Juliet+Spirits

Juliet of the Spirits by Federico Fellini, is a film centered around a wife struggling to cope with the idea (as well as fact) that her husband is cheating on her. In her struggle to cope with the reality of her life, she begins to hallucinate and is haunted by her childhood memories. Portrayed as a calm and insecure woman, she feels additionally pressured by the expectations of her friends and family to loosen up. The movie revolves around the conflicts she faces both externally and internally, and the lighting, cinematography and editing are all vital in portraying the conflict between her husband and her, but also the conflicts within herself. Among those techniques, I have chosen to focus on medium shots from behind, close-ups, back lighting and intercutting editing. I will also go into some detail on the composition of the shots, as well as the general portrayal of the characters.

In the beginning of the movie, Juliet is in the process of getting ready for her anniversary dinner. Throughout the course of this period, she remains "anonymous" in a sense, because all we see is her back. It's not until 4 minutes into the movie that we actually get to see her face. During this moment we get to see her reaction to the fact that her husband has forgotten their anniversary. This entire scene holds a lot of significance in the movie because not only is it the first indication of the what Juliet and Giorgio's relationship is like, but it also includes a lot of the film techniques that are continuously used throughout the movie.

Medium shots from behind is one of the most common cinematographic techniques that we see in this film. In the example of the first scene, Juliet's character is not revealed until a little while after the film has started. This technique adds a great sense of mystery to the characters because even if we may already know what they look like, we are still curious as to what they look like during that moment. As viewers, this leaves us feeling somewhat disconnected from the characters because unlike over the shoulder shots that can allow you to feel included, medium shots from behind result in a whole different feeling. Often, it can make one feel like they are just an onlooker, watching from behind. Sometimes it can even change our perception of the character, because it makes it seem as if there is a whole side to them that we are not being shown. Most often, Juliet is the character that can be seen filmed in this way. The use of this type of shot varies greatly between the scenes, but from my observations I feel it is used mainly in two different ways-either separately or combined. Either it is to add a sense of suspense and mystery, or to divide between what is real within Juliet's life and what isn't. In the example from the beginning of the movie, the fact that she remains unseen is just building up to the moment where we do get to see her. The fact that we are waiting for the moment makes us pay more attention to the moment where we do, a reason why I think Fellini chose such a significant moment to reveal her. The viewers are waiting to see her, thus they will be more likely to pay attention to the details of her reaction once she is shown.



Already from the beginning we have been trained to realize that when Juliets face is shown, there is something important that we should be focusing on. Therefore, in the cases where we do see her face, it is often an indication that something significant or important is about to occur(especially in relation to her hallucinations or emotions). The switch from impersonal(seeing her from behind) to personal(close-up of her face) makes one feel more included. Suddenly we are no longer observing from behind, but it is as if we are right in front of her and we are forced to pay attention to her facial expressions and reactions. It's moments like this I think Fellini wants us most to pay attention to, because often this is where Juliet experiences hallucinations, or lets her true emotions shine through. He not only wants to make it clear that she is the character being affected at this moment, but he also wants us to notice the emotions(like the fear or sadness in her eyes). Similarly to medium shots from behind, close-ups are used to divide what is real and what isn't within Juliets life. However in this case, the focus is more on Juliets internal conflicts.

Fellini's use of light is yet another film technique that contributes to the mystery of the characters. Much like the medium shots from behind, Fellini was fond of using back lighting-alongside rim lighting-as another way to add a sense of mystery and suspicion to the characters. It is a technique that is used countless amounts of times within the film, by only showing their silhouettes.

Additionally, Fellini was fond of shadowing Juliets face but only so much to where her eyes were the only thing visible. I think the effect of this was obviously to add a sense of mystery to Juliet (like medium shots from behind and back lighting), but more importantly draw your focus to her eyes. I find Juliet's eyes often show the most emotion. Additionally, they are how she sees her hallucinations. For this reason, I think the focus is drawn on them to simply show their importance, but also to show that her eyes alone tell us a lot about what she is thinking or feeling.

In terms of editing, Fellini uses a lot of intercutting. Almost all the actions within the movie occur one after the other, and thus are presented in that way as well. However, Fellini did make use of crosscutting. Crosscutting was most often used when Juliet was reminded of her childhood, cutting back and forth between her and her memories. An example I would like to use is one of the last scenes in the movie where Giorgio leaves. Although not an example involving memories from her childhood, I still find it to be an important example of how Fellini used this editing technique. In the scene, Giorgio and Juliet are showed very divided from one another, each sitting for themselves within different parts of the house. In the scene it cuts back and forth between Giorgio, Juliet and Juliet's early memories of her relationship with Giorgio. The scene shows how divided Giorgio and her have become, by showing how divided they are now in comparison to how unified they were earlier in the movie and towards the beginning of their relationship. After Giorgio leaves, Juliet remains in her spot but now instead of cutting back to shots of him, it cuts to shots of the stillness that surrounds her(essentially within in her house) which could directly translate to the stillness that Juliet feels after what has happened between her and Giorgio. The fact that everything is so quiet, goes hand in hand with the lonely-ness and emptiness she feels in her life with Giorgio no longer there.



Familiar image is also present within the movie to further demonstrate the space that is now dividing Juliet and Giorgio's relationship. The first example shows Juliet and Giorgio sleeping in bed together. In the beginning of the movie it shows them differently to how Juliet remembers them from the beginning of their relationship. The second example shows Juliet and Giorgio in their living room. In the beginning of the movie we saw them sitting together watching a TV show which specifically talks about how to regain the "sparkle in your eyes". At the end of the movie, it shows how Juliet and Giorgio are now both sitting alone. Giorgio does not seem preoccupied with Juliet at all, in fact, one could even make an argument that the man on the TV seems to be paying more attention to her than her husband, because at one point it seems as if he is looking directly at her. Both instances greatly show the divide in Juliet and Giogio's relationship, and through the use of familiar image, what we would expect to see is altered the next time we see the "familiar image", in order to express a whole new meaning.

Juliet of the Spirits is a very interesting movie, but it is also one that even I am still confused about. Many things are left unsaid, and lots of things go unexplained, but the mystery of the story is exactly what I think Fellini wanted. Juliet is a very conflicted character, and a lot of her struggle relates to her inability to make choices based upon her own will, but also from hiding from problems she knows are present. I think Fellini's purpose in portraying his characters in such mysterious ways was to emphasize on that exact point; Everyone has a side to them that we don't show, or that we ourselves try to hide from. Just in addition to what I have written, I wanted to briefly go over a few things I noticed that were either of interest or that I think hold particular importance. To start off, I would like to briefly go over the portrayal of Juliet in comparison to the characters around her. As I have mentioned before, Juliet is a conflicting character who is portrayed as calm and insecure. When put besides her friends or family, this is very obvious. As an example, I have included the image of Juliet and her sisters. In comparison to them, Juliet is dressed in a far less extravagant way then any of them, already creating a clear distinction between her and them. Similarly, in comparison to her neighbor Suzy, Juliet is far more reserved and much more traditional. Just from a glimpse of Suzy and her house, her youth and vibrant life style is very obvious. Another example I felt important to include, was where Juliet gets to Suzy's house for Suzy's party. She tells Suzy she wants to have fun that night, and in terms of how she is dressed(as well as acts) she is far less dull and reserved as she normally is. In fact, she is wearing red which is very vibrant, and perhaps symbolic of the change that she wants within her life. Finally, I just wanted to incude show pictures of some shots that I found particularly well composed and shot. I think Fellini's use of shadows, space, people and objects was particularly interesting throughout this film, which resulted in very well executed shots.