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An epic, breathtakingly stylish cinematic landmark, La Dolce Vita remains riveting in spite of -- or perhaps because of -- its sprawling length.
All Critics (58) | Top Critics (18) | Fresh (56) | Rotten (2) | DVD (5)
Fellini has set out to move us with the depravity of contemporary life and has chosen what seems to me a poor method: cataloging sins. Very soon we find ourselves thinking: Is that all? May 1, 2013 | Full Review…
Fellini has set out to move us with the depravity of contemporary life and has chosen what seems to me a poor method: cataloging sins. Very soon we find ourselves thinking: Is that all?
Stanley Kauffmann
Everything has changed, and nothing has changed. How sour it still is. Jun 1, 2011 | Rating: 5/5 | Full Review…
Everything has changed, and nothing has changed. How sour it still is.
David Fear
Perhaps many spectators will squirm at the three-hour length of the film or of some of its sequences (though director Federico Fellini cut some 30 minutes from his final print), yet others will never notice they've sat that long. May 8, 2007 | Full Review…
Perhaps many spectators will squirm at the three-hour length of the film or of some of its sequences (though director Federico Fellini cut some 30 minutes from his final print), yet others will never notice they've sat that long.
Variety Staff
The film was hugely successful and widely praised in its time, though it's really nothing more than the old C.B. De Mille formula of titillation and moralizing. May 8, 2007 | Full Review…
The film was hugely successful and widely praised in its time, though it's really nothing more than the old C.B. De Mille formula of titillation and moralizing.
Dave Kehr
There are perhaps a couple of party scenes too many, and the peripheral characters can be unconvincing, but the stylish cinematography and Fellini's bizarre, extravagant visuals are absolutely riveting. Jan 26, 2006 | Full Review…
There are perhaps a couple of party scenes too many, and the peripheral characters can be unconvincing, but the stylish cinematography and Fellini's bizarre, extravagant visuals are absolutely riveting.
Everyone has a favorite scene. Dec 27, 2004
Everyone has a favorite scene.
Douglas Pratt
'60s Fellini classic has sex, drinking, suicide. Oct 19, 2016 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…
'60s Fellini classic has sex, drinking, suicide.
Barbara Shulgasser
A lovely Italian palette that questions if we can settle down to a life of struggle without having first lived life at its best. Aug 15, 2011 | Rating: 4/4 | Full Review…
A lovely Italian palette that questions if we can settle down to a life of struggle without having first lived life at its best.
Wesley Lovell
What is happiness within the film's world? Fellini offers no easy answers. Jun 3, 2011 | Rating: 4/4 | Full Review…
What is happiness within the film's world? Fellini offers no easy answers.
Matthew Connolly
Along with his later 8 1/2, La Dolce Vita is regarded as one of acclaimed Italian director Federico Fellini's best-loved and most influential films. The '60s-set tale of one man's struggle with the so-called "sweet life" stars Marcello Mastroi Feb 17, 2010 | Rating: 93/100 | Full Review…
Along with his later 8 1/2, La Dolce Vita is regarded as one of acclaimed Italian director Federico Fellini's best-loved and most influential films. The '60s-set tale of one man's struggle with the so-called "sweet life" stars Marcello Mastroi
Rick Mele
The satire on display is so simultaneously subtle yet blatant that the movie itself is intoxicating. Apr 24, 2009 | Rating: A+ | Full Review…
The satire on display is so simultaneously subtle yet blatant that the movie itself is intoxicating.
Cole Smithey
In spite of its thematic ugliness, this is a stunning-looking trawl through the Italian capital, with Ekberg's impromptu paddle in the Trevi fountain still the films enduring image. Apr 20, 2009 | Rating: 5/5 | Full Review…
In spite of its thematic ugliness, this is a stunning-looking trawl through the Italian capital, with Ekberg's impromptu paddle in the Trevi fountain still the films enduring image.
Fran Hortop
Told in a brilliant episodic structure, this fascinating character study is the truest definition of Felliniesque: an exceptional film that is magical in its fanciful depiction of glamour in Roman aristocracy and depressing in the way it shows the decadence of a society and of man himself.
Super Reviewer
Italian Movie about a player that in 1960 must have raised eyebrows, I didnt enjoy it 1 star
Essential surrealist film, La Dolce Vita is an early critique to press photography, bourgeois society, special attention to stars and social decadence.
This doesn't happen very often, but I must say, I'm rather baffled. I'm not sure how I truly feel about this movie. I don't know if I truly get it. I'm a smart guy, and I'd like to think I can 'get' artsy European cinema, but I am simultaneously aware of why this is called a classic but also baffled as to why it is so adored. The film tells the story of a tabloid photographer in Rome in the 50s who discovers that the high society world isn't all that it seems, that trying to find a balance betwween the relics of the past and the ever-growing ways of the modern world is complicated, and that it can be quite a challenge to discover who one really is amidst all of this. That's pretty much it. That's the plot in it's most simplified way. It doesn't take long to really get all of this, but the film is just under three hours. I really don't think it needed to be. However,the film is wall to wall with style and cinematic craft. The film has a neat structure (it takes place over the course of about a weeks worth of days and nights, though not consecutively), and there's all kinds of religious imagery and symbolism-allowing the viewer to either just read into it like there's no tomorrow, or just take it at face value. Normally I'm cool with this sort of thing, but again, the movie is just about 3 hours...and kinda slow at times. The film could have had far more substance, especially given the theme and premise, but the slice of life stuff it quite nice too. It just all happens to ramble far too often. Maybe I'm being too hard on this though. Maybe I should have been really exhauted and had my mind on other things when I sat down to watch it. Or maybe (and I'm probably in the minority here) Fellini was more full of crap than people might like to admit. I loved 8 1/2 , but I was in a different mood and mindset when I saw that. I do love the music and cinematography though. There's some really gorgeous (and sometiems surreal) images, and some sequences are just fantastic, but it's all just kinda hard to endure in one setting. Ther performances aren't bad, but it seems like Fellini was more interested in just letting everything just run wild instead of having a far tighter hold on things. Maybe the issues Im haivng with this can be attributed to the fact that, as a bunch of critics and scholars have said, this was a transitional film for Fellini between his neo-realistic stuff, and his whimsical art film. It has elements of both, and they are done well, but maybe they just don't blend all that wonderfully. I'm rambling, much lke the movie. I didn't hate it, but I found it very hard to endure. Is it a really good movie? Yeah. Is it really all that influential? Sure. Does it deserve all the accolades and respect it gets? To an extent. You should see this, just to say you finally saw it, because it is worth it. As a cohesive masterpiece though, I didn't find it to be that exactly. 4 stars for the film overall, and an extra half star just for the style and technique.
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