La Dolce Vita (1960)

A series of stories following a week in the life of a philandering paparazzo journalist living in Rome.

Director:

Federico Fellini

Writers:

Federico Fellini (story), Ennio Flaiano (story)

Stars:

Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg, Anouk Aimée

Won 1 Oscar. Another 10 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

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	...	Il padre di Marcello
Walter Santesso	...	Paparazzo
Valeria Ciangottini	...	Paola
Riccardo Garrone	...	Riccardo
Evelyn Stewart	...	Debuttante dell'anno (as Ida Galli)
Audrey McDonald	...	Jane
Polidor	...	Pagliaccio
Alain Dijon	...	Frankie Stout
Mino Doro	...	Amante di Nadia

Storyline

Rome, 1959/60. Marcello Rubini (played by Marcello Mastroianni) is a writer and journalist, the worst kind of journalist - a tabloid journalist, or paparazzo. His job involves him trying to catch celebrities in compromising or embarrassing situations. He tends to get quite close to his subject, especially when they're beautiful women. Two such subjects are a local heiress, Maddalena (Anouk Aimee), and a Swedish superstar-actress, Sylvia (Anita Ekberg), both of whom he has affairs with. This is despite being engaged to Emma (Yvonne Furneaux), a rather clingy, insecure, nagging, melodramatic woman. Despite his extravagant, pleasure-filled lifestyle, he is wondering if maybe a simpler life wouldn't be better.

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Plot Keywords:

sexy woman | journalist | celebrity | party | drunkenness | 

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Taglines:

The Sweet Life

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Federico Fellini wanted Silvana Mangano for the role of Maddalena. She would later marry Dino De Laurentiis.

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Goofs

When Marcello and Madalena arrive at the appartment of the prostitute, a long electric cable (light?) can be seen attached to the right rear of the car, moving along untill the car stops.

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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.

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Alternate Versions

In the original American release, distributed by American International Pictures, the titles open with the AIP logo and appear over a shot of the sky with clouds. In the current release on DVD - and as shown on TCM - the title sequence is over a black background. When originally released, censors in several countries trimmed certain scenes, including the orgy near the end of the film.

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Connections

Referenced in The 4400: Audrey Parker's Come and Gone (2007)

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Soundtracks

Ma! He's Making Eyes At Me
(uncredited)
Written by Sidney Clare and Con Conrad

User Reviews

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.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Italy France

Language:

Italian English French German

Release Date:

19 April 1961 (USA)

Also Known As:

La Dolce Vita

Filming Locations:

Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, E.U.R., Rome, Lazio, Italy

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$190,771

Company Credits

Production Co:

Riama Film, Cinecittà, Pathé Consortium Cinéma

Technical Specs

Runtime:

174 min 177 min (premiere) 165 min (re-release) 180 min (premiere)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1