Character List
Guido Anselmi -
Played
by Marcello Mastroianni
The film’s protagonist,
a renowned Italian film director in the middle of making a film
he hasn’t finished writing. Guido feels guilty about cheating on
his wife and abandoning the Catholic Church, and he is afraid of aging
and creative exhaustion.
Luisa -
Played
by Anouk Aimée
Guido’s wife, who loves
him despite his faults. Luisa is an intelligent, charming, and beautiful
woman who rejects the artificiality of Guido’s star-studded lifestyle
and is fed up with his philandering and lying. She brings her friends
and her sister along with her to visit Guido.
Carla -
Played
by Sandra Milo
Guido’s mistress, who has
a husband of her own. Sumptuously feminine yet charmingly childish,
Carla never challenges or reproaches Guido, but her tacky style
and idiotic personality embarrass him. Unquestioning and never demanding,
she is Luisa’s foil.
Mario Mezzabotta -
Played
by Mario Pisu
Guido’s friend, who is annulling
his marriage so that he can marry his new fiancée, Gloria, a friend
of his daughter. To Guido, Mezzabotta is a pathetic figure who embodies
the director’s fears about aging.
Gloria Morin -
Played
by Barbara Steele
Mezzabotta’s waiflike young
fiancée. An aspiring actress and a philosophy student, Gloria alternatively
murmurs coquettish and pseudo-intellectual nonsense.
Claudia -
Played
by Claudia Cardinale
An actress whom Guido considers
for the leading role in his film. Although Claudia’s beauty is ideal
and her presence dreamlike, Guido realizes that her perfection will
not suit his film. Claudia represents youth, purity, and healing.
Rossella -
Played
by Rossella Falk
Luisa’s best friend, who accompanies
Luisa to visit Guido at the spa. Guido calls Rossella “grasshopper”
because, like Jiminy Cricket in
Pinocchio, she
cares for and advises him. She tries to lighten the tension between
Guido and Luisa. She is also a clairvoyant.
The French Actress -
Played
by Madeline LeBeau
A famous actress whom
Guido has requested to play the Carla character in his film. The
actress’s insistent demands to know more about the part convince
Guido that she is inappropriate for the role of the easygoing Carla.
Her agent’s nagging for contractual details and her own nervous
presence are a constant reminder of the pervasiveness of Guido’s
occupation.
Daumier -
Played
by Jean Rougeul
Guido’s pretentious associate screenwriter.
Daumier continually appears without warning, nonchalantly describing
the film’s flaws. His criticism is frustrating to Guido but delightful
for the audience, for it scrutinizes the direction of both Guido’s film
and
8 1/2 itself.
The vain, arrogant Daumier is always eager to schmooze with the
press and with beautiful actresses.
Saraghina -
Played
by Eddra (Edra) Gale
A large gypsy woman who
lives on the beach during Guido’s boyhood. Guido and other boys
visit Saraghina surreptitiously to hear her sing and dance the rumba.
Saraghina plays a significant role in Guido’s sexual awakening as
well as his straying from the Catholic Church.
Pace -
Played by
Guido Alberti
Guido’s producer and a constant
source of nagging pressure. Pace insists that production move forward
regardless of its state of confusion. His young, moronic girlfriend
often appears beside him, lapping ice cream.
Conocchia -
Played
by Mario Conocchia
An old friend and creative collaborator
of Guido’s who threatens to quit working on the film out of frustration
with Guido. Guido sometimes finds Conocchia’s influences to be too outdated
for the production of his film, which he wants to feel new and fresh.
Conocchia’s presence exacerbates Guido’s fears of becoming creatively impotent
himself.
Cesarino -
Played
by Cesarino Miceli Picardi
A member of
the production team and the casting director. Cesarino is a good
friend of Guido’s and their pleasant encounters are evidence of
the comfort Guido can find in his work.
Maurice -
Played
by Ian Dallas
A mind-reading magician and
old friend of Guido’s. Maurice helps Guido find his creative inspiration
and encourages him to follow it. He is Daumier’s foil.
The Beautiful Woman -
Played
by Caterina Boratto
A mysterious woman
who is staying at the spa’s hotel. In real life, Boratto was an
icon of beauty in Italy, and Italian viewers would recognize her
as an old movie star. Her likeness also appears on a statue of the
Virgin Mary in a memory sequence of Guido’s childhood.
Bruno Agostini -
Played
by Bruno Agostini
Another member of the production
team. The same age or younger than Guido, always impeccably dressed
and coldly efficient, Agostini is Conocchia’s foil.
Jacqueline Bonbon -
Played
by Yvonne Casadei
A retired Parisian cabaret
dancer who, like Saraghina and the Beautiful Woman, contributes
to Guido’s first romantic experiences. Jacqueline is older than
Guido’s other love interests, and she contributes to the motif of
growing old.
