One of the best moments is his lying about the mistress to his wife with the face of truth and the wife's knowledge of this and her disgust-principally that he can sound so truthful when he lies and-one step beyond this- his knowledge of her knowledge. His wife arrives and is not deceived about the mistress. The director is joined by his married mistress who stays at a neighboring hotel. With him is his writer, a fair sample of the intellectual manque who clings to much European film-making as both a suppliant and a hair-shirt. The director is at a luxurious spa hotel trying to straighten out the script for his next job. The story is about a director stuck for a story, an artist in a creative slump, in the familiar nel mezzo del cammin crisis.

It also tells us that he found himself stuck for a title. Before we step into the theater, the title tells us that he is clever, and that he sees the film as part of his personal history. It derives from the fact that, up to now, Fellini has made six full-length films and has contributed three 'half' segments to anthology films. Like most autobiographical works Federico Fellini's scintillating new film 8 1/2 reveals something more than its author intended.