The sweet life...right? You know, there's a wine company with the same name. I like both, one for the sharp taste and the other because for its sense of life and vitality. You know, what you experience when those party scenes are going on? Hll, there's a reason why it received - what - like 7 academy awards and was voted the 6th best film of all time? Its not that good, shit, but everyone ought to sit through it at least once. Wonderful.
whenever I am down, i always think about this movie. It shows that not even in film you get everything you want. Some time we as humans expect everything to come so easily but in reality that doesn't always happens. Fellini is such a master and I will always look up to him.
I enjoy this the most of Fellini's movies I've seen, although the ending took me way off guard, and although reading about it online cleared it up for me, I still feel La Dolce Vita requires another viewing. At this point it's tied with 8 1/2 for my favorite.
it was okay. about a load of rich italians that get really bored and like to sleep around. anita ekberg was da bomb! the actors were all alright to watch. i just didn't understand where the film was going or what the point of it was? except maybe to perv at ekberg?!!? maybe i'll like it more if i view it again sometime. maybe it grows on ya. ah well, if nothing else... ekberg. have i said ekberg enough times?
At the off, the direction and cinematography in this film is fucking amazing. Each shot is absolutely magnificent. However, while it's plain to see that the film is about how dull and lifeless "high society" is, as there isn't a single likeable character in the film, you don't really care what happens to them. Subsequently, the film is completely charmless. A sincere case of style over substance.
I was quite dissapointed with this movie. I must say I expected a lot.
The movie as a whole is so linear, that it just left me a bit bored. Where's the climax of the film? What was Marcello's goal? Was it sleeping with every woman he could find?
Maybe I have to give it another chance to really figure out this film but for now I can only say I thought it was ok.
Set in Rome in the 1950s where Marcello (Marcello Mastroianni) covers the more sensational side of the news; movie stars, religious visions, and the decadent aristocracy.The film shows seven days and nights in the life of the reporter. Marcello is living with Emma (Yvonne Furneaux), a woman who loves him and wants a traditional marriage, but she is possessive and shows little ability to understand his unarticulated search for value and meaning in his life. He has encounters with other women ? Maddalena (Anouk Aimée), a beautiful, wealthy, and jaded friend/lover, and Anita Ekberg as an American movie star named Sylvia. Marcello also briefly meets an unspoiled and charming girl working at a beachside restaurant.
I open this review saying that it's very hard write a comment about this film. This isn't a film for all,I reccomend it to the people who loves old classic movies who consider the cinema as art.
As italian I love this film because it gave me the oppurtunity of knowing the high society's life in Roma (la città eterna) during the 60's. The movie is divided in Seven principal episodes: 1. Marcello's evening with the heiress Maddalena (Anouk Aimée);
2. his long and frustrating night with Sylvia (Anita Ekberg), the American movie star, that ends at dawn in the Trevi fountain;
3. his relationship with the intellectual Steiner (Alain Cuny). This episode is divided into three sequences: a) the encounter, b) the party, and c) the tragedy;
4. the fake miracle;
5. the aristocrat's party;
6. his father's visit;
7. the orgy at the beach.
Interrupting these seven episodes is the restaurant sequence with the angelic Paola; they are framed by a prologue (Christ statue over Rome) and epilogue (the monster fish), giving the film its innovative and symmetrically symbolic structure.The evocations of the number seven are : seven deadly sins, seven sacraments, seven virtues, seven days of creation.
A Fellini masterpiece. Exuberant and exhilarating. It was both scandalous and thrilling. A smorgasborg of themes reach dizzying heights in this decadent epic dealing with celebrities, paparrazi and debauchery.
Being a fan, I'm trying to see everything he did...interesting look at the Italian pappazazzi; reminds me of the American one today. This film is almost prophetic...
I tried seeing WHY the Catholic church had banned this film in so many countries. At first I thought it was becaue of the infidelity, but ALL of Fellini's gfilms have this virtue! LOl Then I thought perhaps it was the sub-story about the children seeing the apparition of the Virgin Mary. That must've been it!
simply stunning. tragic, poignant, intellectual, beautiful, and all the while engagingly familiar. amazing acting, brilliant cinematography, a plethora of quotable quotes, and a great soundtrack/score. a purely terrific film.
Just as Mastroianni's character, La Dolce Vita might seem to be a very aimless movie but its NOT. It turns out to be a complex and philosophical ride but not at all boring which is truly remarkable. Fellini's best along with 8 1/2.
