Film analysis of Fellini's Juliet of the Spirits

¶ … film analysis of movie Juliet of the Spirits released in 1965. The film is a great work of mid-1900's and the lovers of film history enjoy not only its story but also the picturing and the sounds. The movie is about memories, and spirituality of a woman who is in her middle age. The landscape and light effects of the movie are such to support the vision of dreams. Besides the public liking and critiques, the movie holds some development and production-based standards and follows certain styles of movie making, shooting, lightening etc. Some of these are discussed here under separate headings.

Now vs. Then

The time has changed and so have the standards of movie making. The technology has tremendously evolved and it is not cartoons and animations alone that are produced in 3D but movies like Iron man also offer a reality like experience. However, discussing a movie that is older than almost half a century, it should be kept in mind that the technology was only limited and there were only a few studios. There were limitations of light as well as camera quality. Colors were new and so was the fast music. Thus much of traditional music was also produced in fast mode that was quite noisy. Hence, while discussing the movie, the technology available in 1965 should be remembered and the movie should not be compared to the current productions in absolute term but only in relative terms.

Construction - Deconstruction

The movies construct or deconstruct societies by presenting ideas that are productive or anti-productive. While it is complained that the movies are spreading wound culture, there are also some master pieces that communicate the intensity and power of human emotions and their desire to be aware of self. The movie Juliet of the Spirits revolves around life of a woman. It is not a thrilling experience and offers an insight to the life of woman. Colors, parties, tension, religion and spirituality are the pillars holding the movie. The movie production is carried in such a way that there is mixed use of indoor and outdoor scenes. Hallucinations are neither reality nor dreams. Thus it is very hard to come up with a movie that is very close to define what hallucinations are and how they can be described to those that have never hallucinated. The movie is not haunting yet a person understands the severity of condition of a person who may experience hallucination at any time of the day and even night. The combination of light, dark, sound and silence communicates meanings in every second of movie. Imagery is both appealing and romantic -- what truly depicts the life of a woman.

The movie discusses how Giulietta explores her subconscious. If it were about her actual life alone, the movie might have been produced simply by focusing on two Ds; dialogues and dresses. But there is much more in it. Giulietta is depressed and seeking independence through self-awareness. Motion, gestures, distances and buildings, everything has a meaning and everything narrates a different aspect of life of the characters.

Frame Design

Mise-en Scene is an important term in movie making. It is a cinematic process carried out on the set of movie unlike editing that is done afterwards. The meaning of Mise-en scene is putting in the scene. The movements in this aspect are adjusted by direction of actors, the camera placements and selecting the right lenses.

The frames in the movie determine the movement in the scenes. Movement is all about the quality of art work. Almost every character in the movie moves slowly but it is not them alone. The camera is also kept smooth in its movement. The movement of scenes is set in frames that contain many complex features and factors like camera, the visual conventions, animation, sound effects, and the camera angles (Kazel 2013). Each of these constitutes in making one frame. The movements are critical not in dancing scenes alone but they are also carefully 'designed' in ordinary scenes. In the movie, simple frames and one sided motion is used rather than showing too many multi-directional movements. In movie, the frames and movement of the scenes are normally from front to back and back to front. In the old movies, older than around 50 years, the movement used was mostly from front to back -- it was like entrance. The power of men is especially depicted in this manner i.e. they are shown to enter from front and to stay at a point. The freeze frame is also used in the trailer of the movie and other scenes. Also there is collection of flashing scenes used in this movie.

Camera Movement

A fast moving camera along the speedy cars in Fast and Furious is thrilling. However same technique can be used in romantic movies or drama films. In the movie Juliet of the Spirit, the camera movement is used in an effective manner. In most of the scenes, the camera is still and not moving. The fixed camera is the one that is stationary and is mounted at single spot. The camera does zoom, tilt, and moves forward and backward but it is mounted (Video maker 2013). The mobile camera can also move but it is also capable of moving around the set. It can move in circle, sweeping manner and front and back. The camera is set on a dolly with wheels so that it can be moved around. When Giulietta walks in the park, the camera moves with her but this camera movement seems to be human. The camera moves up and down as if a man is carrying it and it is not fixed to a dolly. However, this camera movement is original and the viewer is much more involved in the scenes once the camera moves along the characters.

It is not the mobility of camera alone that determines effectiveness of scenes. The tilt counts too. In movie Juliet of the Spirit, most of the scenes, the camera is upright and does not tilt. Distance between the characters matters too.

Slow Motion: The audience missed slow motion in the movie. It could have added in the fantasy experience of the movie. The camera has a set speed and moves with it in all the scenes. There are no ups and downs in the scenes overall. At few places, especially where the camera zooms out, a slow motion would have been more enjoyable. The slow motion is not mandatory but recommended in order to enhance the thinking of the audience and support it.

Camera Tilt: The camera tilt is effective in most of the thrilling scenes. But this is not always when the camera is titled. Since the movie lacks the camera tilting, it cannot be exactly said how it would have been better if the camera titling method was used. Yet it can be said that a tilt camera is specifically recommended when showing the lead character in isolation in different moods. In such scenes, camera tilts emphasize different views which the upright straight camera misses.

