La Dolce Vita (1960)

I'd heard a lot about Federico Fellini and since lately I love old Italian movies, I decided to try La Dolce Vita, which they said was one of his best works, if not the most famous.

This is truly an art movie, which means it's not easy to understand, although the picture looks beautiful. There are too many things in the movie, too many the director wants to tell. I read that it contains 7 episodes, which center around Marcello the journalist, played by Marcello Mastroianni, in the time when moral corruption begins to get worse, after the booming of economy in the late 1950's. The plot I like is the one with the American actress, played by Anita Ekberg. Ekberg's gown, the one she wears in the dancing scene, is so beautiful, makes her like a flower, maybe that was why this movie won the Oscar for Best Costume Design. The most famous scene from this is one in the Trevi fountain, with Ekberg and Mastroianni.

Marcello lives with Emma and their relationship is not so good. He sleeps with another woman (or perhaps more) and refuses to marry Emma. I don't understand why he and Emma keeps living together. After a fight, he asks her to get out of the car and leaves her, and picks her up later. Perhaps he does love her a little.