Personnages
Riccardo - Figure secondaire du quintet, Riccardo est le bon camarade, solidaire et bon vivant, distrayant les autres par ses talents de chanteur et toujours prêt à suivre la dernière mode qu'ils ont adoptée.
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Fellini's early watershed
Author: axsmashcrushallthree
23 June 2006
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The genesis of "I Vitelloni" occurred at a critical time for Federico Fellini. His previous film, "The White Sheik" had been met with such disappointment by critics and audiences that his directoral career was in jeopardy. So, with the need for a successful production on his head, Fellini decided to make a simple comedy...!
The simple story of the five "loafers" and "dreamers" could have been maudlin and trite, but in the hands of Fellini, the story unfolds like a beautiful flower as part of an overall powerful, moving experience. Few directors have communicated their personal vision and experience as intensely as did Fellini. While there is dispute as to whether there is a direct correlation of the character of Moraldo to Fellini himself, Fellini puts us comfortably into his shoes and we connect with Moraldo's frustrations, aspirations, and eventually, his exodus.
With "I Vitteloni", Fellini began to hit his stride of 10 years of greatness, culminating in "Otto e Mezzo". The episodic character exploration of the latter years isn't as dominant here, but the allusions to people, places, and things are presented in full force. The story is easier to follow than later films and is a more central part of the film. This coherence is easier to grasp, making it more accessible for the Fellini neophyte.But, with all of the talk about Fellini, this is still a magnificent movie that stands on its own. See it.
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17 out of 27 people found the following review useful:
Not one of the Maestro's masterworks, but very good nonetheless
Author: zetes from Saint Paul, MN
7 September 2001
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I Vitelloni was Federico Fellini's third film, and it shows very well how he was maturing in his style, and likewise very well how he was not yet fully mature. His next film would be La Strada, one of the world's great films. I Vitelloni, although many who have had the chance to see it champion it as one of his best, is a tier down from La Strada and his other melodramatic masterpiece , Nights of Cabiria (his other masterpieces IMO are La Dolce Vita, 8 ½, and Amarcord of those I've seen, which are all of the ones that are generally considered to be great; I'd also make a case for And the Ship Sails On).
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The film's flaws are mostly in the script: it is sloppy. There are several great scenes, a couple of the best, especially in a visual aspect, that Fellini ever created, but more often the actions of the characters are difficult to understand. The characters themselves aren't all that well defined - in a scene that has since become common, the five title characters are introduced to us by a narrator, who tells us certain primary traits for each of them. Sadly, we only learn a bit more about most of them. What really harms the film, though, is the fact that a few of these main characters are difficult to distinguish from one another.
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To make things worse, as time moves on in the film, the characters constantly change the style of their facial hair!The film is quite episodic, which is actually Fellini's most common way of going about it, but most of the events in his better films seem to bear more weight on the emotions of the films. I Vitelloni is still a very good film, but, given its unavailability, it's unnecessary to knock yourself down searching it out. Perhaps Criterion will release it on DVD soon. Maybe, if it has some good extras, I'll purchase it. 8/10.
