Directed by:
Federico FelliniCinematography:
Otello MartelliComposer:
Nino RotaCast:
Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg, Anouk Aimée, Yvonne Furneaux, Magali Noël, Alain Cuny, Riccardo Garrone, Evelyn Stewart, Lex Barker, Annibale Ninchi (more)Plots(1)
Setting the standard for world cinema in 1960, Italian maestro Federico Fellini dramatically opened the eyes of cinema goers and critics alike with this searing critique of a celebrity-obsessed, hedonistic world as seen through the eyes of a fluff-peddling journalist. Marcello Rubini (Marcello Mastroianni) is a gossip columnist and would-be novelist who chronicles "the sweet life" of fading aristocrats, second-rate movie stars and aging playboys in high society Rome in the 50s. Armed with his "paparazzi", the philandering Marcello ultimately succumbs to loneliness and tragedy as he flees his obsessive, suicidal fiancee while vainly vying for the affections of a vivacious screen goddess (Anita Ekberg). Showcasing the sexy and truly audacious romp in the famed Trevi Fountain in glistening high definition black and white, as well as including a treasure trove of special features, La Dolce Vita remains a milestone of European cinema. (Umbrella Entertainment)
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Reviews (8)
Thanks for the depression, Maestro Fellini... It's been a long time since I've felt this miserable after watching a film as I am right now. La Dolce Vita is a sweetly frosted film, but beneath the surface it's as bitter as quinine. Visually, it acts as a mask – all those lavish parties, expensive gowns, bizarre cabarets, beautiful women... this is all just a cover for the inner emptiness of the world that Fellini displays with typical perspective and light sarcasm. Although one can withstand such a portrait of the "bourgeois" world of stars, it would not be Fellini not to let ordinary life and reality be mirrored in this artificial universe of artificial people. A reality that, through ubiquitous photographers and journalists, parasites on the aura of the "sweet" world of the rich and famous. And somewhere on the edge between the two worlds (the ordinary and "sweet") Marcello, brilliantly portrayed by M. Mastroinanni, staggers. He is a hero belonging to the thematic family of both Amarcord and Roma (whether he is the main character in the latter, or a common motive for leaving the harmonious countryside and fascination with the big world), at first glance a hedonist, at second glance an absolute loser whose inner emptiness is surrounded by a bleak apartment and eternally despairing girlfriends. Marcello grazes on the gloss, seducing one woman after another, sinking deeper and deeper into the void, despair. La Dolce Vita is nothing more than a game in which actors lose themselves and become a grotesque masks of wealth, beauty and success. And the outside world is similar, devouring the surface, devouring media-chewed information, sometimes reminiscent of a script directed by a malicious director (the sequence with a gathering after the alleged appearance of the Virgin Mary). And Marcello, instead of finally choosing a path in the midst of a general decline, when all values lose their meaning, sinks deeper and deeper into the sweet mud. Fellini offers nothing comforting; there is a bit of tragedy behind every humorous moment, traditional rescue themes such as motherhood, and others (the drastic scene with Steiner and his family) do not work either. All this is filmed with a large portion of film stylization (compared to the later documentary interest of Roma) and the fascination with visual, but at the same time, in a way cool, almost surgically accurate. To luxuriate, to search, to analyze and at the same time not be drawn in, is how I would probably describe Fellini's "baton" over this symphony of futility. La Dolce Vita is a damn bitter film. Bitter by seeing stylized beauty and feeling a completely prosaic nothingness with a pretty face. At some points, it may seem quite long-lasting, but in the end it is absolutely masterful. Bravo!
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After Nights of Cabiria and 8 1/2, I had the opportunity to see La Dolce Vita, a film praised in all the reviews, and I expected something special and memorable, but I was also worried that this film would miss its mission by a large arc. And actually, I was not wrong about either. Fellini's directorial talents can be felt in many scenes, and some passages are absolutely legendary, the Trevi Fountain or the final "orgy", for example. Unfortunately, I got quite lost in the plot in places and some scenes were incomprehensible to me. So I'm on the fence about the rating. It's an incredibly long film and at times hard to digest, but on the other hand it's a truly fine piece of art. In short, a film that I can appreciate, but unfortunately not value.
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Sweet, but impenetrable. As much as Federico Fellini can captivate you and almost carry you away in some scenes, he can equally thoroughly bore you to pieces in this demanding three-hour film. Marcello Mastroianni plays the bohemian to the fullest, but his Marcello lacks the necessary character weight that such a presence deserves. And yet what disappoints me most is the change from an intimate drama to heavy criticism, which makes the whole film disintegrate into several parts that more or less cease to relate to each other. So, I remain somewhat at a loss in my rating. I can feel the power that this film can offer, which only a good film can provide, but it couldn't fully reach me.
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For centuries, people lived with the idea that their ruling and wealthy elites were somehow inherently better, more noble, and more skillful than the common folks, and this view was not changed by occasional revolts and revolutions, including the most famous French Revolution with the motto "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity." Until World War I, the usual concern was how many poor maids and servants were needed in court to balance the testimony of one respected property owner, and whether it was even possible to allow property-less people to vote. World War I and the Great Depression embarrassed the elites so much that the opposite opinion soon spread, which automatically depicts a member of the wealthy class as a parasitic libertine, and it is precisely on this wave that Fellini's La Dolce Vita rides. His film hero Marcello, although not a bad person at heart, repeatedly succumbs to the seduction of the decadent and lewd lifestyle of post-war Italy's pop-cultural and wealthy elites. I disagree with Fellini's one-sided perspective, but that is not a reason for me to have such a detached relationship with the film that I express it with just 2 stars. As time goes by, I generally understand Fellini less and have major reservations about his inability to edit and get to the point. Where you can express the same thing with a two-hour film, there is no reason to watch an extra hour of material just because the director suffers from a lack of restraint. All those frills, digressions, all those scenes that are just there because Fellini fancied it in some movement of his mind reliably ruin my impression of the film. When a film bores you, the best reputation and a handful of festival awards are useless. Overall impression: 45%.
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Some people don’t know what the three hours of La Dolce Vita are about, and yet it’s evident in every elaborate shot, in every sweet sounding Italian line packed with multiple meanings, and in every facial gesture that the bohemian, doomed paparazzo Marcelo Mastroianni conjures up on his charismatic face. A brilliantly constructed and harmonic story, where Fellini manages to turn countless bitterly symbolic scenes into iconic and often quoted moments of world cinema thanks to their visual perfection and universally accessible melodramatic character. The blonde diva bathing in the fountain while the blinded Marcello fetches milk for a stranger's kitten at her request, the hordes of journalists circling the social elite like annoying flies, the abuse of a drunken girl for a humiliating dance and finally the ending itself, when the hero, despite the sea surf and the screams of his companions, does not understand the words of the unspoiled young girl and turns his back on her, facing his moral doom. All of these are wonderful cinematic and unforgettable scenes that of course make for a delightful, or rather, sweet viewing experience. 95%
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