La Dolce Vita

Some people don’t know what the three hours of La Dolce Vita are about, and yet it’s evident in every elaborate shot, in every sweet sounding Italian line packed with multiple meanings, and in every facial gesture that the bohemian, doomed paparazzo Marcelo Mastroianni conjures up on his charismatic face. A brilliantly constructed and harmonic story, where Fellini manages to turn countless bitterly symbolic scenes into iconic and often quoted moments of world cinema thanks to their visual perfection and universally accessible melodramatic character. The blonde diva bathing in the fountain while the blinded Marcello fetches milk for a stranger's kitten at her request, the hordes of journalists circling the social elite like annoying flies, the abuse of a drunken girl for a humiliating dance and finally the ending itself, when the hero, despite the sea surf and the screams of his companions, does not understand the words of the unspoiled young girl and turns his back on her, facing his moral doom. All of these are wonderful cinematic and unforgettable scenes that of course make for a delightful, or rather, sweet viewing experience. 95% (10/04/2015)

While some scenes and the fates of some of the characters probably appealed to me exactly as they should have, I was rather bored for most of the drawn-out, gigantically overblown runtime. Not enough to keep me from making it to the end, but still enough. I will gladly give La dolce vita another chance, because it definitely needs it, but I won't be in a rush to do it.__P.S. Beautiful music by Rota. (07/17/2011)

La Dolce Vita is not a film for everyone. It is a three-hour long portrait of the era and life of the high society. And it is of course quite good at that. It features certain scenes and musical themes that influenced the entire film industry, and have not grown old in decades. Some moments are a real pleasure to watch. But it’s still not enough for me to give it more than three stars. I understand that the message lies in the atmosphere of the times, but the filmmaking craft is not enough when the film lacks a soul and a story that would draw me in. Here I just watch people I don’t care about wasting their lives. They are of course unaware of it, and that’s why the film is called the way it is. (01/14/2020)

Sweet, but impenetrable. Just as Fellini can captivate and almost carry away in some dialogues, he can equally thoroughly bore in this demanding three-hour film. Mastroianni plays the bohemian to the fullest, but his Marcello lacks the necessary character weight that such a presence deserves. However, what disappoints me the most is the change from intimate drama to heavy criticism, which makes the whole film disintegrate into several parts that more or less cease to relate to each other. So, I remain somewhat at a loss in my evaluation. I can feel the power that this film can offer, which only a good film can provide, but it couldn't fully reach me. (05/01/2006)

For centuries, people lived with the idea that their ruling and wealthy elites were somehow inherently better, more noble, and more skillful than the common folks, and this view was not changed by occasional revolts and revolutions, including the most famous French Revolution with the motto "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity." Until World War I, the usual concern was how many poor maids and servants were needed in court to balance the testimony of one respected property owner, and whether it was even possible to allow property-less people to vote. World War I and the Great Depression embarrassed the elites so much that the opposite opinion soon spread, which automatically depicts a member of the wealthy class as a parasitic libertine, and it is precisely on this wave that Fellini's La Dolce Vita rides. His film hero Marcello, although not a bad person at heart, repeatedly succumbs to the seduction of the decadent and lewd lifestyle of post-war Italy's pop-cultural and wealthy elites. I disagree with Fellini's one-sided perspective, but that is not a reason for me to have such a detached relationship with the film that I express it with just 2 stars. As time goes by, I generally understand Fellini less and have major reservations about his inability to edit and get to the point. Where you can express the same thing with a two-hour film, there is no reason to watch an extra hour of material just because the director suffers from a lack of restraint. All those frills, digressions, all those scenes that are just there because Fellini fancied it in some movement of his mind reliably ruin my impression of the film. When a film bores you, the best reputation and a handful of festival awards are useless. Overall impression: 45%. (12/26/2014)