Juliet of the Spirits
(1965)
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Juliet of the Spirits
(1965)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Giulietta Masina | ... | ||
| Sandra Milo | ... |
Suzy /
Iris /
Fanny
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Mario Pisu | ... |
Giorgio (Giulietta's husband)
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| Valentina Cortese | ... |
Valentina
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Valeska Gert | ... |
Pijma
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José Luis de Vilallonga | ... |
Giorgio's friend
(as José De Villalonga)
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Friedrich von Ledebur | ... |
Medium
(as Fredrich Ledebur)
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Caterina Boratto | ... |
Giulietta's mother
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Lou Gilbert | ... |
Grandfather
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Luisa Della Noce | ... |
Adele
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Silvana Jachino | ... |
Dolores
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Milena Vukotic | ... |
Elisabetta - the maid
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Fred Williams | ... |
Lynx-Eyes' agent
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Dany París | ... |
Desperate friend
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Anne Francine | ... |
Psychodramatist
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Juliet lives in a beautiful house by the ocean. Her sisters, and especially her Mother overshadow her with their beauty. She is a spiritual, superstitious and naive woman. She visits a psychic seer who tells her she must follow the sex trade in order to be happy. Not long after she meets her eccentric and sexy neighbour, Suzy, who, by all counts appears to be a high class prostitute and encourages Juilet into sexual acts which make her guilty and nervous. A rare night when her husband is at home she wakes up to catch him talking to another woman on the phone. He calls out the name "Gabriella" while sleeping, but when she questions him he lies his way out of it. She finds out who Gabriella is and fears her husband will leave her. Juliet begins having visions who accuse and terrorize her. The pinnacle of the visions comes at the end where it is implied she realizes she would be better off without her husband and is ultimately emotionally emancipated. Written by kwedgwood@hotmail.com
I loved this movie. For me, as a relatively new student of Fellini, I understand that there is a progression in his films over the years. His initial films are more generally coherent stories like "La Strada" and then his later films are more focused on the visual and surreal, like "8 1/2".
This movie is somewhere in between. There is the coherent storyline of Juliet and her philandering husband and all the other strange characters in her life, like family and friends, but then there is also the psychedelic and surreal element of the spirit world that Juliet is in close contact with everyday.
Masina is great as usual--she acts a lot just with her eyes and the expressions on her face.
This film is just a delight. My suggestion is that you don't try to analyze it too deeply. Just sit back and let the colors, settings, costumes, and larger than life characters wash over you.