Film/Reading Response - Movie Review Example

Visual Arts and Film Studies Film/Reading Response: La dolce vita (Federico Fellini, Italy, 1960) La dolce vita, directed by one of the cinema’s greatest artists, Federico Fellini, is a 1960 film that censures the “good life”. The film chronicles the life of Marcello Rubini and the decadent society he lives devoid of moral values. Alcohol, sex, and wild partying exemplify the lives of most of the characters in the movie. Marcello, the main character, is torn between being serious in life as a writer, and fulfilling his sexual desires through casual relationships and gratuitous parties.

Several important scenes in the film contribute to La dolce vita’s development of issues related to gender and sexuality. The use of monochrome in the film is conspicuous because it helps differentiate the rural routine and the new modernizing Italian lifestyle. La Dolce Vita was shot in black and white, despite the availability of color in that period. Marcello, a society gossip columnist, is a journalist and man-about-town in search of an identity in the world, hobnobbing with the elite, while dealing with the stifling home life of his girlfriend.

Most of the scenes in the story depict his quests where he seeks short-lived joy in wild parties and sexual interactions. Marcello meets Sylvia, a famous movie star, who is new in town and he switches into his charm mode. He flirts with the movie star, without much consideration of his girlfriend at home. Theme development is advanced in the film in the way Marcello cuts himself from the real world and dwells in a setting of self-pity and self-disgust, coupled by confusion on the best way to tackle life.

The director uses erotic, strange, and surreal imagery in the creation of cinematic appeal for the film. Marcello’s environment has a fairytale setting full of fallacy and falsehood. The film is full of symbolism, and is a cinematic version of the end of the world or revelation in the book of Daniel. His close friend’s life descends into despair, after which he commits suicide. Marcello considered him as a successful writer, and his suicide baffles him. In terms of symbolism, it may represent the judgment of the wicked.

In addition, his girlfriend is a pure soul who craves for his attention, but Marcello is so absorbed in his “whorish” life that he does not notice her troubles. Eventually, she commits suicide because of his actions, which are largely disheartening. It is ironical how Marcello is both displeased and excited about his life as a journalist. The screenplay encompasses the Italian pop and celebrity society, and the negativities associated with the society. Most scenes could not be shot on location owing to the controversy the script and episodes may have attracted.

The party life is largely empty and rotten, and the press this was covered by the press extensively. The scope of the vision of the film attracted varied reactions from critics, in addition to the sleek and sophisticated Italian fashions that won many accolades. Juxtaposing the image of Christ and bikini-clad women is part of the cinematic effect that attracted considerable controversy.