Fellini: The Biography

by John Baxter

Book Overview

This major biography of Federico Fellini, the first since his death in 1992, shows a man who made dreams and lies into great films. Fellini elicited magic from all around him--but bristled when their fame approached his. He constantly won love he was unable to return, and wove a filmworld whose fantasies seemed truer than real life. The definitive tribute.--Film Review. Photos.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312112734
• ISBN13: 9780312112738
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 374 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

1 of 3 Essential Fellini Biographies

There are, as far as I can tell, 3 major substantial Fellini biographies. Each one brings something different to the table. One is written by Tullio Kezich, who was a film critic and friend of Fellini. What's best about this book is how Kezich places each film in the context of its time, how it was received by the audiences. As he was a critic, we get a lot of information from that point of view. Personally, I found John Baxter's Fellini biography to be a more interesting read. Baxter is more likely to report on some unfavorable things about Fellini that Kezich, as a friend of Fellini, would not, especially regarding Fellini's marriage. Baxter also reveals many interesting details regarding scenes that were cut from Fellini's films. Further, he includes loads of details regarding the financial deals involving Fellini's films. Lastly, and I feel most importantly, there is "I, Fellini" by Charlotte Chandler. In my opinion, I think it's rather dubious of Chandler to claim an author credit for her book. She recorded conversations with Fellini over the course of 14 years and used them to edit together this book, essentially creating a Fellini autobiography. (So an "edited by" credit would be more accurate, imo, but this is a minor nitpick.) Though she does write a very detailed final chapter dealing with the last year of Fellini's life, probably 95% of this book is Fellini speaking in his words. For this, I place this book as the most essential Fellini book. You get him discussing more or less everything here, including his thoughts and ideas on the film projects that he never got to make. (Also invaluable to understanding Fellini is his own "Making A Film", "Comments On Film" "Fellini on Fellini", & Liliana Betti's "Fellini, An Intimate Portrait".)