La città delle donne (1980)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Federico Fellini

Writers:

Federico Fellini (story) and
Bernardino Zapponi (story) ...

Release Date:

8 April 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

A businessman finds himself trapped at a hotel and threatened by women en masse.

Plot Keywords:

Train | Businessman | Businesswoman | Venetian | Surrealism

Awards:

4 wins

Cast

Marcello Mastroianni	...	Snàporaz
Anna Prucnal	...	Elena
Bernice Stegers	...	Woman on train
Donatella Damiani	...	Donatella (Woman on roller skates)
Jole Silvani	...	Motorcyclist (as Iole Silvani)
Ettore Manni	...	Dr. Xavier Katzone
Fiammetta Baralla	...	Onlio
Hélène Calzarelli	...	Feminist (as Hélène G. Calzarelli)
Isabelle Canto da Maya		(as Isabelle Canto de Maya)
Catherine Carrel	...	Commandant
Stéphane Emilfork	...	Feminist
Marcello Di Falco	...	Slave
Silvana Fusacchia	...	Skater
Gabriella Giorgelli	...	Fishwoman of San Leo
Dominique Labourier	...	Feminist

Also Known As:

City of Women (USA)
La cité des femmes (France)

Runtime:

139 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Italy:VM14 | Australia:M | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-16 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:18

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Gaumont

Trivia:

Italian censorship visa # 74981 delivered on 27-3-1980.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in 8 ½ Women (1999)

Soundtrack:

Una donna senza un uomo è

Entertaining, funny, absurd, visually marvelous.

Fellini never made too many films that had absurdly intense sexual themes and dialogue. He made two, and along with `Casanova,' `The City of Women' revolves almost entirely around sex. What `City of Women' has that `Casanova' did not, however, is a beautiful child-like view of things that really makes Fellini's movies fun in the first place. It also has Marcello Mastroianni (one of my favorite actors) and gorgeous surreal cinematography by Giuseppe Rotunno. `City of Women' begins, appropriately enough, with a train going into a tunnel. Marcello Mastroianni is Snaporez, an again man on a train. He begins to flirt with the woman who is sitting across from him and follows her into the bathroom. As he reveals his lustful feelings, the train suddenly stops and she gets out. He runs after her and ends up at a hotel that appears to be hosting a feminist convention, a REALLY exaggerated and completely insane feminist convention. He soon discovers the entire land he is in is populated with women. Snaporaz is both frightened and in awe of the variety of women that surround him, and they represent virtually all viewpoints of feminist issues - from angry man-haters to whores to crazy teenage girls to dancers to roller skaters to older, more motherly women. Throughout the film the women are clearly in total control, and I interpret this film as a womanizer's nightmare, which makes perfect sense.

The film is perfect by no means, but it's still a bit of a treasure if you're a Fellini fan who has explored most of his body of work, and yet are still starved for some Felliniesque fun. This film has that, and a lot of it. The greatest scene in the film is toward the end, where Snaporez crawls under a bed and comes out inside a bright beautiful carnival. He slides down a stylized rollercoaster and mentally goes through some of his life's most memorable sexual situations. This was a marvelous scene, with a beautiful carnival set, and above all, brilliantly scored by Luis Bacalov.

Overall, I have no idea who will like this film. Even Fellini fans seem to dislike it, or even hate it. I found it to be a lot of fun, and visually marvelous.