Federico Fellini's epic 1980 fantasia introduced the start of the Maestro's delirious late period. A surrealist tour-de-force filmed on soundstages and locations alike and overflowing with the same sensory (and sensual) invention heretofore found only in the classic movie-musicals (and Fellini's own oeuvre) La citta delle donne City taps into the era's restless youth-culture coalescing into nothing less than Fellini's post-punk opus. Marcello Mastroianni appears as Fellini's alter ego in a semi-reprise of his character from 8-1/2 Snaporaz. As though passing into a dream the charismatic avatar finds himself initiated into a phantasmagoric world where women - or an idea of women - have taken power and which is structured like an array of psychosexual set-pieces - culminating in a bravura hot-air balloon that decisively sticks the anti up into climax. A great adventure through the looking-glass as it were of Fellini's own phallic lens and life-long libidinal ruminations La citta delle donne sharply divided critics at the 1980 Festival de Cannes some of whom had merely anticipated a nostalgic retread of the earlier Mastroianni works. What they were greeted with and what remains today is in the words of Serge Daney a victory of cinema. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present La citta delle donne on Blu-ray and DVD in Gaumont's glorious new HD restoration. Special Features: HD Restoration of the Film presented in 1080p on the Blu-ray Newly Translated Optional Subtitles Substantial Booklet Containing Writing on the Film Vintage Exerpts and Rare Archival Imagery
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