At first we follow Marcello from one unpleasant misadventure to another as lost as he is in all the hysteria but so delicately somewhere it all becomes perfectly charming as we encounter all the people in his world and it becomes clear that he is the least neurotic of the bunch but perhaps the most alone...Fellini is as playful as ever in expressing his love for the randomness of life through what one might consider a series of vignettes...every frame of this film is absolutely gorgeous to look at and in many ways iconic and the contrasts of tone are handled remarkably well blurring the lines into one masterful meltdown.
Decadência e modernidade.
O filme é cheio de cenas marcantes, como a da abertura, com a seqüência da estátua do Cristo sobrevoando Roma, não por milagre, mas transportado por um helicóptero, dentro do qual estão os repórteres sensacionalistas e um fotógrafo paparazzi - termo que foi incluído no vocabulário mundial.
O fim, ao meu ver, é a cena mais triste. Quando Marcello é chamado para uma nova vida, e ele não consegue ouvi-la e nem atravessar a barreira e volta novamente para a vida que levava...
This is a really cool movie, it definetly makes my top 5. I'm not sure if i actually enjoy it that much or if the movie snob in me just appreciates it. Although it's in black and white the shots look great and can be really powerful. Mastroiani is a brilliant actor and oozes cool in this role. The movie doesnlt have much of a plot but as an art film it makes a -powerful statement about the shallowness of "the good life" and celebrity culture. Shows Why Fellini is revered and i enjoyed it more than 8 1/2
Very good, but still Federico Fellini had a long way to get to 8 1/2, some years after this movie. Some beautiful scenes, mostly approaching the ending, but some very dull parts also. I loved the part with the Swedish actress, very entertaining and well crafted. Also a very good story and directing, but still not his best.
Master Fellini at his best. The glamour of another era in the world and filmmaking is present in this masterpiece, showing the decadence of the elite in a superb way. Mastroiani and Anita Eckberg are one of the greatest couples in cinema's history. Brilliant.
An iconic film that for me ultimately pales beside Fellini's next one '8 1/2' but still - 3 hours of passionate, disillusioned decadence and still fresh to these eyes over 40 years after its creation.
OH! The film lasts almost three hours and it hasn't a real story, it's just like a situation, but I was just amazed of this world Fellini puts us on. These great pictures we see, the outrageous people that appears at the parties, the restaurants, the castles. I definetly regret not to have an equivalent of a film like this nowadays.
La había comprado desde hace un buen pero no me animaba a verla. Sabía que tenía que hacerlo y ahora lo confirmo. Ahora me gustaría estar en una de esas fiestas decadentes con esos seres de cuento que Fellini nos regaló.
Soc-events columnist Mastroianni lives "La Dolce Vita" in Rome, hangin' around with the rich, the bohemian and the beautiful people while trying hard not to lose his soul. A major and very touching in ever level work of art.
La Dolce Vita est possiblement l'un des films qui m'ait rendu le plus confus suite à un premier visionnement... Vraiment, je ne sais quoi en penser. Bref, je suis partagé entre ceux qui adorent et ceux qui détestent (Je comprends pourquoi on m'avait prévenu que La Dolce Vita nécessite plusieurs visionnements). Les dialogues du film sont incroyablement pertinents, certaines scènes m'ont captivées (surtout les scènes musicales car j'ai adoré les musiques du film), tandis que d'autres étaient à mes yeux trop longues ou tout simplement inutiles. Par contre, j'ai trouvé que parfois il y avait trop de choses en un même instant, comme si j'arrivais pas à bien cerner le film, puisque les évènements arrivaient trop rapidement les unes après les autres.
Je ne suis pas tombé en amour avec Fellini, je dois par contre avouer que La Dolce Vita a un petit je-ne-sais-quoi qui m'attire vraiment, c'est une oeuvre intéressante, mais sans plus pour le moment. Je ne sais pas si d'autres visionnements viendront un jour... D'ici là, j'aimerais bien voir 8 et demi.
In the class of film lacking in plot yet wholly engrossing. What makes it work is Fellini's sense of rhythm and use of a central character who lazily wanders through each scene. The endless women, endlessly fascinating, are also endlessly unfathomable. Really, what I like are his images, in particular Eckberg in the fountain and Nico in the decaying old house.
This is one of the greatest and most beautiful films ever to grace the planet! Only Fellini could pull this chic Italian classic off, with its emphasis on socialites and the wild 60's values.
MCT:June 30, 2008
MCT:May 9, 2008
MCT:May 3, 2008
MCT:April 15, 2008
MCT:April 9, 2008
MCT:April 6, 2008
