Guest:
Peterson W. Hill - Co-Host of the War Starts at Midnight podcast
@petersonwhill on IG, Letterboxd, and Twitter
Previous Guest on Gone Girl (2014), Parasite (2019), Fight Club (1999), Ben-Hur (1959), Up in the Air (2009), The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Cast:
Frederico Fellini, Writer/Director
Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli, Brunello Rondi, and Pier Paolo Pasolini, Writers
Nino Rota, Music
Otello Martelli, Cinematography
Marcello Mastroianni as Marcello Rubini
Anita Ekberg as Sylvia Rank
Anouk Aimée as Maddalena
Yvonne Furneaux as Emma
Lex Barker as Robert
Magali Noël as Fanny
Alain Cuny as Steiner
Nadia Gray as Nadia
Jacques Sernas as Divo
Laura Betti as Laura
Walter Santesso as Paparazzo
Valeria Ciangottini as Paola
Riccardo Garrone as Riccardo
Annibale Ninchi as Marcello's father
Ida Galli as Debutante of the Year
Audrey McDonald as Jane
*Recognition:
La Dolce Vita (The Sweet Life) was released on February 5, 1960.
Despite its censorship by the Catholic Church, the film was a smash hit across Europe becoming the 2nd biggest film in Italy that year, the highest grossing foreign language film in North America, and one of the most viewed foreign language films of the 1960s.
La Dolce Vita was critically praised by American and European critics alike.
It also earned the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival.
The film would be nominated for four Academy Awards for Best Director (Fellini), Original Screenplay (Fellini, Pinelli, Flaiano, Rondi), Art Direction - Black and White, and Costume Design - Black and White (Won).
Entertainment Weekly voted it the 6th Greatest film of all time in 1999.
The Village Voice ranked the film at number 112 in its Top 250 "Best Films of the Century" list in 1999, based on a poll of critics.
The film was included in "The New York Times Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made" in 2002.
In 2010, the film was ranked #11 in Empire magazine's "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema".
In the British Film Institute's 2002 Sight & Sound polls of the greatest films ever made, La dolce vita ranked 24th in critics' poll and 14th in directors' poll. In the 2012 version of the list La dolce vita ranked 39th in critics' poll and 37th in directors' poll.
In January 2002, the film was voted at No. 28 on the list of the "Top 100 Essential Films of All Time" by the National Society of Film Critics.
The film was Voted at No. 59 on the list of "100 Greatest Films" by the prominent French magazine Cahiers du cinéma in 2008.
In 2007, the film was ranked at No. 19 by The Guardian's readers poll on the list of "40 greatest foreign films of all time".
In 2010, The Guardian ranked the film 23rd in its list of 25 greatest arthouse films.
In 2016, The Hollywood Reporter ranked the film 2nd among 69 counted winners of the Palme d'Or to date, behind only The Leopard (1963). Taxi Driver (1976) and Blow-Up (1966) were 3rd and 4th.
The film ranked 10th in BBC's 2018 list of The 100 greatest foreign language films voted by 209 film critics from 43 countries around the world.
In 2021, the film was ranked at No. 6 on Time Out magazine's list of The 100 best movies of all time.
La Dolce Vita currently holds a 95% among critics on RT, a 95 score on Metacritic, and a 4.3/5 on Letterboxd.
Plot Summary: Set against the glamorous backdrop of Rome in the 1950s, La Dolce Vita follows Marcello Rubini, a jaded journalist, as he drifts through a series of decadent encounters over seven days and nights.
Torn between the shallow allure of celebrity culture and his yearning for deeper meaning, Marcello is drawn into the chaotic lives of socialites, artists, and film stars. As he navigates lavish parties, fleeting romances, and existential crises, the film explores themes of decadence, disillusionment, and the search for purpose in a world consumed by hedonism. The film’s iconic imagery, including Anita Ekberg's midnight wade in the Trevi Fountain, cements its status as a cinematic masterpiece and a poignant reflection on modern life.
