La Dolce Vita

La Dolce Vita (1960) is a film directed by Federico Fellini. Usually cited as the film that signals the split between his earlier neo-realist films and his later symbolist period. Lacking traditional plot structure, the film is a series of nights and mornings along the Via Veneto in Rome as seen through the eyes of its main character, a jaded society reporter named Marcello (played by Marcello Mastroianni). Marcello is a man who commits to nothing, as in his dealings with his simple, jealous lover (Yvonne Furneaux), a sophisticated woman (Anouk Aimée) with whom he has an episodic relationship, a beautiful bombshell (Anita Ekberg) whom he follows in her wanderings through Rome (including the notable scene of her night bath in the Fontana di Trevi), and a multitude of other characters that inhabit the Via Veneto. Marcello wants to quit his job as a gossip columnist and become a novelist, but he never seems to be able to concentrate long enough to make any progress on his serious writings.

Related Topics:
1960 - Federico Fellini - Film - Neo-realist - Via Veneto - Rome - Marcello Mastroianni - Yvonne Furneaux - Anouk Aimée - Anita Ekberg - Fontana di Trevi

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In the film's famous opening sequence, Marcello rides in a helicopter carrying a statue of Jesus to the Vatican. Along the way, the helicopter stops to observe a group of women sunbathing on a rooftop. Marcello asks the women for their phone number and they ask him where the statue is being taken. The noisy engine of the helicopter precludes any mutual understanding. This theme of miscommunication replays itself throughout the film.

Related Topics:
Jesus - Vatican

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Among the more famous episodes of La Dolce Vita are the large-scale, Goyesque scene of the false miracle, when two children fake an appearance of the Virgin on the outskirts of Rome, drawing immense crowds, and the episode of Steiner (played by Alain Cuny), an intellectual friend of Marcello with a perfect family life, who ends up murdering his children and committing suicide. After Steiner's death Marcello embarks on an aimless life of orgies, after one of which he walks outside in the early morning to find a dead sea monster on the beach, the symbolic end to the film.

Related Topics:
Goyesque - Virgin - Alain Cuny - Suicide - Orgies

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La Dolce Vita earned the Palme d'Or at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival and the 1961 Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White (designed by art director Piero Gherardi).

Related Topics:
Palme d'Or - Cannes Film Festival - 1961 - Academy Award - Piero Gherardi

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