By: Holley Sinn

Verdict: Approved!

To understand Rob Marshall's screen adaptation of the musical "Nine", it's best to journey back to the story's source.  In 1963, the great Italian director Federico Fellini released what is said to have been his greatest work...a film about an Italian director, searching for his muse amongst the many women who occupy his heart.  Fellini's picture is called "8 1/2", and it's a favorite among film professors because of its innovative art direction and clever screenplay.  "8 1/2" was nominated for 5 Academy Awards, and won 2..."Best Costume Design - Black and White" and "Best Foreign Language Film".  It was later adapted into a stage musical, and now, into a cinematic, song and dance-filled spectacle, covered in lace, sequins and feathers. 

Daniel Day-Lewis stars as Guido Contini, a once great director who has suffered a string of flops and has promised his studio that his next film will be a masterpiece...only, he still hasn't written the script, ten days before he is scheduled to begin shooting.  Searching for the answer to his writer's block, he retreats to a spa where he is visited, whether physically or in his mind, by all of the women who have impacted his life in some major way.  Nicole Kidman plays his favored starlette...Sophia Loren plays his late, revered mother...and Fergie plays the village prostitute who first taught him how to well....you know....   

As Guido becomes more and more frustrated and less and less able to focus, his wife Luisa, played by Marion Cotillard, is drifting further and further away from him.  When Nicole Kidman's "Claudia" arrives on set demanding to see a script, Guido explains that he is lost, but believes that her presence will inspire him.  Claudia reveals that she has always been in love with him, and that just being his muse can no longer be enough.

As the walls of his carefully crafted world tumble down around him, Guido must learn a very important lesson, guided in part, by his costume designer Lilli, played by Dame Judi Dench.  He finds that inspiration cannot come from the outside world.  It is only through his own perception of the world that he is able to create.  So, while each woman has at one time or another served to light his creative fire, he reconizes that he is, himself, the sum of all of those relationships. 

This film is all razzle dazzle...lingerie and diamonds....men in slick Italian suits...and big, bold musical numbers.  For me, all of these elements form a near perfect film...it was like I spent two hours in my very own dream world.  I think most women will see "Nine" the same way...and probably plenty of men as well.  The editing is sharp, the performances are dynamite, and the music is infectious.  "Nine" is fully Holley-approved...it's rated PG-13, and it opens in theaters all over the bay area on Christmas Day.