Did You Know:
The famous scene in the Trevi Fountain was shot over a week in March, when nights were still cold. According to Federico Fellini (in an interview with Costanzo Costantini), Anita Ekberg stood in the cold water in her dress for hours with no trouble. Marcello Mastroianni, on the other hand, had to wear a wetsuit beneath his clothes, and even that wasn't enough. Still freezing, he downed an entire bottle of vodka, so he was completely drunk while shooting the scene.
The film contributed the term "paparazzo" to the language. The term derives from Marcello's photographer friend Paparazzo. It seems that term "paparazzo" was coined by Federico Fellini himself. Paparazzo means "sparrow" in one Italian dialect (in normal usage the Italian for "sparrow" is "passero"). Fellini explained that the photographers hopping and scurrying around celebrities reminded him of sparrows, and he took the name "Paparazzo", as he explained in a later interview, from the name of someone he met in Calabria (Southern Italy) where Greek names are still common. "Paparazzi" is the plural.
Credit for the creation of Steiner goes to co-screenwriter Tullio Pinelli. Having gone to school with Italian novelist Cesare Pavese, Pinelli had closely followed the writer's career and felt that his over-intellectualism had become emotionally sterile, leading to his suicide in a Turin hotel in 1950. This idea of a "burnt-out existence" is carried over to Steiner in the party episode where the sounds of nature are not to be experienced first-hand by himself and his guests but in the virtual world of tape recordings.
Federico Fellini considered Burt Lancaster for the role of Marcello Rubini, Henry Fonda for the role of Steiner (who turned it down) as well as Walter Pidgeon and Peter Ustinov, and the original producer wanted Paul Newman for Marcello, Maurice Chevallier for Marcello's father, and Barbara Stanwyck for Nadia.
When shooting the famous Fontana di Trevi scene, director Federico Fellini complained that the water in the fountain looked dirty. A representative of Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) present at the shooting was able to supply the film team with some of the airline's green sea dye marker (for use in case of an emergency landing at sea). This was used to color the water, and the director was satisfied.
Best Performance: Frederico Fellini (Director/Writer)/Otello Martelli (Cinematographer)
Best Secondary Performance: Frederico Fellini (Director/Writer)/Nino Rota (Composer)/Marcello Mastroianni (Marcello)
Most Charismatic Award: Marcello Mastroianni (Marcello)/Anita Ekberg (Sylvia)/Otello Martelli (Cinematographer)
Best Scene:
Christ by Helicopter
Night w/ Sylvia
Fake Miracle
Mr. Rubini's Visit
Madallena's Proposal
Steiner's Demise
Beach House Party
Favorite Scene: Fake Miracle/Beach House Party/Mr. Rubini's Visit
Most Indelible Moment: Christ by Helicopter/Trevi Fountain
In Memorium:
Barry Michael Cooper, 66, American screenwriter (New Jack City, Sugar Hill, Above the Rim)
Best Lines/Funniest Lines:
Steiner: Don't be like me. Salvation doesn't lie within four walls. I'm too serious to be a dilettante and too much a dabbler to be a professional. Even the most miserable life is better than a sheltered existence in an organized society where everything is calculated and perfected.
Steiner: [to Emma] The day you understand that you love Marcello more than he does, you'll be happy.
Paparazzo: What do you think you like most in life?
Sylvia: I like lots of things. But there are three things I like most: love, love, and love.
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.
Poetess at Steiner's Party: The three great escapes -- smoking, drinking, bed.
Marcello Rubini: I'm wasting time. I won't manage anything anymore. Once I had ambitions, but maybe I'm losing everything. I forgot everything.
Laura: [to Marcello] Stay free, available, like me. Never get married. Never choose. Even in love, it's better to be chosen.
Poetess at Steiner's Party: We must all think about tomorrow, but without forgetting to live today.
The Stanley Rubric:
Legacy: 7.33
Impact/Significance: 9.17
Novelty: 9.5
Classic-ness: 7.5
Rewatchability: 5.5
Audience Score: 8.4 (78% Google, 90% RT)
Total: 47.4
Remaining Questions:
What happens with Marcello and Emma's relationship?
Does Marcello ever settle down from his wanderlust?
Is Ravioli a light pasta?
How does a film being taught in film school translate for you with how you think about a film and its cultural relevance?
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