Juliet of The Spirits (1965) follows the story of a housewife (played by Giulietta Masina) dealing with the reality that her husband is having an affair. What follows as a result of this discovery, is a surreal title wave of dream sequences that bleed into her reality.
Fellini’s 8½ (1963) would open a new door for him to explore more into the psyches of his characters; the same as with Juliet of the Spirits, but the difference being that he crafted a presentation of a woman's experience and perspective (Juliet of the Spirits).
As with 8½, Juliet of the spirits included details of Fellini’s own marriage in his film, saying to Masina to, “play herself,” and according to an insider that “He hasn’t left out a single bizarre or unhappy detail” (Baxter).
At this point in Fellini’s filmography, his focus began to be around expressing the unconscious mind, through means that one could call surreal. Even more than Fellini’s 8½, with Juliet of the spirits he sought to explore the unconscious more in-depth, “it was the need to examine even more thoroughly the sources of his creativity, which lay in dreams” (Baxter). To do so, Fellini would need to, “break decisively with films like La Strada (1954) and La Dolce Vita (1960) '' (Baxter). To accompany the psychedelic quality of Juliet of The Spirits, Fellini decided to use color film, using, “eye-popping decor and costumes for Juliet” (Baxter).
With Fellini’s next released film being Satyricon in 1968 (also in color), it is certain that Juliet of the Spirits meant a brand new direction for Federico Fellini in a number of ways: his exploration of the unconscious and a willingness to push the envelope by showing blatant acts of sexuality on screen, and his use of color film instead of Black and White. Although Juliet of The Spirits is not given as much watch time as Fellini’s 8½ or La Dolce Vita, the film stands as a greater shift in Fellini’s technique and mentality towards filmmaking.
