The film Nine was released on Christmas day, 2009. It is adapted from the 2002 theater production of the same name, which was an adaptation of a theater production from 1982. This was, in turn, an adaptation of an Italian play, which is an adaptation of the masterpiece 8½, directed by Federico Fellini. Despite this complicated lineage, the narrative and thematic structure between the two films remains largely intact.
Nine plus two
The film Nine was released on Christmas day, 2009. It is adapted from the 2002 theater production of the same name, which was an adaptation of a theater production from 1982. This was, in turn, an adaptation of an Italian play, which is an adaptation of the masterpiece 8½, directed by Federico Fellini. Despite this complicated lineage, the narrative and thematic structure between the two films remains largely intact.
In looking at the film Nine, it is necessary to first look at its cinematic roots. This is a very cursory introduction to the material, including one additional version, Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories.
8½
1963’s 8½ is the mostly autobiographical work of director and co-writer Federico Fellini, the hugely influential Italian director. Guido Anselmi, the protagonist, is a famous director confronted with critical disapproval of recent films, all labeled as inaccessible, smug and excessively artistic. Stresses from his personal and professional life have inhibited his ability to write and direct—essentially “director’s block.” This film is legendary for sequences that confuse dreams and reality, as the director confronts his past and present as well as his fantasies, often all within the same scene.
Stardust Memories
In 1980, Allen released Stardust Memories as a reaction to the critical response of Annie Hall, a film that earned four Oscars a few years prior. A veritable love song to cinema, Stardust Memories is best compared to a cover song—a cover movie—rather than a redux. Though its plot is instantly recognizable (a man haunted by his own success, in the midst of a troubling romantic situation and an existential crisis as an artist), and many particular shots reference or mimic Fellini’s film, certain other elements vary. Hall’s Sandy Bates is not an egocentric man surrounded by a world he is indifferent to. Rather, Bates cannot continue being self-serving in the face of a chaotic, uncaring world. Though Allen is clearly sympathetic to Anselmi’s libidinous tendencies, Bates’ own are marked not by a will to possess and control. Finally, there remains no real trace of religious guilt in Bates as in Anselmi.
Nine
Rob Marshall, who brought us film productions of Cabaret and Chicago, directs this star-filled Christmas weekend box office draw. Guido Contini, played conspicuously by Daniel Day-Lewis, has built a set and commissioned costumes and commenced casting for a film he has yet to write. Through a journey of musical numbers with his various lovers as well as his mother, played by an aged Sophia Loren, Guido must lose everything he holds dear before he’ll halt his selfish, destructive appetite.
Nine takes the content of 8 ½, and goes to war with its style. Dream sequences are replaced by expensive musical numbers that take place in an elaborate theater constructed only in the director’s mind; the approach favors the simple clarity of a stage production over lucid dream states. Superstars replace sympathetic women: Fergie, Nicole Kidman and Kate Hudson all take turns as Guido’s love interest. The production style is characteristic of Marshall’s other musicals, which, to say specifically, is big. This is simplifying the result to a degree—it is a fun movie to watch. It is an ode to theater, with Fellini as its teacher and film as its medium.
