La dolce vita

For other uses, see Dolce Vita.

La dolce vita
Italian theatrical release poster
by Giorgio Olivetti
Directed byFederico Fellini
Screenplay by
Story by
  • Federico Fellini
  • Ennio Flaiano
  • Tullio Pinelli
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyOtello Martelli
Edited byLeo Catozzo
Music by
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • 5 February 1960 (1960-02-05) (Italy)
  • 11 May 1960 (1960-05-11) (France)[1]
Running time
174 minutes
Countries
  • Italy
  • France
Languages
  • Italian
  • English
  • French
  • German
Box office
  • $19.5 million (US)
  • 16.6 million tickets (Italy/France)

La dolce vita (Italian: [la ˈdoltʃe ˈviːta]; Italian for 'the sweet life' or 'the good life'[2]) is a 1960 satirical comedy-drama film directed by Federico Fellini. It was written by Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli, and Brunello Rondi. The film stars Marcello Mastroianni as Marcello Rubini, a tabloid journalist who, over seven days and nights, journeys through the "sweet life" of Rome in a fruitless search for love and happiness. The screenplay can be divided into a prologue, seven major episodes interrupted by an intermezzo, and an epilogue, according to the most common interpretation.[3]

Released in Italy on 5 February 1960, La dolce vita was both a critical success and worldwide commercial hit, despite censorship in some regions. It won the Palme d'Or at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival[4] and the Academy Award for Best Costumes.[5] It was nominated for three more Oscars, including Best Director for Federico Fellini, and Best Original Screenplay. Its success proved a watershed moment for Italian cinema and European cinema-at-large,[6] and it has come to be regarded as a masterpiece of Italian cinema, as well as one of the greatest films ever made.[7]

In 2008, the film was included on the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage’s 100 Italian films to be saved, a list of 100 films that "have changed the collective memory of the country between 1942 and 1978."[8]

  1. ^ "La Dolce Vita de Federico Fellini (1960)". UniFrance. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  2. ^ Kezich, 203
  3. ^ Cf. Bondanella 1994, p. 143 and Kezich, p. 203
  4. ^ "Festival de Cannes: La Dolce Vita". festival-cannes.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2012. Retrieved 15 February 2009.
  5. ^ Pettigrew, 169
  6. ^ Bondanella, Peter; Pacchioni, Federico (19 October 2017). A History of Italian Cinema. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 978-1-5013-0765-2.
  7. ^ "Critics' top 100". BFI. Archived from the original on 7 February 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  8. ^ "Ecco i cento film italiani da salvare Corriere della Sera". www.corriere.it. Retrieved 11 March 2021.