(Re)constructing oneself in the movies: autobiographical aspects in Federico Fellini's Amarcord

Theorists like Arfuch point to the fact that studies about autobiographical narratives – or self-narratives – have found a great analysis source in literature. The present paper aims to outline the roles such autobiographical aspects could play in movies, specifically in Federico Fellini's Amarcord. Using considerations on film analysis  and Philippe Lejeune's  work on autobiographical narratives, we found that Amarcord lies within an undetermined space between remembrance and creation. Besides pointing to the cinema's capacity of (re)signifying stories, Amarcord mimics the collective and potentially contradictory nature of reality. We believe that the movie uses elements from autobiographical narratives to address issues such as the (re)construction of one's self, the undefined limits between fiction and reality and the impossibility of a completely individual composition of human beings.