La Dolce Vita is a cult Italian movie released
in 1960 and directed by the famous director, Federico Fellini. It basically
follows the stories that unfold in a week in the life of famous gossip
journalist in Rome, showing us the aristocratic life in Rome in the 60s. The
main character, the paparazzi, is Marcello (played by Marcello Mastroianni)
that has the same name with the actor who plays him. Marcello is a really
handsome and a cool man that knows almost everyone in high society in Rome. The
film shows us the ‘sweet life’ in Rome, as the title suggests, with all its
colorfulness, the aristocracy, the cabarets, models, second-rate movie stars,
homosexuals.. It shows this sweet night life and the characters in a neutral
way, and does not judge them about their character. The film is formed of 7
sequences, or stories. Marcello usually acts as an observer and lets his fate
determined randomly, always seduced by others to spend the night with them.
The other two main characters in the movie are
Sylvia and Maddalena played by Anita Ekberg and Anouk Aimee respectively.
Sylvia is a famous, seductive and a very beautiful Swedish-American actress
which visits Rome. Fellini’s choice of giving this part to Anita Ekberg is
significant since the character Sylvia is basically Anita Ekberg herself, the
famous Swedish model, actress and a sex symbol back in her time. Many critics
state that although the acting skills of Anita Ekberg are not exceptional,
nobody could play her better than herself. Maddalena, on the other hand, is a
beautiful and a very rich heiress who is bored of her life and is in the search
of new adventures.
La Dolce Vita is a very famous film that is
regarded as a masterpiece. It has been interpreted in many ways and is open to
many different interpretations since it is deep and metaphorical in many
aspects. I thought of it as Marcello’s learning about life and his journey to
his inner self, as he spends time with many different types of people from the
Roman society. The film is also satirical in my opinion, and criticizes the
life of Roman aristocracy. In my opinion Marcello is in search for happiness
and on his way observes the different choices of life paths with the help of
different characters like Steiner (Alain Cuny) and is passive most of the time
although he is the main character. He is in my opinion trying to find ‘his
own’ sweet life while on the way being
seduced by different life styles. In the movie, he lives a life which most
people would envy, a life in which he has everything he wants and does not have
to do much for it. He is basically free all the time; his job is to spend time
among aristocracy and other members of high society. He has money, and there
are always women around him. Yet he feels like he is wandering aimlessly and
wasting his time. He does not know what
he wants exactly, does not know what to devote himself for and he is not sure
about his passions. He doesn’t want to continue wandering aimlessly yet he
doesn’t want to marry and settle down and continue his life in a cage neither.
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