Nine

  

Rob Marshall belongs to the sphere of theater, he is a theater director or choreographer. Nonetheless in 2002 he has become internationally known as a film director for the jazzy Chicago, an adaptation of the eponymous Broadway musical. Now in 2009 (2010 in France) Marshall visits again musicals and appropriates Nine which is also based on Federico Fellini's film 8 ½. Nine's cast is quite amazing, look at the poster. Isn't it attractive? Daniel Day-Lewis (Guido Contini) gives the line to no less than seven great actresses and singers. In the first scene, Overture Delle Donne, he faces all the women that are part of his life, namely

• Marion Cotillard as his wife Luisa Contini,


• Penélope Cruz as his mistress Clara,


• Judi Dench as his friend and costume designer Lillie,


• Nicole Kidman as his movie star and muse Claudia Jenssen,


• Kate Hudson as an American journalist Stephanie,


• Sophia Loren as his late Mamma and finally,


• Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas music band as the whore of his childhood Saraghina.

Nine is set in the Italy of the 1960s and tells the story of the famous Italian director Guido Contini, on the verge of making his new movie Italia. The trouble is that Signore Contini has no script and absolutely no inspiration at ten days from the beginning of the shooting. Actually Guido is, in a way, torn between his image of an adulated director and his behavior with women and especially with his wife and his lover.

Guido has to face the production of his new movie and his lack of inspiration. Thanks to the first scene which introduces the seven women of his life we become aware of the troubles he has to deal with that can be seen as “too many women” ! More seriously I did not manage to find an explanation to this first scene. It is beautiful indeed, and introduces the whole cast but what is its exact meaning? I do not know. Throughout the movie Guido will sing and each female character will sing a customized act – two for Marion Cotillard - which is dedicated to Guido. These acts aim at inspiring him, at confronting him or at seducing him too where he stands either as a spectator or at the back, as if he were shy and curious to see what is happening. Every characters will thus have their own style from a pink seductive show to a provocative denouncing one without forgetting a comforting motherly lullaby. Here you can see a little description on these numbers

• Marion Cotillard sings her pain at being his wife in a sober act (My Husband Makes Movies) and later sings, as if she were a temptress, her anger at him in Take It All


• Penélope Cruz shows in a pink atmosphere the seductiveness of her character, whispering to Guido what is necessary to excite him with A Call From The Vatican


• Judi Dench exposes her talent as a costume designer in what was the best of costumes at the Folies Bergere, the whole in a very French mood


• Nicole Kidman does not want to be a “star” any more and most of all she wants to be herself and so sings her goodbye to Guido while giving him her last guidance to his film in an Usual Way


• Kate Hudson plays the superficial, clothes-interested sex-emancipated American who wants Guido in her bed. Rob Marshall has written this role especially for her and has created a glamorous and rhythmic Cinema Italiano fashion show


• Sophia Loren is the Mamma and as being dead, represents the comfort Guido needs. Her scene is likened to a lullaby entitled Guarda La Luna


• As for Fergie, the 1920s' whore, Rob Marshall has imagined a Be Italian sandy number with chairs and numerous other female dancers. It is quite impressive an act I must confess.

Needless to say that all these shows are the fruits of his imagination, just as his mother is, in which all is permitted to fill us with enthusiasm.

There are mainly two streams in the criticism made about Nine that are in complete contradiction : a side admires Marshall, his aestheticism and camera style and an other clearly dislikes it and won't go back on the discussion. I must admit that Nine is not as great as Chicago was from my point of view. Some say that Nine lacks the unity Chicago had. It is true in a way and yet the numbers performed are conceived in relation with the personality of the character who sings it -and Guido's imagination too. I think that there is thus an explanation for this lack of unity as far each character's personality is concerned. Guido is searching for inspiration so he imagines different kinds of situations. It may be disturbing at first hand but if you considered the fact that each female character has its own personality as I said before, the director's choice begins to make sense and this lack becomes legitimate. Some others say that Nine's plot is uninteresting. I do not agree with this. Guido Contini faces a crisis that is common to men and artists. How to face the lack of inspiration? How to face a life of semi debauchery on the verge to collapse? And moreover how to face pressure when producers and public are so demanding? All these questions are tackled in the film. There may be no answers but only an hypothetic reaction from Guido.

Then, Rob Marshall has quite an extraordinary sense of aestheticism. Just as in Chicago and Memoirs of a Geisha, the photography is beautiful, he knows how to amaze his audience. In this sense Nine is perhaps more spectacular than Chicago the former involving much more dancers and the scenery being more elaborate. Marshall may have not stuck to the real Italian film industry image but he has once again managed to make a film that is pleasing to the eye. However the songs are not as well written as they were in Chicago and that is a shame for sure. They express what is expected but lyrics are not as developed ; it's not as fluent as it was in Chicago. They are mostly redundant with words that come over and over again though they can be very touching.

I will end by saying that Chicago was a jazzy, a cheerful film whereas Nine emphasizes on a more dramatic subject. The two are obviously very different and must be compared carefully. Do not be deterred from seeing it, go and make up your own opinion, or simply go and enjoy the view and the songs !