A classic of the
Italian cinema and the Golden Palme winner of the 1960 Cannes Film Festival,
Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita
(1960) is on many lists of the best movies of all times. It tells the story of
Marcello (Marcello Mastroianni) a journalist working in Rome who could be seen
as one of the original paparazzi. His modern American equivalent could be a
member of the TMZ network, but in 1960s Italy Marcello’s job looks much more
glamorous although he still does a fair amount of celebrity hounding.
Fellini is one of
those filmmakers whose name is revered by other filmmakers who are also revered,
yet I have only seen two of his movies including this one and La Strada (1954). I received both of
them as a Christmas present on collector’s edition DVDs about seven years ago
and was glad to be able to cross at least one more classic off my watch list. Personally
I preferred La Strada, which is a much
sadder movie, but I loved the lead actress whereas the character of Marcello in
La Dolce Vita is harder to root for.
The film has a loose
narrative structure becomes evident halfway through a first viewing. Whereas
most screenplays are divided into three acts, beginning, middle, and end, La Dolce Vita has about seven acts, or
seven days. During those days it follows Marcello, a writer for a gossip
magazine, as he pursues love and happiness in Rome.
The film’s iconic
opening tells a lot about his character. A helicopter is carrying a statue of
Christ to Saint Peter’s Square. Marcello is following it in a second helicopter,
but stops over a building where a group of women are sunbathing on the rooftop.
Despite the fact he is in a helicopter and the bikini-wearing women cannot hear
him, Marcello still manages to tell them where the statue is going, and tries
to get their telephone number to no avail.
Following the
opening the story goes through various highs and lows as Marcello covers stories
and meets people throughout a gorgeously shot Rome. The women in his life are
interesting enough to give him a lifetime of stories. He is very friendly with
Maddalena (Anouk Aimé) a beautiful and wealthy heiress bored with her money.
She finds Marcello distracting enough to spend the night with him, but at dawn
reality catches up with him when he finds his girlfriend Emma (Yvonne Furneaux)
overdosing on pills at home. He drives her to the hospital where another
journalist is waiting, hoping to possibly do a story, but Marcello asks for
privacy.
This shows an
intriguing trait for Marcello as a journalist. He is friendly with many people
in Rome, people who could possibly be story subjects. It is as though he
doesn’t only want to write the stories; he wants to live the stories. When Sylvia (Anita Ekberg) a Swedish-American
movie star arrives in Rome for a press conference, he is not content with simply
interviewing her, and ends up driving her around the streets at night.
This leads to one
of the film’s most famous scenes as Ekberg walks into the Trevi fountain while
wearing a figure-fitting black dress and invites Marcello to join him. But then
once again the morning suddenly arrives, breaking the magic. Marcello drives
Sylvia back to her boyfriend (Lex Baker) who promptly assaults him, right in
front of the cameras.
The story’s
non-traditional structure can be testing sometimes as it gives the impression
the story is not really going anywhere. Yet the performances by the entire cast
are engaging throughout. Mastroianni plays a man with a smooth exterior who
gives the impression to know what he is doing at all times, but mostly he is
just stumbling through Rome in his search for the sweet life.
If I may make a side
recommendation, last year I saw a movie on Netflix about a young woman (Ksenia
Solo) who goes on a journey of self-discovery after attending a Fellini film
festival. That movie is a beautiful love letter to cinema, in particular
Italian cinema. Interesting bit of trivia: it was inspired by the real-life
adventures of Nancy Cartwright, best known as Bart from The Simpson. Movies can truly transform anyone.
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