La Dolce Vita
classified 12A SPlease note: This was screened in Jan 2020
Celebrate the centenary of Italian filmmaking legend Federico Fellini with this stunning restoration of his celebrated opus – an exquisite tale of celebrity set in and around the glitterati of 1960’s Rome.
Set over seven decadent days, the film follows philandering tabloid gossip columnist (the outstanding Marcello Mastroianni) as he does the rounds in Rome's shallow society circles – by day jostling with the paparazzi in the hunt for movie stars, by night indulging his passion for intellectual pretension and the indolent delights of the jet set. Pursuing a happiness that’s always just out of reach, he begins to question the worth of his decadent life, but ultimately finds it impossible to break away.
Back in 1960 this Cannes-winning satire put Italian cinema firmly on the world stage with its tale of hedonistic excess, and Fellini’s biggest hit rocketed him to international mainstream success—ironically given his film offers such a damning critique of the culture of stardom. A prescient glimpse of just how gossip and fame-obsessed our society would become (the term ‘paparazzi’, for instance, originates from the film), its unforgettable encounters such as Anita Ekberg in Rome's Trevi fountain continue to provide some of cinema’s most indelible images.
View the British Board of Film Certification’s Ratings info for this film