Intervista Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Intervista Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 9, 2022

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Essential Fellini.

It may not quite match the treatment Criterion afforded a certain iconic Swedish director with their frankly almost overwhelming Ingmar Bergman's Cinema release, but Essential Fellini should pretty easily serve as either an absolutely first rate introduction to or a nostalgic reacquaintance with one of Italy's most legendary filmmakers. Fourteen beloved if sometimes controversial Fellini films have been aggregated in this set, along with a bonus disc offering a special devoted to Marcello Mastroianni, and while Criterion only provided check discs for the purposes of this review, from the looks of things online, this is another beautifully packaged set from the label with a number of non-disc swag packaging bonuses.

In my And the Ship Sails On Blu-ray review, I mentioned how that 1983 offering from Federico Fellini virtually exulted in a "meta" ambience, to which Fellini himself may have answered, "Hold my wine" (since I'm considering an Italian of the master's heritage would much rather sip that than beer). One is tempted to say that the term "meta" in any dictionary would be well served by simply having a photo of this film's poster next to it, because as even the title of this opus seems to suggest Intervista is a veritable collision of ideas and perspectives.

One of the supplements on Variety Lights is the cheekily titled documentary I'm a Born Liar, and it's probably best to keep that self assessment on the part of Fellini well in mind during this freewheeling escapade which purports to be an autobiography of sorts, albeit couched in a typically mad assortment of "layers". The more or less framing conceit here is that a Japanese television crew is on site at Cinecittà, documenting the man who is arguably one of the studio's most famous habitués (at least in the director's chair), which then supposedly provides Fellini the chance to wax nostalgic about his life and career. The result is anything but a documentary, or in fact even one of those glossy Hollywood biographies of various show business types that have little to do with their actual subjects.

Instead, this is another bracing trip through Fellini's stream of consciousness, which might jokingly be described as having regular rapids to ford. That sometimes perilous trek through Fellini's worlds, both ostensibly factual and fictional, are in this case supposedly bound up in the film Fellini is ostensibly shooting, an adaptation of Franz Kafka's unfinished novel, Amerika. There is some supplemental content here that supposedly sheds light on this completely peculiar concatenation of ideas, but suffice it to say as with many Fellini enterprises, the ostensible foundational building blocks are at times ephemeral, offering only refractive hints of themselves as Fellini darts off to and fro on adventures possibly real or imagined, or Schrodinger-like, both simultaneously.

Even given the fabulist underpinnings of several vignettes the film utilizes, kind of amazingly you still get a real feel for what working at such a legendary studio as Cinecittà may have been like, and as unabashedly "adorned" as some of Fellini's anecdotes may be, the man himself comes off throughout this film as amazingly natural and sweetly unpretentious, which considering the almost epic amounts of pretense his career was built on is kind of a miracle.

Intervista Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Intervista is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. Criterion only sent check discs for purposes of this review, and so I'm not privy to any verbiage about the transfer that may be included in an insert booklet, but the actual film includes some introductory text which offers the following information:

Restoration of Intervista (Federico Fellini, 1987) completed in 2019 by Istituto Luce - Cinecittà and Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia - Cineteca Nazionale at the Istituto Luce - Cinecittà laboratories from the original 35mm picture negative made available by Istituto Luce - Cinecittà, Rai Cinema, the heirs of Ibrahim Moussa and from a positive track printed from the optical soundtrack negative.

Sound restoration supervision by Federico Savina.

This newest of the films in Criterion's Fellini set may not offer the most visual wonderment, but the transfer is excellent, supporting both the kind of vérité elements as well as more traditionally Fellini-esque flights of visual fancy. The film benefits from a bulk of outdoor material, most of which offer really secure detail levels and an appealingly well suffused palette. Things can be a bit more variable in darker scenes, which can have a decidedly grittier and less detailed appearance (see screenshot 6 for one example). Some of these darker moments flirt with but probably never completely tip over into crush. Grain resolves naturally throughout the presentation, and perhaps due at least in part to the newer production date of this film, I noticed no age related wear and tear of any import.

Intervista Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Intervista features an LPCM Mono track which, along with the one of And the Ship Sails On, probably benefits from its relatively newer production era, so that overall fidelity is improved, especially with regard to a more burnished sounding midrange and low end. Nicola Piovani's playful score is well represented, and some occasionally whimsical sound effects also reverberate well. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Intervista Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• At Home with Federico Fellini (HD; 17:14) is a fun 1987 interview done for Italian television, where Fellini discusses the importance of Franz Kafka's Amerika was for him in sparking the making of this film. Subtitled in English.


• Fellini Racconta: Passeggiate Nella Memoria (HD; 52:05) is a 2000 documentary featuring Fellini recounting his life and career. Subtitled in English.


• Marcello Mastroianni (HD; 47:19) features a circa 1963 audio interview which plays to stills. Subtitled in English.


• Fellini's TV (HD; 35:14) is a 2003 aggregation of unused bits from Ginger and Fred that were put together for Italian television. Subtitled in English.

Intervista Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

While Federico Fellini would go on to make The Voice of the Moon some three years after Intervista, for all intents and purposes this film can be appreciated as the maestro's swan song, offering a deliberately whimsical and maybe not completely "ripped from the headlines" account of his life and work. The whole Amerika angle is frankly bizarre, but also gives the film some potent subtext, at least insofar as Kafka's tale involves a wandering itinerant who may or may not finally find happiness in the wild and wooly world of show business. Technical merits are solid, and the supplements very enjoyable. Recommended.