733 La dolce vita

[aox]

I somehow have never seen this (one of my more visible canonical blindspots), so I am looking forward to rectifying that in s-t-y-l-e this fall!

You lucky stiff.

Anytime Fellini steps into the Collection is a welcome treat. But this is like eating the whole god damn cake.

Absolutely agreed. But I wish they could pull Cabiria back for a BD.

[Lowry_Sam]

But this is like eating the whole god damn cake.

If he has a 105U9500 to view it on, otherwise I'd say the home-viewing experience is more equivalent to a half dozen fresh canolis.

But I wish they could pull Cabiria back for a BD.

....or a Trilogy of Loneliness box that also includes Il Bidone & La Strada, but not all 3 have been restored yet. Roma/Satyricon is probably up next.

[manicsounds]

Well, I can get rid of the Koch-Lorber Special Edition DVD with the awful yellow subtitles now. (I had to watch the movie with the TV color turned all the way to black and white.) Very glad the rights were finally sorted out. Probably my favorite Fellini, tied with 8 1/2.
(And no, I still haven't watched "Nights Of Cabiria"!)

[ShellOilJunior]

For me this film is a near 3-hour sprint. I make sure I'm well-rested going in. I saw the restoration print a few years ago and was floored. It's immaculate.

[Numero Trois]

While La Dolce Vita unfortunately falls into the latter category,

I remember feeling distinctly underwhelmed in my one and only time viewing it some years back. This was right after a time where it had been unavailable for several years. There should be a word for that disconcerting feeling one gets after anticipating something for several years only to find it doesn't hold up. Thankfully my consternation with it wasn't as pronounced as with another "legendary" film, Jules & Jim.

[Michael Kerpan]

Saw this in high school and really disliked it (dspite liking all sorts of "arty" films). I suspect I am just sort of allergic to Fellini.

[swo17]

I pretty much love every Fellini film from this period...except for this one. But like, say, The Wizard of Oz, I can't imagine not having a copy of it in my collection.

[domino harvey]

I've seen all the other "big" Fellini films but this and I guess he's just one of those directors I don't get-- I haven't really liked any of them, though I thought La strada and Amarcord were okay. Maybe this will be the one to win me over. Or not!

[manicsounds]

I'm surprised by the number of comments of people who "don't get" Fellini, I always assumed much of this board were Fellini fans...

I won't go defending this film, since first it's been 10 years since I last saw this movie, and like with most Fellini films, it's hard to describe what it is after watching it. Anyway, La Dolce Vita is definitely his most iconic movie, with the fountain scene, the flying statue, the beach, etc.

I recommend people who are not big on Fellini to watch Fellini's adaptation of "Toby Dammit" with Terence Stamp, since it's only 40 minutes long and won't take up too much of your time.

[Feego]

I have seen four Fellini movies (this, 8 1/2, La Strada, and Nights of Cabiria). 8 1/2 was among the first foreign films and art films I ever saw, back when I was in high school, and I always loved it, though I haven't watched it in probably ten years (must revisit it soon). I saw La Strada many years ago but don't remember much about it. Cabiria was more recent, and I thought it was magnificent. I have seen La Dolce Vita at least twice, maybe three times, and I have never "gotten" what makes it so special. I don't dislike it, but it just never overwhelms me either. The party scene with Anita Ekberg that culminates with her iconic dancing in the fountain is magical, but I have just never seen the masterpiece that so many others see. But I still have the big special edition from Koch Lorber and will definitely grab the Criterion blu at some point. It's just "one of those films."

EDIT: After reading manicsounds' post above, I remembered that I have also seen "Toby Dammit." I really didn't care for it, nor for the other two segments of Spirits of the Dead.

[warren oates]

At the same time that you can say it's his most iconic film it's also maybe the most well-known work of his that's the least representative of what it is people mean when they say something's Felliniesque. In some ways La Dolce Vita is more important as a kind of forerunner of a number of international art house filmmaking trends and templates and has more in common with Antonioni's use of urban landscapes or Altman's ensemble narratives. I might have agreed with the dissenters after my first viewing of this, but it's now easily my favorite Fellini film, probably for exactly these reasons.

