GINGER & FRED Movie Review

Ginger & Fred has been dismissed in some circles as being “an old man's movie.” Fine. If all old men can make movies like this, you can check me into a nursing home so that I can be around more of them. Federico Fellini's 1986 valentine of a movie is the story of a pair of aging, retired dancers named Amelia and Pippo (Giulietta Masina and Marcello Mastroianni), who worked during their vaudeville years under the stage names Ginger and Fred. Summoned to Rome for a nostalgic television reunion, Amelia and Pippo are uneasy and awkward reliving their former celebrity (which was originally based on their imitation of celebrities Rogers and Astaire). The unhappy realities of their lives since the old days are revealed (these are the film's most banal, occasionally maudlin scenes) as they prepare for their appearance on what promises to be a vulgar and insensitive broadcast. The show looks to be a washout, but at the last moment, the unexpected happens. Amelia and Pippo, as Ginger and Fred, begin to dance, and everything that was once magical about their momentary stardom comes flooding back; for a few, glorious minutes, the joy of simply performing together returns to them, and they—and Fellini—share it with us. Much of Ginger & Fred's unexpected poignancy comes from Masina's elegant performance, and it suddenly dawns on you that it's been over two decades since she acted in one of her husband's films—reunions within reunions, and we're privileged to be present.

NEXT STOP … Variety Lights, Nights of Cabiria, The Sunshine Boys

1986 (PG-13) 126m/C IT Marcello Mastroianni, Giulietta Masina, Franco Fabrizi, Frederick Von Ledenberg, Martin Blau, Toto Mignone; D: Federico Fellini; W: Federico Fellini, Tonino Guerra, Tullio Pinelli; C: Tonino Delli Colli; M: Nicola Piovani. VHS MGM, FCT