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Dolce vita, La (1960)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
19 April 1961 (USA) moreTagline:
The Sweet Life morePlot:
Journalist and man-about-town Marcello struggles to find his place in the world, torn between the allure... more | add synopsisAwards:
Won Oscar. Another 7 wins & 7 nominations moreNewsDesk:
(5 articles)
The films of our lives (From Roger Ebert's Blog. 11 July 2008, 7:49 PM, PDT)
'Ben-Hur' Italian Studio Partially Destroyed by Fire (From WENN. 13 August 2007)
User Comments:
Bitterness Of The Sweet Life moreCast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Marcello Mastroianni | ... | Marcello Rubini | |
| Anita Ekberg | ... | Sylvia | |
| Anouk Aimée | ... | Maddalena (as Anouk Aimee) | |
| Yvonne Furneaux | ... | Emma | |
| Magali Noël | ... | Fanny (as Magali Noel) | |
| Alain Cuny | ... | Steiner | |
| Annibale Ninchi | ... | Marcello's father | |
| Walter Santesso | ... | Paparazzo | |
| Valeria Ciangottini | ... | Paola | |
| Riccardo Garrone | ... | Riccardo | |
| Ida Galli | ... | Debuttante of the Year | |
| Audrey McDonald | ... | Jane (as Audey McDonald) | |
| Polidor | ... | Clown | |
| Alain Dijon | ... | Frankie Stout | |
| Enzo Cerusico | ... | Newspaper photographer |
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Additional Details
Also Known As:
Dolce vita, La (France)Douceur de vivre, La (France) (alternative title)
The Sweet Life (UK)
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Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parentsRuntime:
174 min | Germany:177 min (premiere) | Portugal:165 min (re-release) | USA:180 min (premiere)Color:
Black and WhiteAspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 moreSound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric)Certification:
Italy:VM14 | Hungary:18 | South Korea:15 | Brazil:14 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M (DVD rating) | Australia:PG (original rating) | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Singapore:M18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:Not Rated | West Germany:12 (video rating)MOVIEmeter: 
No change since last week
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Fun Stuff
Trivia:
The film wasn't released in Spain until 1981 because of moral censorship. moreGoofs:
Continuity: The aircraft which brings Sylvia to Rome is an Alitalia Vickers Viscount as it comes in to land, but is both a Douglas DC-7C and DC-6B when it is on the ground. moreQuotes:
Steiner: Don't be like me. Salvation doesn't lie within four walls. I'm too serious to be a dilettante and too much a dabbler to be a professional. Even the most miserable life is better than a sheltered existence in an organized society where everything is calculated and perfected. moreSoundtrack:
Patricia moreFAQ
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LA DOLCE VITA presents a series of incidents in the life of Roman tabloid reporter Marcello Rubini (Marcello Mastroianni)--and although each incident is very different in content they create a portrait of an intelligent but superficial man who is gradually consumed by "the sweet life" of wealth, celebrity, and self-indulgence he reports on and which he has come to crave.
Although the film seems to be making a negative statement about self-indulgence that leads to self-loathing, Fellini also gives the viewer plenty of room to act as interpreter, and he cleverly plays one theme against its antithesis throughout the film. (The suffocation of monogamy vs. the meaninglessness of promiscuity and sincere religious belief vs. manipulative hypocrisy are but two of the most obvious juxtapositions.) But Fellini's most remarkable effect here is his ability to keep us interested in the largely unsympathetic characters LA DOLCE VITA presents: a few are naive to the point of stupidity; most are vapid; the majority (including the leads) are unspeakably shallow--and yet they still hold our interest over the course of this three hour film.
The cast is superior, with Marcello Mastroianni's personal charm particularly powerful. As usual with Fellini, there is a lot to look at on the screen: although he hasn't dropped into the wild surrealism for which he was sometimes known, there are quite a few surrealistic flourishes and visual ironies aplenty--the latter most often supplied by the hordes of photographers that scuttle after the leading characters much like cockroaches in search of crumbs. For many years available to the home market in pan-and-scan only, the film is now in a letterbox release that makes it all the more effective. Strongly recommended.
Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer