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City of Women |  | Director: Federico Fellini
Actors: Marcello Mastroianni, Anna Prucnal, Bernice Stegers, Donatella Damiani, Jole Silvani
Studio: New Yorker Video
List Price: $29.95
Buy Used: $23.84
as of 3/18/2010 18:41 CDT details
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New (1) from $222.51
Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 56032
Format: Color, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
Language: Italian (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 139 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.2 x 0.6
ISBN: 1567301967
UPC: 717119320041
EAN: 9781567301960
ASIN: B000056EWE
Theatrical Release Date: April 8, 1981
Release Date: April 17, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 17
 Baroque, incisive and devastating satire about beliefs and disbeliefs! March 24, 2008
Hiram Gomez Pardo (Valencia, Venezuela)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"City of women" is another fantastic journey, a surrealist portrait of what the bizarre mind of Fellini is capable to make.
The initial sequence of the train entering into the tunnel is much more than a simple metaphor or explicated allusion, a genial lobby before this messy universe crowded of women makes its appearance, a demolishing and controversial film that simply is beyond any label you try to search.
Watch the genial sequence in the room surrounded by monitors of women of all kind. It's possible the jewel of the crown.
Another hallucinating fantasy of the great Fellini the freest of all the directors ever born.
 A garish, overly-indulgent collage of sexual stereotypes April 14, 2007
Ann Lewis (CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Marcello, our mild-mannered protagonist of few words and thick glasses, follows a femme-fatale off a train into the wilderness, only to find himself in what he describes, baffled, as a "feminist convention." Angry Italian women chant, do yoga, put on plays, and screech about male oppression and abolishing fellatio. Marcello wanders through the strange world, completely overwhelmed by high-pitched laughter and the garish stereotypes unfolding around every corner.
The tale takes on a fairytale quality as Marcello meets a lecherous old woman who claims she's taking him back to his train, but really intends to (and partially succeeds in) molesting him. Also in fairytale fashion, he finally finds refuge in a mysterious castle owned by the male stereotype from the opposite end of the gender spectrum: a gun toting, hunting-dog-owning, bath-robed, bearded man who does nothing but boast about his sexual exploits. Here Marcello attends a party which seemingly intends to contrast as much as possible with the "feminist convention."
Then suddenly his girlfriend Elena appears at this party and bitterly screams accusations at him, only to just as suddenly disappear and be replaced by a pair of giggling bikini-clad girls. Then the story looses all semblance of structured plot as Marcello careens through a burlesque-style reenactment of all the childhood memories that shaped his sexual psyche. Then the pace is slowed as he is forced to face angry hordes of women again, who relentlessly and bitterly ask him questions he cannot answer. As the viewer and Marcello wonder bleakly how he will ever get out of this mess or make sense of all this, conveniently Marcello wakes up on the train again. It was all a dream!
Like all of Fellini's works, this movie is cinematically beautiful, but unlike most of Fellini's works this picture lacks depth, and seems to be an expensive exercise in "Because I Can." If viewers are looking to introduce themselves to Fellini, I would recommend La Strada or La Dolce Vita instead.
Marcello, the stud and the women - another Fellini-esque carnival November 11, 2006
Dave99 (Brooklyn, New York)
Snaporaz (Marcello Mastroianni), riding on a train, follows a beautiful woman from his compartment into the restroom. He convinces her to make love to him there, but as they begin, the train stops at a station and she says that it's her stop. She leaves, but Snaporaz is not going to let this nice piece get away so easily. He begins to follow her into the forest - and so Snaporaz begins his bizarre journey into Federico Fellini's "City of Women."
This is not a film with much dramatic structure. Rather, we follow Snaporaz on his strange journey from one surreal situation to another - some of it dreamlike and pleasant, others nightmarish and terrifying. In the forest he comes to a hotel where a feminist convention is being held, eludes a hoard of roller skaters, is nearly raped by a sex-starved middle aged woman, goes for a weird joy ride with a car full of lesbians, seeks refuge in the home of a super stud, is confronted by his estranged wife, is accosted by female police officers dressed like SS storm troopers, gets to dance like Fred Astaire with a pair of barely clad beauties, etc.
I thought that the film started a bit slowly, but once I got into it I was enthralled throughout by the bizarre imagery and the spectacle of it all. Mastroianni does a fine job as Snaporaz, displaying emotions ranging from child-like joy to terror. Much of this is a puzzle to him and he just doesn't know what to make of it. Some important supporting characters are his wife (Anna Prucnal) who tries to re-ignite Snaporaz but he just isn't interested; Ettore Manni as Dr. Katzone (aka Zuberkock), a modern day Don Giovanni with a whole chamber devoted to his thousands of conquests; Bernice Stegers as the woman on the train; and Donatella Damiani (a girl with some amazing bounce to her) in multiple roles as a dancer, roller skater, etc.
A film like this is all about symbolism, and the 20 minute featurette with director Paul Mazursky (Fellini's friend) and some film historians helps to shed some light on it. While there are some interesting anecdotes (the name 'Snaporaz' was an impromptu name Fellini gave to Mastroianni's unnamed character in "8 1/2"), most of the commentary deals with Fellini's views about women, the feminist movement in Italy and Fellini's becoming older himself. When someone called Fellini 'a dirty old man,' for instance, the director didn't object to being called 'dirty' but rather to being called 'old'!
The only disappointment with this release by New Yorker Video is the film transfer itself. It's presented widescreen, about 1.85:1, and enhanced for widescreen sets. The picture quality looks decent enough, but the colors are not very saturated and the image looks a bit dark at times. The edges looked a bit clipped during the title sequence, too, but nothing too severe. While not an optimal image, I wouldn't let it deter anyone from watching.
The DVD also includes a behind-the-scenes promotional short, profiles of Fellini and Mastroianni, a photo gallery and trailers for two other New Yorker releases. The folded insert includes a 4 page interview with Fellini regarding "City of Women" from 1980.
"City of Women" may not be a film for everyone, but if you're a fan of Fellini or unusual cinema, do give it a chance.
Fellini's most underrated film....and completely insane (creatively, anyway) April 27, 2006
Grigory's Girl (NYC)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I love this film. I think it's as good as the great Fellini films (8 1/2, La Dolce Vita). There are moments of incredible magic throughout, and it's vividly cinematic. Some of Fellini's greatest sequences (like the one when Snaporaz goes down the slide into an "amusement" park) are pure Fellini magic. The cinematography by Giuseppe Rotunno is magnificent. It is one of Fellini's most inventive and surreal pictures (which, for him, is really saying something). The 138 minute running time just flies by. Many critics said that Fellini never made a good film after Amarcord, but they are so wrong. Almost every latter day Fellini film (even The Voices of the Moon, which never got a proper release in this country) has some elements in it that could only be brought out by the great Maestro. This film (along with And the Ship Sails On and Intrevista) are amongst Fellini's forgotten films, which is a shame, since they are well worth watching. See this one. It's amazing filmmaking...
Excellent. Recommend Highly. August 27, 2005
Frank Brindisi (San Jose, CA)
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
I like it a lot. I watch this movie about 3-4 times a year.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 17
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