8½ follows Guido Anselmi (played by Marcello Mastroianni), a famous Italian film director who is suffering from creative block as he attempts to begin his next movie. Surrounded by producers, actors, critics, and his wife, Guido retreats into a dreamlike state filled with memories, fantasies, and hallucinations, blurring the lines between reality and imagination.
As the pressure to deliver a new masterpiece mounts, Guido becomes increasingly introspective, confronting his failed relationships, childhood influences, and spiritual confusion. The film doesn’t follow a conventional plot but instead presents a stream-of-consciousness narrative, revealing Guido’s internal struggles and his search for artistic and personal meaning.
Fellini uses highly stylized visuals, symbolic imagery, and non-linear storytelling to explore themes of identity, creativity, and the role of the artist. 8½ is often interpreted as semi-autobiographical, reflecting Fellini’s own anxieties as a filmmaker.
Critically acclaimed, 8½ won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the Grand Prize at the Moscow International Film Festival, and it has influenced countless directors. Its title refers to Fellini’s eight and a half films to that point, including shorts and co-directed works.
4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- Introduction by filmmaker Terry Gilliam
- Audio commentary featuring film critics Gideon Bachmann and Antonio Monda
-
Fellini: A Director’s Notebook, a short film by Federico Fellini
- The Last Sequence, a documentary on Fellini’s lost alternate ending for 8½
- Nino Rota: Between Cinema and Concert, a documentary about Fellini’s longtime composer
- Interviews with actor Sandra Milo, filmmaker Lina Wertmüller, and cinematographer Vittorio Storaro
- Rare photographs from Bachmann’s collection
- Gallery of behind-the-scenes and production photos
- Trailer
- PLUS: An essay by film critic Stephanie Zacharek
- New cover by Eric Skillman
