Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960)

La Dolce Vita is another classic film celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

A few weeks ago, Oct 30, 2010 to be precise, Fellini's film had a special anniversary screening at a Rome film fest where American director Martin Scorsese appeared in-person to introduce the film. It's been restored once again with 10 additional minutes of footage, most likely trims to shorten the film. (Read the report from the Associated Press) This is indeed intriguing. I'm assuming a new DVD will be released in the future with this footage.

My first viewing of this film was in a film appreciation course taught by Constance Markey who co-authored the 1978 book, "Federico Fellni: A Guide to References and Resources". For further insight, I like Roger Ebert's 1997 review of this movie, published just a few days after the passing of Marcello Mastrioanni in December 1996. Ebert said how he saw this movie at several points in his life; each time he saw something different about the main character. ¹ His essay helped me understand this movie, and I will be referencing it a few times in this post.

A NEW KIND OF CINEMA

Phillip French, writing in The Observer a few years ago, wrote that Fellini ²

"introduced a new kind of cinema appropriate to a country that had emerged from fascism, the Second World War and post-war poverty to embrace (at least in Rome and the north) a glitzy affluence and a changed set of values that challenged Catholic morality."

Bosley Crowther's review in the New York Times said, ³

"Dignity is transmuted into the sensational. Old values, old disciplines are discarded for the modern, the synthetic, the quick by a society that is past sophistication and is sated with pleasure and itself."

RISE OF TABLOID MEDIA AND MODERNIZATION

Set in Rome in 1959, Marcello Mastroiani plays a tabloid reporter who mingles with high and low society, aristocrats and outcasts, movie stars and peasants. He is a man who observes, and through Marcello and his sidekick photographer, Paparazzo (inspiration for the word "paparazzi") we are introduced to a number of characters.

Fellini had been living in Rome for 10 years - all through the 1950s - and had been observer like Marcello. He saw Italy rise into a more prosperous society after WWII. He would have met characters like we meet in this film, having been around people involved with the media.

It was during this time that a scandal took place in Italy, when in 1954 Italian fashion model Willma Montesi was found dead on a beach and a number of high society people were put in the spotlight. Though there is no direct parallel to the so-called "Montesi Affiar" in La Dolce Vita, there is a fashion model, a high society scandal, and a death on the beach. I'm sure Fellini was somewhat inspired by these events, and I think Italian and European viewers may have drawn the connections as well.

Another Italian scandal was an inspiration for this film. In 1950, Italian writer Cesare Pavese committed suicide at the age of 40. Pavase was schoolmates with Tullio Pinelli, the co-screenwriter of La Dolce Vita. Pinelli wrote the character of "Steiner" with Pavase in mind.

CHANGES IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

This film came out right after the papacy of Pope Pius the 12th, who had been pope for almost 20 years and all through WW2. His death in 1958 marked an end of an era, not just in Rome but worldwide. This was also the era of what is called Vatican II, where new regulations and procedures involving how the masses are said were introduced. For example, in English speaking countries such as America, more Catholic services could now be heard in English, and not Latin, which was a departure from centuries of tradition.

A COMMENT ON SOCIETY

The film has been interpreted to be critical of various society groups - the upper class, the lower class, the media, and the Catholic Church. People didn't like how Rome's society was portrayed, but I think Fellini is commenting on it, and the fact that people are turning away from the church and embracing more of sin. The hedonism portrayed in the film was a bit disturbing for its time, and it still is depressing to see the lead fall from grace, or rather, fall from potential grace.

THE OPENING SCENE

The opening scene establishes the Rome setting and establishes that Marcello is some sort of wild documentarian. The people who are carrying the statue are doing their job moving the sculpture of Christ. The immature ones that Fellini focuses on are Marcello and his crew. What publication they are working for is still a mystery. Fellini only wants us to know that Marcello is a guy who gets around, and he does, especially with the ladies.

In the film, Marcello is "turning away" from Christ (as his helicopter crew wants to flirt with the women) and instead, they turn to womanizing/sin. Sort of sums up the film. At least that is how I took this to mean, and I think it's close to what Fellini is trying to express. I don't think he's mocking Christ or Catholicism, he's just making an observation of what people are doing in Rome, and sadly, the Catholic church is reduced to the sidelines for many people.

At the time, some devout Catholics saw this opening scene as a parody presentation of Christ's second coming and found this to be blasphemous, especially since Fellini intended this movie to be a dark comedy. ⁴ I can understand this sensitivity because I have studied Catholic theology and have spent many years with Catholic people, teachers, and leaders.

