La Città Delle Donne (City of Women) – a film by Federico Fellini (1980)
Fellini was a randy sod. He was 60 years old when he made this movie but , even without the aid of viagra, there is little sign of a fading libido. Quite the opposite in fact, his fascination with women of all ages, shapes and sizes knows no bounds. Judging by the profusion of big bottoms and ample bosoms on display, the preferred dimensions of his objects of desire are decidedly Rubinesque.
As with Fellini’s other movies, his alter ego is played with suave elegance by Marcello Mastroianni., here playing the part of the 50-something Snàporaz.
For all this character’s sophistication, he is reduced to the level of a guilty schoolboy when confronted by a squadron of amorous and sexually assertive women.
His journey into a mysterious forest and thereafter to a large gathering of liberated females begins after pursuing a voluptuous woman (Bernice Stegers) he encounters on a train.
He is confronted by a libertine’s nightmare of being surrounded by women who proudly declare they need men like fish needs bicycles (“a woman without a man is a pedigree without a thigh” is one of the surreal lines in their theme song). Continue reading
