I watched this feature doc with fascination. I read somewhere (LA Times, I think) that all the interviews (save those with Mastroianni and Masina)including the priceless one with Fellini were culled from director Pettigrew's private archives. This explains why I didn't feel I was watching archive footage leftovers like so many other Fellini docs. What I saw were in-depth archival interviews shot with a very specific purpose: To craft a balanced testament of the man. It's what makes this portrait of the Maestro the best I've seen.There's a genuine personal vision behind the film, a comprehensive knowledge of Fellini that's weighed objectively, warts and all: The deviousness, the vulgarity, the narcissism, the childish tantrums (Fellini's not above screaming at an actress, especially if she's a bit player, or insulting Mastroianni, his so-called alter-ego), the capacious charm (I love the few moments when Fellini speaks English), the guilt-ridden seducer, the jet set director who skewers his own pretentiousness, the astute theoretician of artistic processes, the maniacal maker of a legendary self, the genius puppet-master, the silly perfectionist of plastic oceans, the wise old man who's seen and done and shown it all on film.The great strength of this doc lies in the fact that what's presented is expertly judged. For me, the finest aspects of Fellini's mind displayed here are the insights into women and creativity, and the interpretations of life, art, and death. If you understand Italian, it will knock you for a loop. If you don't, you'll be moved nonetheless. To be frank, only a boor would miss the meaning of the Maestro's simple eloquence.I understand this was Fellini's last filmed discussion. It shows: You can feel him haunted by death in the doc's disturbingly tight close-ups. It's an edgy, almost Shakespearean touch that thrilled me, made it a privilege to witness. Would that we had the last of Kubrick captured on film in this way.I've often wondered if Fellini had a big screen in place of a heart. After watching this doc, I'm convinced there's absolutely no difference.

Instead of watching this, just watch 8 1/2. The same themes and ideas are expressed, but 8 1/2 is beautiful and expressive. This movie, while referencing and showing clips to other movies, generally takes most of its inspiration from 8 1/2 and, honestly, I feel if I hadn't had watched 8 1/2 previously I wouldn't have been able to care about this documentary.Another thing is that this documentary lingers in heavy close-up on Fellini's face a lot, which isn't composed well and is kind of annoying. About the only really good original imagery in the film is long takes of the Italian countryside, but even those aren't technically necessary... especially since Fellini and some of the others in the movie discuss how sometimes sets are more preferable anyway.All I got out of this movie was the feeling that I could have much better spent my time watching one of the films presented in this essay. So I think I'll go do that now instead of lingering any longer on it.--PolarisDiB

Damian Pettygrew's "Je suis un grand menteur" is an extraordinary documentary, in that it captures the great Italian director, Federico Fellini, speaking to us about his ideas, technique, craftsmanship, and his relationship with the movies in which he was involved. Federico Fellini speaks candidly about his way of making movies and about himself.Only a few of his collaborators were called upon to talk about the maestro. Fellini was a figure larger than life; his pictures were the way for him to express his ideas to his audience. It's curious only three actors were selected for the documentary: Donald Sutherland, Terence Stamp and Roberto Benigni. Omitted from it were collaborators like Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimee, Anita Ekberg and other living actors that are still living who could have added their views to the documentary.Having seen "The Magic of Fellini", directed by Carmen Piccini, Damian Pettygrew's film doesn't add anything that had not been known before as Fellini remains a figure that had all the ideas in his mind, but it seems he was a man whose way of working depended a lot on the improvisation he brought to the set on any given moment.Mr. Pettygrew finds parallels between Fellini and Guido, his character of "8-1/2", who was at best, an enigma because everything he had stored in his head and how, at times, it was so hard for him to communicate the ideas to the people he was working with, at the time."Je suis un grand menteur" is a must see for all Fellini fans.

This film makes a lot more sense to someone who's seen many of Fellini's films, such as myself, than to someone who hasn't, such the person with whom I saw it. The film is Fellini the director on himself, the director. The comments by some of the people who worked on the films with him are very good, but too limited to do more than punctuate Fellini's self examination. What he has to say is very interesting, and makes me want to re-view some of the films I haven't watched in many years, especially "8 1/2". But this documentary is too long, too desultory, and simply too boring in its use of a single shot throughout the interview with Fellini to engage the more casual viewer.