Cheap City of Women (DVD) (Marcello Mastroianni) (Federico Fellini) Price

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Customer Reviews of City of Women

Great movie, good transfer
City of Women is probably the most complete culmination of Fellini's dreamlike film-language aspirations. The DVD is slightly disappointing because the color saturation is slightly low. Also, I had problems with the dvd because I view on a computer screen. I believe this transfer was made from a tape master: scanline artifacting can be seen here and there and it's a bit distracting. But the image is pretty sharp, and what images...! Also, it's nice to be able to turn off the subtitles for once and watch just those potent, dreamlike, dancelike, painterly images play out before your eyes. They could have done a better job with the transfer, but if you love Fellini this is a must have DVD!

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Surreal Fellini Masterpiece
City of Women is a wonderful surreal film. The film itself plays very much like a dream. Each scene falls into the next with no logical purpose, but, like a dream, it does seem to make sense. There is a confusion about the role of feminism and the militant women in them, but it really isn't enough to stop the enjoyment. The visuals are fabulous, as you would expect in a Fellini film, and the music soundtrack seems to be rifs on the opening theme of the song "Mona Lisa."

The DVD is impressive as well. The quality of this late 70s film is as good as can be expected, but to see it in widescreen is amazing. The documentaries that accompany the movie are fascinating, if very humorous. In the 20 minute documentary, two film historians and one director (Paul Mazursky) cannot agree on the most important moment in the film, and it is different from the Fellini interview printed in the inner flier. It is a great package all together

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Not Fellini's best, but not his worst
First, I have to say that I am a fan of late-period Fellini. If you prefer his earlier work (pre-Juliet of the Spirits), you may not like his later, more indulgent work.

City of Women is about women, specifically feminists. Women were always one of Fellini's favorite topics, and this film is his attempt to understand the various (often contradictory) aspects of the feminist movement (or movements). As such it's rambling, with no real center or plot to speak of. Marcello Mastroianni (Fellini's favorite alter-ego) plays womanizer Snaporaz, who, upon following a woman off of a train, winds up in the midst of a kind of feminist convention. After roller-skating down some stairs and bumming a ride with a nymphomaniac and some junkies young enough to be his granddaughters, he winds up in a kind of temple to womanizing. It's a strange film.

This film doesn't approach the experimental or lyrical depths of its successor, And The Ship Sails On, but in my opinion it's superior to its predecessor, Orchestra Rehearsal.

The DVD has a decent transfer and a few extras: a brief interview with Fellini (always a treat) and a featurette containing interviews with some Fellini associates and scholars. A decent DVD of a decent film.