La Dolce Vita: Balance in Living the Good Life
It was the late 1940s, Italy was a country in need of a rebuild after World War II. Cities were in ruins, poverty was rampant especially in the southern regions and people were moving up to the northern regions in order to find jobs. The film industry was affected as well with the destruction of the Cinecitta, causing filmmakers to shoot in the streets instead and gave rise to Italian Neorealism — contemporary films that focused on the difficulties and realities of the poor and working class post-war using non-professional actors. Some famous examples were Rome, Open City (Roberto Rossellini, 1945) and Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, 1948). By the mid-to-late 50s, Italy would experience an “Economic Miracle” due to aid from the U.S such as the Marshall Plan and the European Economic Community (now the European Union) would help boost the country and rebuild its industries. With the rapid growth of the country constantly improving every year, neorealism was on the decline as people were no longer interested in seeing the bleaker themes of the style and were more into optimistic ideas.
With that, neorealism changed its focus from the realities of life to the condition of human nature and by 1960, Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita would give a glimpse of what Fellini interpreted Rome to be in the 60s. Following the life and adventures of a tabloid reporter Marcello Rubini (Marcello Mastroianni) in different periods of time in a very carnal and hedonistic Rome at the height of its economic growth. The film would garner controversy from the conservative crowd and later be condemned by the Vatican for its immoral themes which at the time were unheard of in movies.
Marcello Rubini is an aspiring journalist who is a constant presence in any event involving scandals, celebrity parties and whatever big news there is in the cities. Throughout the movie we see Marcello more often be a spectator in various big events and socialite parties. Though he’s a tabloid reporter, he almost never does any of it and is rather just a witness. Movie also shows his interactions with people around Rome and the lessons he learns throughout.
One major talking point the movie brings is the reality of a life full of debauchery and fun in Rome is nothing more than empty and hollow. Unique thing about the movie is that it’s divided into different episodes each involving Marcello with his different individuals and how they are living their lives. Episode 1 has Marcello spend a night with Maddalena (Anouk Aimee), a woman who’s tired of Rome and is longing for something new to excite her. Episode 2 has Marcello spend the night in Rome’s streets with an American actress, Slyvia (Anita Ekberg), whom Marcello seems to be in love with as well. Unlike Maddalena, Slyvia is more innocent, curious about the outside world that’s been shielded from her with all the glitz and glamor.
Marcello also has a fiancee named Emma (Yvonne Furneaux)who loves Marcello very much and tries what she can to convince him that other women won’t love him as much as she does. Despite this, Marcello loves other women like Maddalena, even wanting to marry her in Episode 6 which causes a fight with him and Emma.
Two other characters the movie has doesn’t only show how lacking the extravagant life is but also questions what truly gives life meaning and purpose. One of them is Steiner (Alain Cuny), one of Marcello’s wealthy friends and Marcello’s father, who’s arrived to Rome to visit his son and spends a night living like everyone else in Rome.
“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, La Dolce Vita (1960)
Steiner has it all: a loving family, wealth and wealthy friends but inside him he hasn’t found peace. One could see this as Marcello’s potential future really. Rather than limiting himself to his ambition of becoming a journalist, he’s given advice by one of Steiner’s friends to live life to the fullest everyday, do whatever he so desires. A look at Steiner and it’s rather sad. He has a recording of nature sounds that he plays rather than listening to it outside probably because all he can hear outside are horns and other city sounds. Steiner’s episode is one of the more pivotal ones in the movie as it does a good summarization of the realities of living excessively; Steiner’s empty inside, though materially having everything yet still missing something.
One of the more personal episodes, Marcello’s father arrives to Rome to visit his son whom he has neither seen nor heard from in a long time. He’s only going to be there overnight so he spends the night with Marcello and friends in a bar as a taste of what it’s like to live in Rome. Spending time with his son brings the joy and youth out of him, yet after spending a night with one of Marcello’s lady friends, his health deteriorates and the reality of life comes back to him. Similar to Fellini’s own relationship with his father, Marcello didn’t spend enough time with his dad and when he left to go back home with his mother, Marcello wished he had more time for his dad.
While a majority of the movie involves Marcello and the hedonistic upper-class, it also shows the more religious side of city to which is portrayed in a more carefree and at the same time chaotic manner. The opening shot of the film has a statue of Jesus being carried via helicopter from the desert to the Vatican with Marcello and the press following and the people just noticing and going back to doing whatever they’re doing. Interestingly it could be seen as what Fellini saw religion was at the time and what it could look like if Jesus came back to Earth at that time period; he would return to a more advanced civilization and would be swarmed by masses of people.
On the extreme side of things, Episode 4 talks about these children who believed to have seen Mary in some part in the wilderness and people are livid and terrifyingly anxious to see her as well through these children. Some part of the desert is full of hundreds of press, police and religious folk. Long story short, chaos ensues and there are a few casualties as the constant search for Mary causes a stampede.
One of the more famous things to come out of La Dolce Vita is the adaptation of the term Paparazzi into society as what people who take photos of famous people are called. In the movie, one of the photographers Marcello works with is named Paparazzo. About those photographers Marcello is normally with, they’re like a swarm of flies that would do and say anything just to take a picture and get coverage of the current major news whether it be celebrity scandals or societal chaos. It’s noticeable in the film how their presence in supposedly emotional moments can disrupt the emotion and on purpose, cause irritation not only for the person being taken a photo of but also for the viewing audience.
The movie also has an interlude with Marcello at a restaurant attempting to write but failing.
There he meets Paula, a young lady who doesn’t seem to be in much other than be the waitress. She only appears in the interlude and at the end of Episode 7 with Marcello saying goodbye to her. She could be a representation of innocence and purity given how she’s presented in the movie.
Maybe it’s not “A Sweet Life” after all. As fun as living in Rome was, it leaves people empty, confused and without peace in their lives. Maybe there is a balance to all that, a fine line between living for the day and living for tomorrow, where rather than waking up feeling meaningless, that there is more to live for. Steiner didn’t seem to find it, looks like he tried but he just couldn’t find that “something”. As enticing the bright lights are, reality shines brightest and hits the hardest, as seen with Marcello’s father. It’s there, that balance, though different between everyone else.
Given the film’s controversy and reaction it’s gotten from the conservative crowd and even because of such controversy, more people went on to see the movie at its release. It would go on to earn $19,500,000 in USA and 2,200,000,000 Italian Lica and be nominated for Best Screenplay Written and Best Director (Fellini) at the 34th Academy Awards and win the Palme d’Or at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival.
La Dolce Vita is a tale of Rome in the midst of the economic boom and it leaves its viewers with a questions. Autobiographical at times, it’s Fellini’s view of Italy in the 1960s, flourishing in economic wealth but also tragic in its deprivation of any moral sense. With its amazing, unorthodox storytelling and use of themes of desire, it’s a masterpiece of that would be ranked as one of his best, not only from a technical standpoint but also as an important piece of art that everyone should watch.