[scotty2]

There are so many iconic images in this film right from the start. The Roman Campagna had been the visual focus of landscape painters for centuries with its romantic ruins and aqueducts. He opens with the traditional view of an aqueduct but this time with a helicopter cutting through the pastoral scene. Striking enough, but then we see what the chopper carries, and we understand that this is a film about a culture in the midst of great and rapid change. It is perhaps especially hard for Americans to grasp how dramatically and quickly Italy modernized (with the help of major foreign funds) after the war, and it shook the culture deeply. So deeply that artistic responses to these changes led not only to this film and the 60s work of Antonioni but on to Pasolini's Salo (a critique of Italy's new culture of consumption, among many other things of course). The reception of the film within Italy was symptomatic of the cultural conflict, a point made so well by Pietro Germi in Divorce Italian Style which uses La dolce vita memorably (both films starring Mastroianni--what fun).

In many ways Marcello is another Fellini spiritual striver. The fascination with modernity that La dolce vita inspired even in those who mourned the passing of tradition is the central concern of the film itself. The old ways are attractive to Cabiria and Marcello in their respective films, but actually making sense of them in a modern context flummoxes both, as it does Fellini, we can guess, judging by the way his career turned after this film. Marcello seeks innocence that can never be attained--the young girl at the cafe being the obvious symbol for this. While the film ends on those remarkable moments at the beach, for me the visit to the villa in the dark is the most significant scene in the film. The characters act as though they come from the times of the villa's building. Like ghosts they make their way through its reaches, but of course they show themselves to be very much of their own moment, and afterward Marcello is never the same.

I could ramble on for much longer but the film is a trip well worth taking. Seeing it in 35 mm a few years ago more than sealed the deal for me. Of all the films I have thought would make great Criterions, this is the one whose absence I've most keenly felt over the years. I imagine the CC folks felt that way too (though I'm sure they mourn Grand Illusion and some others they've loved and lost).

[Mr Sausage]

I quite like Fellini, indulgent Fellini especially (Juliet of the Spirits is a top ten film). But I did wonder while watching this one if its power isn't too dependent its time in history. It might be something of a period-piece now. I look forward to finding out since it's been seven or eight years at least since my last viewing. But I remember its vision of indulgence and dissolution seemed quaint. I don't know if a yearning for the connections of tradition and the salvation of innocence speaks to me with any urgency, especially because I'm aware of how illusory those things always were. But, again, I might find this a whole different film the next time I watch it. First day purchase for me.

[Dylan]

I'm surprised by the number of comments of people who "don't get" Fellini, I always assumed much of this board were Fellini fans...

I've actually noticed a steady decline of interest in Fellini for the past several years, not only on this board but in the circles of cinema fans I know/meet in person. As for me, I first encountered most of Fellini's films when I was a sophomore in high school and at the time I simply couldn't imagine any art more rapturous, and my interest has only grown in the years since.

[criterion10]

I thought that my initial lukewarm reaction to Fellini would have been slightly controversial here, though it appears that couldn't farther from the truth.

To be honest, in regards to La Dolce Vita, I barely made to the end of the film. For me personally, I think the film (as well as many of Fellini's in general) would have worked better from a greater sense of narrative cohesion. Sometimes, the loose, whimsical structure of his films can be great, like in the wonderful Amarcord, where he manages to create a colorful, nostalgic portrait of a bygone time and place. Tough often, this structure leaves me rather disjointed and uninterested in the characters and events, like in both Juliet of the Spirits and Satyricon. I won't even begin to talk about something like City of Women, one of his later films which is simply terrible!

Like I said above, some of his films are definitely great. I really do like both Nights of Cabiria and La Strada, which combine his Italian neo-realist roots with the sort of carnivalesque atmosphere one would come to expect in his later films. I think my feelings towards the maestro can be best described by the famous movie theater sequence in Annie Hall.

