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La Dolce Vita (1960)

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From Time Out Film Guide

The opening shot shows a helicopter lifting a statue of Christ into the skies and out of Rome. God departs and paves the way for Fellini's extraordinarily prophetic vision of a generation's spiritual and moral decay. The depravity is gauged against the exploits of Marcello (Mastroianni), a playboy hack who seeks out sensationalist stories by bedding socialites and going to parties. Marcello is both repelled by and drawn to the lifestyles he records: he becomes besotted with a fleshy, dimwit starlet (Ekberg), he joins in the media hysteria surrounding a child's alleged sighting of the Virgin Mary, yet he longs for the bohemian life of his intellectual friend Steiner (Cuny). There are perhaps a couple of party scenes too many, and the peripheral characters can be unconvincing, but the stylish cinematography and Fellini's bizarre, extravagant visuals are absolutely riveting.

Author: EP

Time Out Film Guide

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Technoguy said...

Posted on Feb 25 2008 17:40 This is a young man's film(Fellini) and centred on a remarkable young actor,Mastroianni,the cynical young reporter at the heart of the movie.I saw this 30 years a go and was saturated with it's 60s stereotypes in an age of transition from the sacred to the profane.The passing away of religion is symbolized by the carriage of Christ through the sky,parodying the 2nd Coming;also by the large dead fish washed up at the end on the shore.The 'sweet life' of the title does not exist.Drunkenness,despair and decadence stalk the Via Veneto,brothels,car parks ,night clubs and palaces for the diletante Marcello,who is searching for love and for a deeper life.He thinks his intellectual friend Steiner,married with 2 kids has the key.He holds musical and poetic soirees in his home.He also wants to write a novel.The fecundity of a young maestro's imagination is revealed in a ballet of movement and sound,the choreography of the camera,the motion of the actors.Cinema has since shed all such approaches to narrative like a snakeskin perhaps for the better as the focus has evolved and narrowed.The film remarkably lasts for 3 hours,which is hard to believe and could have done with some editing.Night and dawn alternate.The ending is poignant:a young girl wants to remind him of the novel he wanted to write someday,but he is hung over and cannot hear her shouting over the waves and her message is lost.

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