Intervista (1987) Characters, Setting & Themes Explained

Intervista is primarily set at Cinecittà, the famous film studio complex in Rome. The movie also features Studio 5's deserted backlot, used for dreamlike sequences, and the Casa del Passeggero, a former budget hotel repurposed as a filming location. These spaces create a backdrop where memory, fantasy, and film production intersect throughout the narrative.

• cinecittà
• rome
• film studio
• backlot
• filming locations

The main action unfolds in the late 1980s, showing Fellini guiding a Japanese TV crew through Cinecittà. The film also includes a recurring flashback to 1938, depicting Fellini's early visit to the studio during the Fascist era. This temporal layering connects past and present, showing the evolution of the director's relationship with the studio.

Foreshadowing: The 1938 flashback establishes Fellini's lifelong connection to Cinecittà before showing his present-day work there.

• 1980s
• 1938
• flashback
• time period
• fascist era
• cinecittà history

Intervista explores three core themes: the art and craft of filmmaking as a living, collaborative process; the nature of time and memory in cinema, weaving between present and past; and the blurred line between illusion and reality, where documentary moments mix with fantasy and staged sequences. The film examines what film can and cannot capture about life and art.

• filmmaking
• time
• memory
• illusion
• reality
• meta cinema

Intervista functions as a meta-portrait of cinema, showing the chaotic elegance of casting, set-building, and directing. It reveals how ideas are tested, rejected, and revised on the fly, exposing the craft behind the finished product. The film treats production as a living process where images are born through collaboration and improvisation.

• filmmaking process
• behind the scenes
• production
• cinecittà
• collaboration

Federico Fellini appears as himself, serving as the maestro-director who guides a Japanese TV crew through his world of filmmaking. He negotiates endings, fame, and the aging of a filmmaker, using the Cinecittà set as a living notebook. His presence anchors the film's meditation on art, memory, and the burden of legacy.

• federico fellini
• director
• self portrait
• filmmaker
• legacy

Marcello Mastroianni appears as himself, playing a veteran film star within Fellini's meta-film. He appears in a TV commercial as Mandrake the Magician, a cameo that underscores the spectacle and commodification of fame in cinema. The film uses his presence to probe how actors become symbols as much as performers.

• marcello mastroianni
• magician cameo
• fame
• celebrity
• mandrake

Sergio Rubini plays Il Giornalista (the Journalist), an observer who moves through set pieces and memory, documenting the behind-the-scenes drama. He embodies the media perspective within Fellini's world and helps link present-day production to past experiences, sharpening the film's commentary on storytelling and perception.

• journalist
• sergio rubini
• observer
• media
• documentary perspective

The film continually tests what is real and what is staged, with dreamlike sequences and on-set fantasies seeping into documentary-style moments. Performances, commercials, and re-creations of past interviews all blur boundaries, inviting viewers to question the truth of what they see. The result is a meditation on cinema's power to create, distort, and preserve reality.

• illusion
• reality
• dream sequence
• staged
• documentary
• fantasy

Cinecittà serves as both setting and subject in Intervista, representing the heart of Italian cinema. The film's structure moves through its soundstages and backlots, using the studio's spaces to explore memory and filmmaking. The 1938 flashback shows Fellini's first visit to this iconic studio, making it central to understanding his artistic journey.

• cinecittà
• italian cinema
• studio
• film history
• rome

The 1938 flashback shows a young Fellini visiting Cinecittà during the Fascist era, illustrating the long arc of his relationship with the studio. This temporal layering blurs the line between past and present, suggesting that filmmaking itself is a perpetual conversation with memory. It establishes the studio as a place where personal history and cinematic creation intertwine.

• 1938
• flashback
• fascist era
• cinecittà
• memory
• personal history

Intervista features several female characters representing different aspects of cinema: Nadia Ottaviani plays La Vestale, the Cinecittà custodian who gathers dandelions in the backlot, adding ritual and mystery; Lara Wendel appears as La Sposa, a romantic figure exploring performance; Paola Liguori portrays La Diva, representing the glamour and theatricality of leading cinema; and Francesca Reggiani plays the diva's secretary navigating backstage politics.

• female characters
• la diva
• vestale
• cinecittà
• custodian
• stardom