Donatella Damiani in La Città delle donne (1980)

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Review

Federicos Fellini's The City of Women, La Città delle donne (1980), is 138 minutes of pure Fellini, from his second phase. In other words, there is imagery, nudity, symbolism, and enough of a plot to give some continuity. In all fairness, I was involved in the first half of the story, but was very glad to see it end.

A man on a train (Marcello Mastroianni) tries to pick up a woman in his car, gets off at her stop to get her number, and misses the train. He follows her to a hotel, only to discover that he is nearly the only man in a hotel full of feminists having a convention.

He tries to observe, and maybe even learn something about women, but is eventually attacked first verbally then physically by the women. One women helps him to "escape," and he ends up with a large middle aged woman on her motorcycle (Iole Silvani according to the credits, and Jole Silvani according to IMDB).

Rather than taking him to the station to catch a train, she takes him to a greenhouse and tries to rape him. He then escapes to a lush mansion owned by a man who is celebrating his 10,000th sexual conquest with a huge party.

In my favorite moment from the film, a bride-to-be squats on small platforms, and inhales coins then pearls from the floor with her pudenda to demonstrate why he chose her. Mastroianni meets his wife at the party, and encounters several other woman.

Spoiler Ahead!

He passes some sort of test, is allowed to escape in a hot air balloon in the shape of a naked woman, is shot down, then wakes up in a train car opposite his wife. BARF!!!! The entire thing has been a dream.

End Spoiler

In the film, Fellini is showing his age. He is at the point that most men worry about losing their sexuality and with it their masculinity. Fellini explores every man's deepest fears, and, at the same time, shows how life would be if women were the sexual aggressors.

I will call it a C+.

Critics Vote: Leonard Maltin, in awarding 3 stars put it very well, "Lavish fantasy could only have been made by one filmmaker; a Fellini feast or déjà vu o. d. , depending on your mood and stamina."

IMDB Summary: 6.4 out of 10.

Written by: Tuna ...courtesy of Scoopy.net