Part of Essential Fellini.
In this late-career highlight from Federico Fellini, the ringmaster-auteur trades his customary spectacles — the cinema, the circus and the variety-show stage — for that of the opera, in a quirky, imaginative fable set on the high seas. A motley crew of European aristocrats (and a lovesick rhinoceros) board a luxurious ocean liner on the eve of the first World War to scatter the ashes of a beloved diva — only to sail into the headwinds of history when they cross paths with a group of Serbian refugees and an Austro-Hungarian warship. Fabricated entirely in Rome’s famed Cinecittà studios with the help of production designer Dante Ferretti, AND THE SHIP SAILS ON reaches spectacular new visual heights with its stylized re-creation of a decadent bygone era.
Restored by Istituto Luce – Cinecittà and Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia – Cineteca Nazionale for the Fellini 100 Project. Sound restoration supervised by Federico Savina.
“[The film] is to most movies what the Folies-Bergère was to the theater, a celebration of spectacle, even when it exists only for its own sake.” —Vincent Canaby, New York Times (Jan 26, 1984) “From the brilliant opening, to the grand operatic finale off the island, AND THE SHIP SAILS ON is a pure visual treat. ” —Steve Harwood, Eye for Film “...An imaginative history lesson on the passing of an era, as a playful meditation on the self-absorption of artists in a world where there are more important matters to consider than sustained high notes, or as a fantasy trip in which the director teases us with mixed commentaries on the mysteries of the human predicament.” —Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality & Practice
