Sometimes you see a film that comes with a lot of critical acclaim and a heap of cultural baggage. And you look at it and say to yourself or a friend, "I just don't get this movie. Why did people make such a fuss about it when it came out? Why do people reference it so often, what's so great about it?"
La Dolce Vita (1960) is not one of those movies. It's a movie that, with each viewing, pays off with new insights into the human condition.
The basic plot is about a tabloid journalist named Marcello (played by Marcello Mastroianni ) He is a man on a tightrope--trying to maintain a balance between covering the rich and successful "beautiful people" of high-flying Roman society and not being blown off his perch by the temptations such a life offers a handsome and vigorous man. He is not a Roman by birth; like Fellini himself, he comes from a provincial part of Italy and he is a product of an ordinary middle-class life. He also maintains a connection to high culture, represented by his friendship with the intellectual older man, Professor Steiner.
Marcello admires Steiner and his conventional life as a college professor, but is It the life he really wants to emulate?
His reportage dwells on the intellectual void of jet-setting celebrities and aristocrats. It is that life--the sweet life of a metropolitan, jet-setting party-hounds and the "paparazzi" that follow and prey on their foibles and tragedies --that draws Marcello further and further away from his real talents. His love of quick and fast sensations erode his dreams of achieving his serious goals.
Here's one of the most famous scenes in the film--Marcello is out on a sort-of-date with a movie sex goddess, played by Anita Ekberg. He is drawn to her, but she is in a world all her own.
The soundtrack from the master composer Nino Rota:
ReplyDeleteWhat a headache! She reminds me of my spoiled, younger sister...in a world of her own.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe I've never seen this famous movie, and what you write about it is a profound statement for those of us chasing moonbeams a lot of our lives and feeling so empty. And yet the practical, the mundane, is often a boring hell of waking up and quietly screaming. Do you feel sometimes that you're living out life in a coffin? Or is it just me?
It's you, me and a whole lot of people, Red. A great degree of what attracts me to this magnificent movie is the contrast between that mundane life most of us have to live in, and the dreams we have of something more glamourous and simulating to mind, feelings and soul.
ReplyDeleteShe reminds me of a spoiled rich girl I tried to date in college. I was transfixed by her, even though she wasn't Anita Ekberg, she was pretty enough. And did I mention she was spoiled as all hell? :-)
ReplyDeleteI now pity the poor guy who wound up with her.
Hahaha. My sis is married to a Jewish mold specialist who both pampers her whims and adores her. I couldn't believe it when they were dating, as she's so awful. But she's physically quite pretty and more the Germanic blonde bimbo looking opportunist than her older sister with the genes of a slightly standoffish Celt with a tendency to brood. No doubt she's more fun to be with. But what a headache, especially on the wallet.
ReplyDeleteSounds like your sister might be, as we say in America, the "high maintenance" type. ;-)
ReplyDeleteNo, no, my younger sis, the baby of the family who basically lived out the good life when all the rest of us left home and the parents had money to burn.
ReplyDeleteI grew up with her for several years though, and she is VERY high maintenance! But, having seen her in action (with my mouth wide open), I'd have to admit that the men never appear to mind her 'taking them to the cleaners', so to speak, at all. I'm cynical about this, yes. It's a physical thing, mind you, as I also believe she's had a few things altered. I never grew like that anyway...hahaha.
I haven't seen this film Doug, so thanks for the introduction. I am aware of the work of Fellini from my youth, but I have never seen any of his films. This exposé of the the vacuous world of celebrities speaks to us today more than ever I think. It was interesting to see the Trevi fountain when it is not surrounded by hundreds of people (which on the occasions I have seen it, it has always been) thereby preventing me from taking a dip. I will try going there in the dead of night in future, good tip thanks Doug (and Federico).
ReplyDeleteI had not seen the movie either I will see if I can find so I can come back and make a more informed response
ReplyDeleteOuch, sorry Red--one more sterling example of how life is too often unfair.
ReplyDeleteThe youngest sometimes gets the better deal. (I'm an only child, for better and worse, but I've seen this in a couple families I grew up with and keep contact. I never had any...uh, augmentation myself. I know guys, myself included way back when, can be remarkably superficial and profligate when it comes to women of a certain physical type---especially when were younger...or in middle-age... or really, really old.
Exactly AA! The Cult of Vacuous Celebrities that hit the Western World like a tidal wide is given a through analysis at the Creation, so to speak, by Fellini--one more reason for this film's longevity in the zeitgeist.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to your future blog covering a Mid-Summer Night's swim in the Trevi Fountain. Hopefully the New Duce and First Satyr of Italy, Sylvia Burlosconi, and his entourage won't be cavorting in the cascading water that same night.
I look forward to your takes on the movie, Fred. The movie is available on a very DVD from Criterion. (You might even be able to see it for free; I rented one for my last viewing from the local library, and I understand you might have some connections in that field ;-)
ReplyDeleteIt's one of most visually engrossing films I've ever seen, and I'm not just talking about Anouk Aimee and Miss Ekberg.
Here's a bit of recent material from the BBC to go along the film's legacy, and the famous Trevi Fountain clip
ReplyDeletehttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7925032.stm
A truly magnificent film - and a sound analysis of same, Doug -- especially your later comment, "...The Cult of Vacuous Celebrities that hit the Western World like a tidal wide is given a through analysis at the Creation, so to speak, by Fellini--one more reason for this film's longevity in the zeitgeist...."
ReplyDeleteWhat is past is prologue....
True Astra,very true.
ReplyDeleteWere Fellini alive today, he would probably be amused--and perhaps disgusted--by the Tabloid Culture and the dumbing down of societies across the world. It's no wonder some states elect movie actors to be their governors. (Not that I'm pointing fingers toward Sacramento or anything ;-)
LOL!!!!
ReplyDeleteYes, I have to agree with all of it....
Ah the gay abandon of splashing about in a fountain. I'd like to add, watching someone else splash about in the water. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI love Fellini's films and Dolcie Vita was great to watch. I really do like French films, they have so much atmosphere.
Thank you Doug.
Yes, I agree gay abandon is better watched from the sidelines. I gather it was very cold in the fountain when they shot that scene, but somehow Miss Ekberg required none of the alcoholic imbibing that her leading man needed. A tribute perhaps to her Scandinavian blood and constitution?
ReplyDeleteYes, Fellini's work is so often great and this one is not his only masterpiece.
And France has produced some great directors. I'm only going to mention the one s that come to mind. Jean Renoir with "Rules of the Game" (1939). Sad and brilliant about the end of a way of life.
And of course Francois Truffaut with several movies. There is a atmosphere in his work that I've not seen replicated in American or British films, a quality of place and time that enriches the narrative. Jean-Pierre Jeunet's "Amelie" and "A Very Long Engagement" had those qualities in very different subject matter, as did the clever animated film about American mobsters and French bicycle racing in the 1950's, "The Triplets of Deauville".
Always glad to touch bases with another Fellini fan. Thanks Cassandra.
Yes, those directors you mentioned have made great films. We use to watch them at the club and because the French language was so hard to keep up with, unless one was fluent, the only clue we had to the real plot was the talk given at the beginning by the guy running it. I'm not sure if my interpretation added or subtracted from the plot, but the atmosphere was always excellent.
ReplyDeleteThere is a little French film about a man and his dog and I can't find it anywhere because I don't know the name. I'll simply have to keep looking. It was suppose to be a classic, so it should be easy ......sigh.
Thank you, Doug