Now this was kind of a surprise. This is certainly Fellini's vision at its most realized so far in his experimental streak, which kinda began with La Dolce Vita (1960), went totally overboard in 8½ (1963) and eventually comes into its own in this film which finally embeds the surreal dream-logic and playful experimentation into a great character-driven narrative.

Also, this almost feels like the Fellini's mea culpa for his previous two flicks which were the epitome of male gaze and at times quite infuriating in their rampant and largely unaddressed chauvinism. A lot of the difference probably comes down to having Giulietta Masina back in the lead role, who has repeatedly shown the singular ability to elicit something resembling empathy from the director, overcome his male-centric lens and imbue her characters with tons of personality and agency.

I didn't think i would ever say this, but this is probably the first Fellini flick i've seen that allows for some plausible feminist reading. Here's hoping he won't fall back into his old ways in subsequent films, though i suspect he probably will...