be seen again. What we’re left with, unfortunately, is one shot where Penelope Cruz seems to have ballerina extension and perfectly pointed feet, but in the full body shots her legs look chunkier, with no arch in sight. Kate Hudson has a cute little, channeling her mom in 1965 number but it’s not real, meaty Broadway dancing. Nobody can really sing except Fergie, sort of, but the songs aren’t that great anyway: fine but not great.
Ultimately the film hangs on Daniel Day Lewis’ mighty shoulders and as always he shines, shines, shines beyond the material. He doesn’t overdo the Italian accent, in fact he doesn’t overdo anything, he does a nice read of Mastroianni, haplessly unable to control his desire.
Nine is now playing.
Directed by Rob Marshall; written by Michael Tolkin and Anthony Minghella, based on the Broadway musical written by Maury Yeston, Mario Frati and Arthur Kopit; produced by John DeLuca, Marc Platt, Harvey Weinstein; Director of Photography, Dion Beebe; music by Andrea Guerra; edited by Claire Simpson.
With: Daniel Day Lewis (Guido Contini); Marion Cotillard (Luisa Contini); Penelope Cruz (Carla); Nicole Kidman (Claudia) and Judy Dench (Lili.)
