THE CLOWNS Movie Review

Federico Fellini's seductive personal memoir about the joys and terrors of childhood, and how they can often be the same thing, is not a documentary in the traditional sense—thank goodness. With his simple admission that circus clowns both fascinated and frightened him as a boy, Fellini sells us a ticket to a young person's view of theatricality; a spectacle that we can't look away from, partly to make sure it's not getting any closer. The images of little Federico sneaking into a newly erected circus tent alone, under a sky full of impossibly bright stars, is indelible and dreamlike. Yet The Clowns is not all nostalgia. The film is brave enough to take us on the mature Fellini's search for a rare bit of film footage of the man who is reputedly the greatest clown of all time. Fellini finds the footage in his film-within-a-film, and he allows us to see it. It's a sad affair; some guy getting up and down off of a chair holding an umbrella, as I remember it, and the director's disappointment as he watches it with us is palpable. It's all a staged put-on, of course, but the impact and the message are loud and clear—perhaps the legends we cling to and the fantasies that reassure us should remain just that, safely tucked away in our imaginations. If it's the harsh and unforgiving light of “reality” we seek, then it's best to avoid the circus—and essential to avoid the movies.

NEXT STOP … 8 1/2, Bye Bye Brazil, Bronco Billy

1971 (G) 90m/C IT D: Federico Fellini; W: Federico Fellini, Barnardino Zapponi.C: Dario Di Palma; M: Nino Rota. VHS HTV, NOS, MRV