50 Federico Fellini Movies, Ranked Best to Worst

Famous Italian film director Guido Anselmi is struggling for inspiration after deciding to direct an epic science fiction film and is evading his mistress, his producer, crew, and journalists to buy time. He dives into a fantasy involving the women in his life from past and present, and eventually finds inspiration for his film, which gradually becomes autobiographical.

This Italian comedy drama film follows the life of a philandering paparazzo journalist living in Rome. Despite his carefree approach to living, and hedonistic attitude towards life, he does have some moments of quite reflection, which results in an intriguing cinematic study of his character. 

La Strada is an Italian drama film which tells the story of Gelsomina, a simple-minded young woman who was bought from her mother by a brutish strongman who takes her with him on the road.

Set in 1930s, this is a semi-autobiographical film about an adolescent boy growing up in a seaside village in Fascist Italy and records various incidents that occur around him in the course of his daily life. The film thus provides a series of nostalgic vignettes and has been justly rewarded by multiple awards and prizes. 

The Nights of Cabiria is an Oscar-winning Italian drama film, which tells the story of a prostitute who wanders the streets of Rome hoping to find true love. However, she only finds dejection and heartbreak. 

Juliet of the Spirits is a comedy drama film that revolves around a married woman, who catches her husband having an affair. She tries to gather the courage required to give him a divorce.

This war drama film takes us to the Nazi occupation of Rome in 1944 during the Second World War. Giorgio Manfredi, a Resistance Leader, is tracked down and chased by the Nazis. He seeks refuge with Francesco, one of his friends. Francesco’s fiancée, Pina tries to inform a priest that Giorgio needs to leave the town without being detected.

Fausto is a womanizer who gets married to Sandra, the sister of his friend Moraldo. Despite his marriage, he continues to flirt with other women.

A group of wealthy European aristocrats are aboard a luxurious ocean liner to scatter the ashes of a well-known opera singer. Things get extremely complicated when a group of shipwrecked Serbians are found on the deck of the ship. It is soon revealed that the refugees were brought in by the Captain the previous night. However, the Grand Duke feels that they should not be trusted, because they might be terrorists. He asks the Captain to isolate the refugees from the rest of the passengers. 

Set during the time of the Second World War, this film revolves around the American military personnel in Italy, who try to interact with the locals, despite their language barrier, as German forces start making their retreat.

This comedy drama film revolves around a man named Fellini, who goes to Rome, and films things like traffic jams, the subway system, etc, in order to draw a comparison between the old Rome and the new one.

Snàporaz finds himself attracted to a woman during a train ride. The attraction is mutual, but she soon gets off when the train stops. Snàporaz decides to follow her, through the woods, and eventually he finds himself in a big hotel overrun with women who are there for a feminist convention. He decides to leave, but is unable to find any way out.

This film takes us to first-century Rome, and revolves around two student friends who argue about the ownership of a slave boy named Gitone.

Giacomo Casanova, who is known as a notorious womanizer, is shown to be going to prison due to a sex scandal. However, he manges to escape to Paris, looking for a new life.

Shortly after arriving in Rome for her honeymoon along with her husband, a young bride named Wanda sneaks out of her room. She is obsessed with the hero of a romantic photo novel, and therefore she makes up her mind to meet him in person. However, things don’t go as expected.

Fortunella is an Italian comedy film which tells the story of a poor girl, who is convinced that her father is a Prince.

A group of four criminals commit a robbery at a soccer stadium. In order to evade the police, they split up and plan their own unique and individual escape.

Love in the City, L'amore in città in Italian, is an anthology film composed of six segments, each written and directed by different writer or director. The segments include Paid Love, Attempted Suicide, Paradise for Three Hours, Marriage Agency, Story of Caterina and Italians Stare.  The music is by Mario Nascimbene, one of the best known Italian film soundtrack composers.

Giovanni used to be a humble and mild clerk working in a government office. However, he complicates his own life by associating with a forger named Giulio. Giulio not only gets hold of Giovanni’s money, but also ruins his career, and makes him marry his own mistress.

Based on works of Edgar Allan Poe, this anthology horror film tells us three different stories. The first story is about Countess Frédérique, who lives a promiscuous life. She finds herself attracted to Baron Wilhelm, who is her cousin and neighbor, whom she had never before met due to a family feud. However, he rejects her due to her wicked ways, after which she plans revenge. The second story is about an army officer named William Wilson, who decides to confess his crimes to a priest. The last story is about a Shakespearean actor whose career is declining due to his alcoholism.

Housemaid Maria is engaged to Berto for fifteen years. However, they are unable to get married as Berto doesn’t have a steady job yet. Therefore, he is waiting for the death of his uncle Matteo, so that he can have financial stability after getting the inheritance.  

After an evil landowner mistreats the father and friends of an officer, the officer decides to take revenge by disguising himself as a bandit, and committing robberies against the former, in order to destroy his ‘empire’.