Blurring: Most of the scenes of the movie are sharp yet a few are blurring too. The blur scenes are of those when either a faraway item is shown or the heroine is hallucinating. However, not all the scenes of hallucination are blurring and some are dark too. The blurring exactly tells where the character is hallucinating and where not but the trick is not to explicitly tell when is the character daydreaming. It is nice to see the hallucinating scenes in clear shooting also so that the audience are tricked and provoked to guess whether the scene is reality or dream.

Color Experience

The movies started with no color experience. There were only black and white shots and the colors were introduced quite late. Hence most of the focus was put on the shades and light dark aspects of the scenes. When the color movies started there two types of experiences. In some movies, very bright colors were used and in the other movies, the producers were very selective and thus they produced the movie in mostly black and white and only a little color scenes. The Juliet in the Spirits is one such movie that can be called successful in balancing the colors and shadows. The movie was example where images were not first painted or stenciled. Realism as well as glamor was added to the movie using light and colors. This movie is one of those where best aesthetic patterns are used to establish character or emotion. In the movie, the colors had another responsibility of narrating dream and reality differently. Hence, in the movie, the colors separate the bourgeois realism and the fantasy day dreaming by showing sample colors of reds and purples and black and white. It was first ever Fellini film in color thus the team was trying to make best out of it.

Colors and demons: It seems in the start of the movie that the colors are used as show of fashion alone. However it is revealed that these colors are selected for their emblems too. The red and black colors are used as colors of demons of Giulietta and these demons are her desires. She is not aware of self. If it was to narrate movies according to their colors alone, the colors of this movie would be black, white and red. Today, when the movies discuss the demons, the symbols are zombi's and criminals. While the difference is not a lot, yet, in the beginning, the movies usually used to paint demons with colors alone.

Sound

Most of the voices in the movie are of women. The movie was released in foreign languages that are French and Italian so the dialogues sound like quicker to those that can understand English alone. Normally the classic stories do not involve noisy scenes but party and war scenes are exception. In the movie, there are different scenes and the producer used too many background sounds. The lead characters are yet audible in this noise. The primary reason for this is that the voices decrease in the background when the lead characters talk. The chirping birds also become inaudible once the women start talking in the garden!

Most of the back ground sounds in the movie are music, children and birds. The sounds are often loud and sometimes low. Being women, these three sounds are the best depiction of her life and aspirations. The sounds of the children are full of life and energy. Giulietta smiles while talking when there is voice of children alone in the background or when there are children too.

Music: The movie did not miss the music at all. There are several occasions where music is used. The music is not classic but mostly a fast playing pipe is heard. It might be a great pleasure for the audience of 1960's to listen to such a music but today it sounds like a shrill noise. Drums, pianos and pipes are the main instruments shown. Background music in the movie is of the TV. The TV plays on the background where there is sound of people taking, vehicles as well as music.

Piano: It would only be a little aggregation that the scenes with no piano playing in the background can be counted on fingers. Often it seems unnatural to listen to piano when simple a women and child walk dragging their bicycles. Hence, piano is almost continuously played in the movie like many other movies of the same era.

Giggling Children: The movie narrates the life of women by adding voices that are important in her life too. The trailer of movie normally captures the best scenes and the best dialogues. The trailer of Juliet of the Spirit also plays sounds of giggling children. Probably this sound is used to narrate the moments of pleasure in the life of a married woman.

Noise: Not all noises are bad. The movie, like mentioned about, took advantage of noise of people as well as non-living things in effective manner. The noise of telephone is one very clear and loud. To those that remember the dial landline telephone sets with tring ringing sound, the movie might not sound noisy. Rather, it would seem like very real and natural. Sound of water is also used at different spots especially those produced outdoor.

Silence: Discussing different sounds in the movie, the pauses and the silence should not be forgotten. The silence is sometimes more meaningful than the words, music and dialogues. The movie adopts a special use of silence. The silent scenes are those in which the house is shown in light and dark from different angles. The flash scenes pass in silence and in no sound narrating the thoughtful moments when the souls want to be in peace and no sound is desired.

Intensity of sound: The sounds are not plain in the movie rather the intensity increase and decrease both with scenes and dialogues. The background music and well as background noise decreases when the characters start talking. But these voices do not end totally. The intensity of music also increases in the fast and emotional scenes. It is like the whole story can be understood by merely sounds alone.

Dialogue sound: Since the movie is in Italian and French, for the English and Americans, the dialogues seem to be plain. The whispers are separated from normal conversation but rest of voices seems only beautiful once they are related to the scene. The Italian language has its own style and for those that understand this style, the dialogues are not plain but sometime painful, sometime thoughtful and other times sensational.

Conclusion

The movie pictures life of woman in late 1990's. There were no helicopters carrying cameras and no 3D effects yet the shadow, music, scenery selection and sounds are used to make the story remarkable. The movie has some pluses and some flaws with respect to cinematography. The white, red and black colors are nicely used in the movie. The lead character wears white when she is clear about her life or is enjoying life among the acquaintances. The negative characters or the bold characters are wearing black and red is the color of glamor and romance. The movie thus uses color as one of the basic tools of communicating message. Music is the other tool. While there are some very meaningful sounds, music and noise in the movie, the use of piano and pipe is sometimes more like a noise. However, it is the true representation of taste of people of corresponding time. Selecting lightening in the movie is really appreciable. In most of the scenes recorded in light, half of the face of the characters is shown bright and the rest cannot be seen because it is covered by dark. Mostly the lit part is eyes.