Although this is a fair step up in style and cohesion from the IMO very spotty and overrated La Dolce Vita (1960), i'm pretty conflicted on this one. Its style and experimentation, obviously inspired by the french new wave and some traces of Buñuel, is a joy to behold - a dreamlike journey whose conclusion almost doesn't matter. There's a real blemish on the whole avant-garde spectacle though and once again it's the director's chauvinism being on full display here, going well beyond a begrudgingly accepted background level and culminating in a blatant harem fantasy sequence that's hard to ignore. Yeah sure, i get that this is supposed to be satire and the fantasy of an intentionally flawed protagonist but given what i've seen of Fellini's other work so far, i can't help but see a projection of the director's own views and desires in there. Urgh...