Amarcord (1972)

Federico Fellini returned for inspiration to his own childhood in 1930s Rimini for this colourful comedy-drama about life in a small seaside town under Fascist rule.

With a title that translates as “I remember”, Federico Fellini takes us back to his youth in this rich and bawdy evocation of small town life. Inventively structured, the film is a patchwork of eccentric episodes and characters, at the centre of which is Titta (Bruno Zanin), a teenage boy going through the lustful misadventures of puberty.

The coming-of-age narrative links back to I vitelloni (1953), one of Fellini’s earliest successes, but Amarcord is typical of his later style in its carnivalesque show of oddities and wonders – none more enchanting than the sequence in which the townsfolk take boats out to witness a gigantic liner passing by in the moonlight. The film won the 1974 Academy Award for best foreign film.

1972 Italy, France
Directed by
Federico Fellini
Produced by
Franco Cristaldi
Written by
Federico Fellini, Tonino Guerra
Featuring
Pupella Maggio, Armando Brancia, Magali Noël
Running time
127 minutes

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for Amarcord

Critics

Philip Berk
USA
Eddie Bertozzi
Italy
Nae Caranfil
Romania
Peggy Chiao
Taiwan/China
Miguel Dias
Portugal
Rico Gagliano
USA
Nino Kovačić
Croatia
Blagoja Kunovski
North Macedonia
Luis Martínez
Spain
Frédéric Mercier
France
Dario Oliveira
Portugal
Mohammed Rouda
UK
Christine Rüffert
Germany
Beat Schneider
Switzerland
Rada Šešić
Croatia
Marko Stojiljković
Serbia/Croatia/Slovenia
Marjan Vujovic
Serbia
Ab Zagt
Netherlands

Directors

Roy Andersson
Homer Etminani
Colombia/Spain
Romain Gavras
France
Marcos Mereles
UK
Volker Schlöndorff
Germany

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