Anouk Aimée et Federico Fellini (tournage)

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-After Federico Fellini rejected the idea of Paul Newman for the lead role, Dino De Laurentiis suggested Gérard Philipe. He thought Marcello Mastroianni was "too soft and goody-goody; a family man rather than the type who flings women onto the bed."

-The famous scene in the Trevi Fountain was shot in March, when nights were still cold. According to Federico Fellini (in an interview with Costanzo Costantini), Anita Ekberg stood in the cold water in her dress for hours without any trouble. Marcello Mastroianni, on the other hand, had to wear a wetsuit beneath his clothes, and even that wasn't enough. Still freezing, he downed an entire bottle of vodka, so that he was completely drunk while shooting the scene.

-The film contributed the term "paparazzo" to the language. The term derives from Marcello's photographer friend Paparazzo. Federico Fellini took the name "Paparazzo", as he explained in a later interview, from the name of someone he met in Calabria (Southern Italy) where Greek names are still common. "Paparazzi" is the plural meaning.

-A scene was mooted that involved Marcello's relationship with an older writer, Dolores, to be played by Oscar winning actress Luise Rainer. After much protracted discussions and difficulties, due to Luise Rainer's wish to rewrite her role somewhat, Federico Fellini cancelled the scene altogether. The actress was furious, reportedly saying, "I have spoiled a priceless piece of cloth on this character that will never be!"

-Asked how he got the idea for the film, Federico Fellini replied that one year the fashions made the women in Rome look like big flowers. Several extremely exaggerated costumes here and there in the film (such as two women guests' cloaks in the sequence of the party at the castle) point back to this original inspiration.

-Was voted the 6th Greatest film of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

-Federico Fellini had considered Henry Fonda for the part of Steiner. But, after the refusal of the American actor, his choice was pending on Alain Cuny and Enrico Maria Salerno.

-He was helped by the advice of Pier Paolo Pasolini, who favored Alain Cuny.

-The Italian catholic party Democrazia Cristiana and the Vatican were deeply against this movie for the portrayal of the city of Rome and its vicious aristocracy (which is historically very close to the Church). One article against the movie, "La schifosa vita" (The filthy life) was probably written by Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, in 1992, President of the Republic.

-It seems that term "paparazzo" was coined by Federico Fellini himself. Paparazzo means "sparrow" in one Italian dialect (in normal usage the Italian for "sparrow" is "passero").

-Fellini explained that the photographers hopping and scurrying around celebrities reminded him of sparrows.

-The film wasn't released in Spain until 1981 because of moral censorship.

-Italian censorship visa # 31070 delivered on 21-1-1960.

-When shooting the famous Fontana di Trevi scene, director Federico Fellini complained that the water in the fountain looked dirty. A representative of Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) present at the shooting was able to supply the film team with some of the airline's green sea dye marker (for use in case of an emergency landing at sea). This was used to color the water, and the director was satisfied.

-This was late film critic Roger Ebert's favorite movie. According to him, he saw it over 25 times.

Sylvia! look this way please!

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Critique US de Michael Parent
La dolce vita (Federico Fellini, 1960)

Of the many monoliths of Cinema one can count Citizen Kane, Vertigo, 2001: A Space Odyssey, La règle du jeu, Tokyo Story, Seven Samurai, The Godfather

(see Sight and Sound’s 2002 Top 10 http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/polls/topten/) one can easily add Federico Fellini’s masterpiece La dolce vita. 1960 was such a great year that I just can’t pass over mentioning Psycho, The Apartment, Spartacus, Les yeux sans visage,  À bout de souffle, Peeping Tom, L’Avventura. The later film, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni was his big break and I read somewhere that La dolce vita was the film that Fellini made after he encountered the Italian Neo-Realist Antonioni. That it was his attempt to make a film like his Italian peer and that it restrained the best of him. This is partially right because Fellini’s films changed a bit in the 1960’s to get a new layer of reading and become more concentrated on contemporary issues.

La dolce vita is the story of Marcello (Marcello Mastroianni) who’s empty life is punctuated by his encounters as a journalist “paparazzo”. The term of paparazzi actually became famous with the movie itself. Marcello suffers from not knowing his purpose in life and like many Fellini characters he will have to face his destiny and make a choice. This is a breaking point in the director’s career with the self-consciousness of the characters and the more grounded emotions and less caricatural presences. It is also a far example of free narrative and moment centered scenes with the long party sequence, the almost allegorical depiction of women, and the wandering of Marcello.

His presence as a man who is looking for sense in his life and his personal search for himself translates the sickness of the contemporary world. He is a man who has everything, women, car, money, even if he isn’t that much wealthy the material fulfilment of his universe makes him emptier. The drama of Marcello is a satyr on how society has brought us everything we want but not what we really need. It is why the quest of this journalist or paparazzo who wants to live the life of the stars he encounters and try to “suck” their joy and happiness by reflection brings him in front of a dead sea monster who represents how dead of feelings and happiness Marcello really is.

At first sight, this 180 minutes movie can certainly seem difficult to get into, especially when someone is not acquainted to Federico Fellini’s films. But the film enthusiast will get over this little bump and live the experience of many great moments of cinematic History. The famous fountain scene where Sylvia (Anita Ekberg) baths herself in her voluptuous black dress representing the birth of Venus from the water. There is also the superb cinematography of the streets of Roma where Marcello drives his convertible car. Don’t forget the party and the music. A haunted house visit and the final and unavoidable scene at the beach. If those moments aren’t enough reasons to check out this film then this cinephile will lost his faith his films.