La dolce vita

Mostly because of the terrific high contrast, B&W visuals, and the evocative music, this is the only Fellini film I have seen that I have somewhat enjoyed. I recommend it, but not without reservations. It's a complex film with many textured layers of meaning. And, in typical Fellini fashion, it rambles and it meanders.

Deviating from standard three-Act structure, Fellini's story consists of roughly eight episodes, all starting at night and ending at dawn, more or less. Each has its own crisis. And the only thing that unites these episodes into a coherent whole is the story's protagonist, Marcello (Marcello Mastroianni). In his job as a journalist and overall observer of human nature, Marcello encounters people in high society who seem outwardly happy and self-fulfilled. On closer examination, however, these people are empty, hollow, alienated, emotionally adrift and vacant.

A good example is the starlet Sylvia (Anita Ekberg), a glamorous figure, but she's all image and no substance. "La dolce vita" is the first film that uses the concept of "paparazzi", which implies the importance of "image", separate from substance.

Throughout the various episodes Marcello sees these "images" of happiness, of contentment, but the images are deceptive, elusive, unreliable. In one episode, two "miracle" children "see" the Madonna. "The Madonna is over there", shouts one child. The crowd chases after her. But the other child who "sees" the Madonna runs in the opposite direction. Happiness, self-fulfillment, religious visions ... they're all a will-o'-the-wisp. And so, the film conveys a sense of pessimism and cynicism.

The film thus has deep thematic value. It caused a scandal when it was released, and was banned by the Catholic Church, apparently for appearing to be anti-religious.

Yet for all its deep meaning, "La dolce vita" can be a trial to sit through. Somewhere in the second half I began to lose interest. I don't have a problem with Fellini's deviation from standard plot structure. I do have a problem with a director who doesn't know when to quit. This film goes on for almost three hours. A good edit, to delete all the fat, would have tightened up the story and rendered it more potent. As is, it's too strung out, too stretched, too meandering.

If the viewer can persevere, there's enormous cinematic art in this film. And helped along by Nino Rota's music, the film is wonderfully evocative, at times stylishly melancholy.

Long, episodic film by Federico Fellini about the conceits and facades of life: fame, intellect, sex, friendship, despair, innocence, etc.

Marcello Mastroianni is perfect as the shallow tabloid reporter who joyfully follows around Rome a blonde movie star from Sweden (Anita Ekberg) as she prowls around the city's bars and bistros. He is also having an affair with a woman (Anouk Aimee) while his girl friend (Yvonne Furnaux) seems to be going nuts.

But as Marcello moves through the city following the movie star, the miracle of the virgin, a few parties, etc. we see that his life is very empty because the things he reports on are meaningless drivel. We see that fame and fortune and the trappings of success are meaningless.

Marcello starts to realize that the movie star is a vapid airhead, the miracles are a sham, and his friend's (who seemed quite happily married) ghastly murder and suicide show the futility of life itself.

The Fellini themes are common to many of his films, but what makes La Dolce Vita so memorable are the cynical tone, the Nina Rota music, and the string of terrific visual images.

The opening scene is of a helicopter hauling a gilded plaster statue through the air across Rome. The flying saint is a bizarre image but serves to set up the movies which is all about images and events that are never what they seem to be.

Notable are the scenes of statuesque Ekberg in that terrific strapless black dress with the voluminous skirts as she swishes around dancing and eventually wading through a city fountain. The party scenes are also notable. The first because of the intolerable intellectuals who sits around and talk and talk but never do anything. The last party has the indelible image of Mastroianni "riding" a drunken blonde woman as though she were a horse. The final image of the giant dead fish is quite unsettling as it symbolizes their bloated lives.

Fellini is brilliant in filling scenes with odd people as extras, usually hideously dressed or wearing ugly glasses. The "gallery" of people who inhabit the city is one of grotesques, vapid fashion slaves, the rich, hangers on, etc.

A long film, but highly recommended and very memorable.

In many ways, this has to be regarded as the defining film of its era. It presaged a new style of cinema. It had a fluid, dreamy, symbolic visual and narrative form, and its resonance stems from its visual set pieces and overall ambience. It is also a fascinating exploration of the lifestyles and attitudes of an incipient, flash, indulgent and directionless generation.

The film is mainly remembered for the iconic scene of Anita Ekberg ebulliently splashing her way into the centre of the Trevi Fountain, followed by an adoring Marcello Mastroianni. The scene is emblematic of the film in the sense that it represents characters who wish to break free from the constraints of previous generations but their efforts, while perhaps on the surface appearing daring and romantic, often lead to nowhere. There's a sense of searching but not finding: breaking free of one set of constraints only in order to meet another. Marcello, the film's protagonist and perhaps a representation of the director himself, wants to be free of his wife and he doesn't want to sell himself to the capitalist system, but what else is there to provide meaning to his life? He is failing as an artist and his romantic conquests seem empty and unfulfilling. He yearns for a time when life was more clearly defined and yet he loathes the responsibility and entrapment that that definition would impose. And so he drifts from party to party, a little less energetic, a little more cynical on each occasion.

La Dolce Vita shows us the new hedonism and society's burgeoning obsession with celebrity. It is responsible for the word "paparazzi", which came from the name of one of the supporting characters, and it features a very young Nico, who would go on to achieve fame with one of the defining bands of the '60s. The film is a bold and brilliant exploration of life as it was lived by the upper-classes and the emerging chattering classes of the time. It's an enthralling experience which is both sweet and sombre.

This is one of those films where I just don't want it to end as I enjoyed it so much. So many memorable and humorous scenes - Fellini successfully captured the atmosphere of picturesque Rome lifestyle. All of the characters are interesting, complex and I especially loved Anita Ekberg's performance! Amazing!

(first of all, sorry my poor english) Who, in this entire world, drunk as a horse in the middle of the night, never discovered the meaning of life, that it can be so easy and joyfull that hurts. This happens with a certain frequency. The big problem is, after all that, to face all the thoughts and conclusions in a sober monday morning, when everything is just real, concious and above all that sincere. This is the the big question and problem of Marcello Rubini, a reporter of a gossip magazines who has to deal with the fact that he tastes the same poison he spreads by leaving in a group of people which he sucks his living.

In a moment he is directing his papparazzi and, in the next, he is running away from them. He flows between all kinds of social circles and the only impression he gives is that it doesnt matter what kind of craziness you are getting into everything is a big cliché. From the mainstream world of a gorgeous actress who feels able to express opinions about everything (and we buy it), passing throught the religious world of the faith, and also an intellectual circle that gives a fake impression of freedom, everything turns out to be an escape. That blonde girl appears as a stroke of pureness and sincereness, something we should really look for, but we just dont. In the case of Marcello's life, writing is the solutions he always substitute for vain experiences. Something he likes and that he needs a young girl to tell him that. That litlle cute girl is a person Marcello would like to be, someone who faces the soberty of a monday morning with hopeness and happiness.

A masterpiece.