And the Ship Sails On

The film opens with a sepia-toned scene of July 1914 as the Gloria N. prepares to sail from Naples Harbor. The mood shifts as the sequence transitions from silent projection to color and dialogue begins. We learn the voyage is a funeral journey to scatter Edmea Tetua's ashes near Erimo, her birthplace.

Orlando, the Italian journalist, breaks the fourth wall by addressing the viewer directly from aboard the ship. He explains that the voyage is a funeral mission and offers subjective anecdotes about the ship's cast of characters. His commentary sets a Fellini-esque tone for the voyage.

The journalist sketches a gallery of passengers with whims and quirks: jealous soprano Ildebranda, a Russian basso who hypnotizes a chicken with his voice, a curly-haired actor and his mother, Sir Reginald Dongby spying on his wife Lady Violet, and a grand duke whose sister plots to disinherit him. The sequence blends opera, politics, and comic fantasy to evoke Fellini's satirical carnival at sea. The crew and guests mingle in a carnival of cultures and gossip.

A terrible stench rises from the ship's hold as a love-struck rhinoceros has been neglected by the crew. The crew scrambles to manage the beast, illustrating the absurdities that play out on this floating pageant. The rhino's presence adds a surreal, comic counterpoint to the voyage.

On the third day, a crowd of shipwrecked Serbians is found camped on the deck, refugees rescued from rafts the night before. The mix of cultures on board turns into a chaotic, festive tableau as they are brought aboard. The moment foreshadows the political tensions looming over the voyage.

The Grand Duke of Harzock and his entourage fear the Serbian refugees are terrorists and demand they be isolated to a corner of the ship. The captain reluctantly complies as the passengers and crew debate the proper handling of the uninvited guests. The episode satirizes class prejudice amid international crisis.

A mighty Austro-Hungarian flagship sails into view, demanding the return of the Serbian refugees. The captain agrees to the demand only if Edmea Tetua's ashes are dispersed at Erimo beforehand. The encounter injects political stakes into the shipboard carnival.

With the captain's bargain, Edmea Tetua's ashes are dispersed at Erimo before the refugees are handed over. The crew holds a ceremonial moment that mirrors the fictive opera of the voyage. The atmosphere tips from ceremony to impending peril as outside forces loom.

Following the dispersal, a young Serbian hurls a bomb at the Austro-Hungarian flagship, triggering cannons and chaos. The Gloria N. sinks amid the pandemonium as aristocrats and refugees scramble for lifeboats. A grand piano slides and mirrors shatter as the ship slides into the sea.

A reverse tracking shot reveals Fellini's spectacle: giant hydraulic jacks, acres of plastic ocean, and technicians burning naphthalene to fake smoke. The enigmatic figure behind the camera may be Orlando or Fellini himself, hinting at a film within a film. The sequence reframes the earlier drama as a constructed production.

The camera glides forward to a lifeboat where Orlando and the rhinoceros share a moment of odd companionship. He quips about rhinoceros milk, revealing his wry, affectionate humor. He resumes rowing, drifting away on a vast, plastic ocean as the screen fades.