La dolce vita (1960)

Director:

Federico Fellini

Writers:

Federico Fellini (story) &
Ennio Flaiano (story) ...

Release Date:

19 April 1961 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The Sweet Life

Plot:

Journalist and man-about-town Marcello struggles to find his place in the world, torn between the allure...

Plot Keywords:

Journalist | Sex | Writer | Film Star | Party

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 7 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

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

Also Known As:

La Dolce Vita (UK) (USA)
La dolce vita (France)
La douceur de vivre (France) (alternative title)

Runtime:

174 min | Germany:177 min (premiere) | Portugal:165 min (re-release) | USA:180 min (premiere)

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

Italian | English | French | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric)

Certification:

Italy:VM14 | Hungary:18 | South Korea:15 | Brazil:14 | Spain:13 | Spain:(Banned) (1960-1980) | 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)

Filming Locations:

Bassano Romano, Viterbo, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Riama Film

Trivia:

It seems that term "paparazzo" was coined by Federico Fellini's friend and scriptwriter Ennio Flaiano, who seemingly derived from a novel by British Victorian novelist George Gissing ("By the Ionian Sea"). It was the last name of the owner of an Hotel in the Italian city of Catanzaro (Calabria) in southern Italy where George Gissing was staying at.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: The water in the Trevi Fountain continues flowing even after the sound of it has faded away, and only stops when the camera changes view.

Quotes:

Steiner: We must get beyond passions, like a great work of art. In such miraculous harmony. We should love each other outside of time... detached.

Movie Connections:

References Un témoin dans la ville (1959)

Soundtrack:

Patricia

life imitates art? art imitates life? a bit of both?

I just saw a new print of this wonderful film after not having seen it for maybe 20 years and it is still spellbinding. Fellini sums up an era and an attitude here, and succeeds in doing something that ought to be impossible: he makes a full and meaningful film about empty and meaningless lives. Mastroianni seems to have been to Fellini what DeNiro has been to Scorsese--a perfect embodiment of a personal vision. What a wonderful actor he was--brilliant in his youth and in his age. Many other performers are hardly less fine here, and the cinematography and composition are stunning throughout. There are so many indelible images from this film, images that have become iconic over the decades: Ekberg in the Fontana di Trevi, the statue of Christ flying over Rome, the astonishing, candlelit procession at the castle, to name a few. It seems plot less and yet it isn't plot less at all; Marcello's ultimately fruitless search for meaning, a search that he abandons in the end, as he stares across a slight and yet unbridgable abyss on the beach at a lovely young girl who seems to possess the knowledge and understanding that is denied to him. I'm astonished at the number of people who don't get this movie, who seem to think that Fellini expects us to admire the bizarre characters who people the film, or who think that a movie about worthless individuals must be a worthless movie, or who don't seem to understand that movies that are full of what become clichés usually do so because they capture an important vision. Fellini made several exceptional films: 81/2, La Strada, Amarcord, and The Nights of Cabiria come to mind, but La Dolce Vita may be, when all is said and done, his masterwork.