[Red Screamer]

I'm starting to slowly gain hope that I'm not the only one who prefers Woody Allen's riffs on Fellini to the originals

[criterion10]

I'm starting to slowly gain hope that I'm not the only one who prefers Woody Allen's riffs on Fellini to the originals

I'll take both Stardust Memories and Alice over 8 1/2 and Juliet of the Spirits any day of the week.*

*Even though they are among my least favorite Allen's.

[domino harvey]

Stardust Memories not so much (though more than 8 1/2), but yes please to Alice and Radio Days

[scotty2]

I thought that my initial lukewarm reaction to Fellini would have been slightly controversial here, though it appears that couldn't farther from the truth.

To be honest, in regards to La Dolce Vita, I barely made to the end of the film. For me personally, I think the film (as well as many of Fellini's in general) would have worked better from a greater sense of narrative cohesion. Sometimes, the loose, whimsical structure of his films can be great, like in the wonderful Amarcord, where he manages to create a colorful, nostalgic portrait of a bygone time and place. Tough often, this structure leaves me rather disjointed and uninterested in the characters and events, like in both Juliet of the Spirits and Satyricon. I won't even begin to talk about something like City of Women, one of his later films which is simply terrible!

Like I said above, some of his films are definitely great. I really do like both Nights of Cabiria and La Strada, which combine his Italian neo-realist roots with the sort of carnivalesque atmosphere one would come to expect in his later films. I think my feelings towards the maestro can be best described by the famous movie theater sequence in Annie Hall.

La dolce vita is a carefully structured film. There are eight major sections that function almost as complete episodes. Marcello's character gives the entire journey cohesion as we follow him through each of the sections. The film is indeed long, but it is not without structural coherence. I think there is a feeling around that Fellini just made things up as he went along--most of this comes from our understanding of how 8 1/2 was conceived and developed. I've always felt that La dolce vita is much more closely linked to La Strada, Nights of Cabiria, and Il bidone than it is to 8 1/2 and the dreamscapes that came after.

[Gregory]

I think my feelings towards the maestro can be best described by the famous movie theater sequence in Annie Hall.

I've always felt he was essentially a technical filmmaker. Granted, La Strada was a great film. Great in its use of negative energy more than anything else.

Blech, I think I'm gonna have a stroke too.

[Mr Sausage]

Interesting how this thread is mostly attracting comments of disappointment.

[domino harvey]

Interesting how this thread is mostly attracting comments of disappointment.

It's happened before, sometimes people don't want to be the first to express disappointment with a canonical/popular film/filmmaker on the board and then once a couple do the floodgates open. I have no doubt the positives will outweigh the negatives as things level off, regardless of my lack of enthusiasm with Fellini-- it'd be crazy to not recognize his enduring legacy, especially with this film, so no doubt there will be more defenses as time goes on (and again, I myself may love it!)

[beamish13]

Interesting how this thread is mostly attracting comments of disappointment.

I'm just a bit frustrated that AND THE SHIP SAILS ON and JULIET OF THE SPIRITS haven't gotten the upgrades they desperately need.

[tojoed]

I think Paul Coates summed it up best. He wrote " When identifying the auteur the critic's task should be to distinguish him from a mendacious double: Fellini from "Fellini", Nights of Cabiria from Orchestra Rehearsal.

You can replace Orchestra Rehearsal with La Dolce Vita and it works for me.

[knives]

Interesting how this thread is mostly attracting comments of disappointment.

It's happened before, sometimes people don't want to be the first to express disappointment with a canonical/popular film/filmmaker on the board and then once a couple do the floodgates open. I have no doubt the positives will outweigh the negatives as things level off, regardless of my lack of enthusiasm with Fellini-- it'd be crazy to not recognize his enduring legacy, especially with this film, so no doubt there will be more defenses as time goes on (and again, I myself may love it!)

Possibly. I actually run rather cool (while still enjoying overall) on Fellini, but love this one to death as probably the most enjoyable of its brand of European art cinema. Also for all of the complaints on structure and cohesion the film is actually pretty tightly spun and straight forward. The furthest thing the Fellini of this era could come to from 8 1/2.