La Dolce vita (1960)
Directed by Federico Fellini

Film Review

La Dolca Vita may be Federico Fellini's most famous film, but it's a moot point as to whether it's his best. It certainly made an impact when it was first released, and helped to establish Fellini as one of the foremost directors of his day. The scenes of drunken debauchery which take up most of the film's runtime must have shocked liberal sensibilities in the early 1960s, and in some ways the film defined the stereotypical images that most people have of that time.

The film's lack of depth and meaning perfectly mirrors the superficiality of the characters it portrays, although at almost three hours in length you do feel that Fellini is being somewhat overly indulgent.

Whilst the film is certainly a long haul, it is rarely boring, and features some of Fellini's most memorable set pieces.  These include the slightly surreal scene which opens the film, where a helicopter looms into view carrying a giant statue of Christ, and the appropriately downbeat ending on the beach where, with understated tragedy, Marcello realises there is no escape from his unsatisfying hedonistic life style.

Film Synopsis

Marcello Rubini is an Italian gossip columnist who loves to bask in the reflected glory of the rich and famous, his only chance of enjoying the sweet life of Rome's upper set.  After growing weary of his possessive and in increasingly neurotic girlfriend Emma, Marcello prefers short-term liaisons with less inhibited and more glamorous women.  Maddalena, a disenchanted heiress, is his latest amorous conquest.  After spending a night of no-strings passion with with this well-heeled beauty, the journalist returns to his apartment to find that Emma has attempted suicide.

Having satisfied himself that his girlfriend is in safe hands and likely to recover from her ordeal, Marcello heads off to his next professional assignment - to meet and greet the famous American film star Sylvia at the airport.  That night, Sylvia joins Marcello in a riotous bout of partying, after which the two stroll the city's quiet back streets alone.  The fairytale evening over, both are brought back to reality the next morning when they run into Sylvia's jealous fiancé, Robert.  Marcello then goes off to meet up with Steiner, a well-known intellectual.  That afternoon, accompanied by his photographer Paparazzo, Marcello goes off to report on an apparent sighting of the Holy Mother...