Freud's "Dream Interpretations" and Felini's "8 1/2"

Federico Felini’s “ 8 ½ “ evolves around Guido, a famous movie director, who is having a writer’s block as a result of a loss of interest in artistic activity. He is extremely tired as a result of trying to establish a balance between his guilt and his sexual appetite. Exhausted of these efforts he seeks comfort quite often in his deceased mother.

Reality and the world of dreams are entwined throughout the movie, making the viewer’s experience of the film quite surreal. It is rich in symbols, some of which draw from philosophical to psychological theories.

A great problem Guido has is his guilt which has its roots in religious morality. He is strongly attracted to a number of female figures and equally immersed in a sense of guilt about this attraction. The presence of a religious figure recurs quite often in his dream fragments. The image of the pope, the setting of the dream, the dialogue constitute a condensed symbolism which when interpreted enlightens the reader about Guido’s subconscious. There is a Freudian parallel throughout the movie, however it especially strengthens in the dream scenes.

In one particular scene, Guido is at a spa and about to meet the cardinal who is waiting for him. When Guido is called, he is asked to tell the Cardinal everything. The man guiding Guido to where the cardinal should be, also tells him that the Cardinal can fix everything. He is also advises Guido to express his remorse to the Cardinal thus gaining everything he needs in life through his confession. Guido changes his spa cloth to a black suit while we see the Cardinal change from his official attire into the spa towel. They are always surrounded by dense steam and as Guido approaches the Cardinal, the latter says: “There is no salvation outside the church”.

This dream sequence, very brief in its content results from a very deep and long dream-thought process. The interpretation of its symbolic density sheds light into Guido’s subconscious. The Cardinal is obviously a representation of Guido’s instilled religious morality since he was a child. The shadow of the guilt about his sexuality torments him even in his dream and it is so deep and heavy that it’s represented not by a religious object or a lower rank religious official but by a Cardinal. The dream also contains what Freud called the coexistence of the contraries, their unification: a cardinal in a spa – such an informal place for such a formal figure as well as encounter with such a figure. At first sight, the various elements which make up the scene seem meaningless and make the viewing of it quite absurd, however, once the digging in the deeper layers of these symbolic elements begins, we see clearly in Guido’s subconscious, his fear of religious morality. It is because of this guilt triggered by this type of morality that Guido often seeks shelter in the figure of his deceased mother.