Iconic representations are important to many Catholics; it's been a tradition for centuries. While watching the opening sequence, I recalled the enormous 33-foot statue of the Virgin Mary that travelled through Chicago in 1999 and 2000. She was called "Our Lady of the Millennium", and many Catholic churches in Chicago had the statue on their premises for a few weeks at a time. You can see some color photos of this taken by Oscar Mendez See Photos here. (Courtesy of Flickr) I had always wondered how the statue got around, so this sequence sort of answered that for me. To my knowledge, when this film was released in 1960 the Pope did not issue any death threats to Fellini nor any one associated with the film to cause anyone to go into hiding. I mention that because I thought of what would happen If Fellini included anything in the film that could be interpreted to be critical about Islam or showed any representations of Mohammed in the film. The ramifications would be very different.

STYLE AND TECHNIQUE

Allegorical: with this film, Fellini once again succeeds in making us think of the deeper meaning underneath what we are seeing on the screen.

Editing: There are quick jump cuts from one scene to the next without a sense of elapsed time. Because of these startling cuts, the movie lost me at times. Some other directors use this technique and I'm not a big fan of it.

Breaking the fourth wall: One character speaks directly to the camera to us, the viewers.

Other Fellini Films: It might help to have seen La Strada and/or I Vitelloni before watching this film. There's a bit of Zampano (from La Strada) in the Marcello character, and a bit of Fausto (from I Vitelloni).

POP CULTURE REFERENCES

A number of topical inside references may fly over a casual viewer's head. In the famous interview scene with bombshell Sylvia (Anita Eckberg) one of the reporters asks her about what the thinks about "neo-realism", a genre some critics have associated Fellini's early pictures with.

Toward the end of the film, Marcello mentions the young American actor John Barrymore (Drew's father) who actually had something of a buddy career in the late 50s and early 60s (even in Italian films) before he ruined his own life. (I will discuss more about him at the end of the post)

SEVEN DAYS?

It's been written that this film takes place over a period of 7 successive days. Really? I didn't pick up on that when I first watched. To me, it seemed like the film could span a month or even a year.

THE TITLE

For the longest time I kept thinking of how the title fits with the story, and I concluded that it must be the name of the gossip magazine that he works for: "The Sweet Life" Magazine. Well, that's my take at least.

THE SEVEN DEADLY EPISODES?

There are a number of episodes throughout the three hour epic. Some critics have suggested that all seven deadly sins can be found, but I haven't studied the film enough to agree with it. Ebert felt the same way when we wrote about this in his 1997 column. ⁵

SATIRE AND SYLVIA

I love the episode with Sylvia, the Marilyn Monroe-esque movie star. Marcello and Paparrazzo are there to greet her as she steps off the plane. It is interesting Fellini satire. Here we have a blond, buxom Swedish movie star visiting Italy and she's the toast of the town. Italian men loved their blond Swedish women, and I think that's the message of this sequence. I love how Marcello becomes so smitten with Sylvia that he goes out of his way to find some milk for the stray kitten she picks up. That's a classic moment. I think an entire movie could be made from this one episode.

THE SAD LIFE

Other episodes reveal more of Marcello. We are introduced to Marcello's girlfriend, an emotional basketcase, who he later verbally abuses. Then Marcello has a one night stand with a high society woman (Anouk Aimee) who, like him, is a game player. A modern film that reminded me of this sequence is Up In the Air.

We also meet Marcello's father who comes to town to get away from Marcello's mother, and to drink his cares away. In this sequence we learn that Marcello is not close at all with his father and that his family life is a wreck, which says alot I think about why Marcello is the way he is.

THE ANGEL AND MOMENTS OF INSPIRATION

We meet another acquaintance, Steiner (Alain Cuny), who greets Marcello warmly, in a church. This is the only time we see Marcello in a church.

Steiner and invites Marcello to a housewarming gathering and introduces him to his children. Steiner represents someone that Marcello can look up to, and appears to have it all together. Steiner even encourages Marcello to find better work than writing for a gossip magazine, and encourages him to pursue writing a book he's been working on for years.

This encounter with Steiner leads to one of the most interesting scenes in the film. We see Marcello off relaxing at at beach resort working on his book after he's been inspired by Steiner. He meets a young blond girl and calls her an angel, who he sees again later in the film.

