Italy, 1960;
Director: Federico Fellini;
Script: Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli;
Camera: Otello Martelli;
Music: Nino Rota;
Length: 174 Min; ital. OV with subtitles;
With: Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg, Anouk Aimée, Yvonne Furneaux, Lex Barker, Magali Noël, and more

The tabloid reporter Marcello is a womanizer and bon vivant as he stands in the book. As a supposedly critical observer of Rome’s high society, however, he failed to recognize that he has already become part of this decadent society himself. He moves restlessly from one lavish party to the next in the world of glitz and glamor – unable to escape the hedonistic drive. It is not until a close friend commits suicide he come to the realization that his life is only a world of appearances and transience.

La dolce vita is a revealing moral image of the decadent Italian upper class of the 1950s, which is tumbling on the edge on the moral abyss. Due to the side blows to Italian politics and the Catholic Church, La dolce vita not only advanced to a box office hit, but also to a scandalous one. Fellini created a milestone in film history with his grandiose staging of ecstasy and disillusionment. Anita Ekberg and Marcello Mastroianni’s night bath in the Trevi Fountain is considered to be one of the most magical film moments to this day.