146 - La Dolce Vita (1960)

DVD Box
A journalist in Rome enjoys the high life while never really achieving fulfilment.

Marcello Rubini (Marcello Mastroianni) is a notorious journalist in 1950's Rome, covering the gossip columns and seeking stories of the rich and famous.

His home life isn't nearly as glamorous as his fiancée combats depression due to Marcello's repeated flings with various high flying celebrities.

Theatrical Poster
Source: Wikipedia
La Dolce Vita is well renowned for being Federico Fellini's scathing attack on the political scene surrounding him at the end of the Italian 1950's especially with a shift in the change of power between the church and modern culture.

His story is told through the eyes of someone who craves nothing more than the attention and fame of being a celebrity and, as such, the film really digs deep into exposing all that is wrong with the root of of the rise the gossip era.

Fellini takes the unusual approach of splitting his film into seven dawn, day and night sequences sandwiched between a prologue and an epilogue, and cut in half by an intermission sequences where his protagonist is able to catch his breath before joining the fast, sweet life again.

Very watchable, and an interesting view of the power shift occurring in 1950's Rome.

Comments

  1. Fellini is one of my favorite directors. I don't remember having seen this classic of his although I may have seen it in college and don't remember--that was near 40 years ago. My favorite Fellini films are La Strada, Ginger and Fred, and one of my top ten favorite films Roma.



    Lee
    Tossing It Out

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