THE FALSE VISION

One episode doesn't seem to be as connected to the rest (or is it?) is the one where Marcello and his girlfriend travel to the remote village to cover a supposed miracle that has taken place, a vision of the Blessed Mother (Mary, Jesus' mother).

It's been reported that two children see the vision, and it's Marcello's job to try and figure out what's going on. When we do see the little kids, they are running to and fro and giggling as they proclaim "there she is!" in every possible direction.

It is all a silly set-up, yet a mass of people still believe it. It's like that with almost any "vision". I don't think this sequence is a direct criticism of religion, but rather a criticism of those people who will exploit people's sensibilities, a theme of Elmer Gantry which came out around the same time in America.

Ebert wrote of the vision as "an idealized woman" who represents "the hope that she can solve every problem".⁶

In this sequence, I think there is something to the part where Marcello's girlfriend prays. She wants to believe in something, and something spiritual happens inside of her that causes her to pray that Marcello will propose. Fellini makes this painfully obvious to the viewer that she wants to settle down and start a family. But Marcello is not in the same world. Later in the film, she pleads with him again, but he kicks her out of the car and calls her a whore. It's a really sad and depressing part of the film when this happens. We are left to assume that Marcello's girlfriend has given up on life - and prayer - too.

THE SEA CREATURE (DEMON?) AND MARCELLO'S DARK DESCEND

Marcello's world is shattered when one of his friends commits suicide. He has given up on writing and has become a seedy publicity agent who begins to hang around a group of pleasure seekers, leading to a life of lasciviousness.

One day a large sea creature washes up on the shore, and Marcello and his entourage go to check it out. If you didn't know from mythology or theology that a leviathan represent the demonic, this sequence might not make as much sense. It's also interesting that Fellini ends the movie on the beach, just as he did in La Strada. In a way, it's almost the same ending. The leviathan washing up on the shore represents the lowest point in Marcello's life. The angel he sees at the end represents his only link to hope, to salvation, a second chance, which he turns away from.

Ebert wrote that he felt the opening and closing scenes are symmetrical, and the two main objects are meant to be symbols: ⁷

"the statue "beautiful'' but false, the fish "ugly'' but real. During both scenes there are failures of communication. The helicopter circles as Marcello tries to get the phone numbers of three sunbathing beauties. At the end, across a beach, he sees the [angelic] girl...[yet] he does not remember, shrugs, and turns away."

FINAL THOUGHTS ABOUT MARCELLO, JOHN DREW BARRYMORE, AND ZAMPANO

I am reminded once again of what happened to John Drew Barrymore, who is mentioned by Marcello near the end of the film, remarkably. Barrymore had all kinds of drug, alcohol, and domestic abuse problems before he became homeless and died without a pot to pee in. I see the Marcello character suffering a similar fate. At the end, he really looks like he could be dead in a few years. Of drugs. Of disease. Of suicide. I think Fellini is trying to tell us that there's nothing we can do for him. He ends up like a dog, just as his girlfriend predicted.

Ebert called this film "a cautionary tale of a man without a center". ⁸ I agree with that. It made me think again about La Strada and Zampano at the end. I wondered if he killed himself after the last scene. He could have, rather than living with the guilt and emotional torment.

La Dolce Vita is a prophetic film, in more ways than one. It's a unique work of art that could be be studied and analyzed for years to come.

The church where Marcello meets Steiner is the San Giovanni Bosco in the Tuscolano suburb.
It was built in 1957-58 in a monumental style of the Fascist period.

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References:

1. Roger Ebert. "The Great Movies: La Dolce Vita". Chicago Sun-Times. January 5, 1997

2. Philip French. “Italian Cinema’s Sweet Success”. The Observer. 17 Feb 2008.

3. Bosley Crowther. "La Dolce Vita: Fellini Film Lives Up To Foreign Hurrahs". The New York Times. April 20, 1961.

4. French.

5. Ebert

6. ibid.

7. ibid.

8. ibid.

Additional Reserarch:

Richard Wrigley. Cinematic Rome. Troubador Publishing. 2008.

Gregory D. Black. The Catholic Crusade Against the Movies, 1975. Cambridge University Press. 1998.

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Note: this post has been submitted to a special series of posts devoted to understanding Catholicism at Jackie's blog My Mother Wears Combat Boots. The series is called Catholicism 101 and if you are interested in Catholicism you can check out more here: http://2jackies.blogspot.com/2010/12/catholicism-101.html