What about it does it for you?
For me, LA DOLCE VITA is a great place I like to visit, but 8 1/2 hits me where I live.
And, for that matter, so do LA STRADA and the very-much-needed-to-be-seen-by-everybody JULIET OF THE SPIRITS.
And AMARCORD, but I think you’d have to be dead not to find some love for that movie, no?
You’re behind the curve, Joe. Jason already called shotgun on La Dolce Vita.
Uh, oh. Apologies to Jason then. Didn’t see the thread.
Christopher – It just struck me more on the emotional level, and I loved the ending. But don’t get me wrong, I love 8 1/2 too.
As far as i’ve determined on my own and what i’ve read La Dolce Vita is about how out of reach or hollow the fabulous life he’s looking for is…..hes looking for it in the wrong places to me….or in the wrong people i guess, but all the adventure…..a different kind of adventure…..of experiences….encounters……. it all appeals to the romanticism in me (not the sappy kind)…….i wish i could have that kind of adventure…long nights, could come across anything, romance, freaks poets philosohpers……..sounds unrealistic i guess….. i wish there were nights that take on a life of thier own……hard to come by where i live…….
It reminded me a lot of my younger years hobnobbing with publicists and entertainers in the music and film biz (I was more on the sidelines observing, much like the protagonist in Vita), and coming out of it feeling how all the glamour and glitz doesn’t really feel the voids in our lives. I remember after doing this for several years thinking: God, I’m sure glad I’m not living that life! If I ever had to, I’d be holing myself up in my cabin as long as possible, much like how Malick conducts himself.
One of the few endings that always leaves me absolutely breathless.
I think that only recently has 8 1/2 started to steal some of the thunder away from La Dolce Vita, as La Dolce Vita was universally hailed as a masterpiece from day one. 8 1/2 is a masterpiece as well, its also one of the 10 or 20 best films ever made, and one of Fellini’s 2 best movies; but I still have to defer to La Dolce Vita as his greatest masterwork. I think that Kurosawa and possibly Welles are the only other 2 directors who I would say had 2 films that deserve to be place in the top 10 or 20 films of all time. Fellini could have retired after 8 1/2 and he would still be one of the greats. Films like Amarcord and Roma were just the icing on the cake.
“8 1/2” is generally preferred to “La Dolce Vita” because it represents the birth of the “second period” of Fellini. I love both of these films… how could I choose one among two authentic works-of-art? Let’s not forget “Fellini-Satyricon”… !
I always thought that “La Dolce Vita” was the one getting all the love.
“La Dolce Vita” got tons of attention because it was the irst epic-scaled “art” movie. It captures its own moment perfectly. The absolute zeitgeist of “il Boom” — that moment in the late 50’s/early 60’s when Italy was happening. Especially Rome. Anita Eckberg was cast to re-enact scenes she’d done in real life with then boyfriend Anthony Steel.
I saw it when it was first released in the U.S. back in 1961. It was my first year of high school. I felt like I fell into the screen (and never came out again) in the Bassano di Sutri sequence where Nico takes Marcello to the castle of the aristocrats.
The grand finale is a dark joke about the Montesi scandal — a tabloid news story well-known in Italy but virtually unknown outside of it.
To show the ubiquity of La Dolce Vita in the early 60s, it was name checked in the lyrics of a Bob Dylan song (from Another Side of Bob Dylan, I think). It’s a more outward-looking film than 8 1/2.
I prefer 8 1/2, but La Dolce Vita is very close. It’s certainly one of the must acute films on loneliness and emptiness that I’ve ever seen. There are just so many wonderful scenes and images – the Christ statue over Rome, Steiner and Marcello’s discussion at the party, the fake miracle, the Trevi fountain scene, the ending at the beach, and my personal favorite, the echo chamber sequence. Just perfect. And the cinematography is exquisite.
I remembered picking 8 1/2 for *theauteurs poll, then followed my gut feeling and replaced it with La Dolce Vita in the last minute. Yes, I really like the symbolisms of 8 1/2, but for a Fellini film, the images and relentless passion of La Dolce Vita would be hard to match. Among the many unforgettable scenes I love include the Trevi Fountain, Marcello’s shouting match with her difficult girlfriend, the clown and showgirls at the club, the chaotic, rained-out pilgrimage and Sylvia’s grand arrival at the airport. But my personal favourite was both scenes with Marcello and the young lass, at the sunny beach resort and in the final scene – contrasting images of innocence and decadence. And how often will one see a film that opens with a Jesus statue hanging on a helicopter hovering over Rome, not to mention that huge stinking dead stingray. Great cinematography as well.
Here’s a link to the book about the scandal darkly spoofed by Fellini in the film;s last scene
http://www.amazon.com/Montesi-Scandal-Death-Paparazzi-Fellinis/dp/0226668487
When the revellers go down to the shore at the end everyone in Italy was expecting they would ind the body of a dead party girl. Instead they find a bloated fish.
Here’s my piece on the Paps.
http://www.lacitybeat.com/cms/story/detail/power_of_the_paps/6776/
I like it, but personally I like 8 1/2 a whole lot more. That’s just me though
Lester Burnam
Fellini’s 8 1/2 seems to get all the love, but this one is my personal favorite.