8½

Plays from a third-party host

Sources marked • opened pop-ups across repeated tests; the rest did not. Providers are otherwise ordered so the quiet ones come first. Players are third party and refuse to run restricted, so an ad blocker like uBlock Origin is still worth having. Nothing loads from them until you press play.

Guido Anselmi, a film director, finds himself creatively barren at the peak of his career. Urged by his doctors to rest, Anselmi heads for a luxurious resort, but a sorry group gathers—his producer, staff, actors, wife, mistress, and relatives—each one begging him to get on with the show. In retreat from their dependency, he fantasizes about past women and dreams of his childhood.