"Come here"...come witness the Sweet Life
*
Films like this don't come about often. To me, this film actually represents cinematic perfection. Inductive screenplay, wonderful mise-en-scene, stunning direction and stunning photography, as well as a legendary Marcello Mastroianni, one of the best actors ever no doubt at his best here.
From the outset, you know this film is going to be special. A special portrait of the Italian sweet life during the 'economic miracle' of the 60's. A time where the Italian people could finally stop worrying about life and money and save money to go out at night and party. And from when we see Marcello, we idolize him. He is a winner. A well respected journalists, known by all, who always winds up being at the right party ever night and lives the life of a king. His life resembles much one of a singer, like the ones portrayed by Jamie Foxx and Joaquin Phoenix. He has someone who waits for him at home, someone who cares about him, but he still loves to party and make love to other women.
The scene where he tries to take Sylvia (Anita Ekberg) to any house so he can make love to her, is just fantastic. As is the fountain scene, that is so widely known, I'm not even going to start discussing its cinematic importance, as far as photography and performance are concerned. But no matter where he ends up being every night, he can never leave Emma, although he can't promise to marry her. She says "If I won't stay near you, who will?".
Yet, he's a free bird. He loves to flirt with other women, perhaps because he knows that Emma will never leave him. He tells Maddalena he loves her, even though he obviously doesn't mean it, just like she doesn't mean it when she tells him (they are both tipsy). And even at Steiner's party, where Marcello takes Emma with him, he seems to be more sexually attracted to Steiner himself than to Emma.
It's an inductive script, we never know what is going to happen next. We let Marcello be our guide through Rome, and he really does take us to the most extraordinary places. The liveliest clubs and the most beautiful settings. And we witness whatever adventure the night reserves for him. Fellini is able to capture our attention from the very start, until, while at first we wish we could be there at those magnificent parties, we actually get the feeling that we are in those parties, we are part of the crowd.
But the parties and the sweet life is not all he deals with, far from it. Being a Fellini film, Fellini is not afraid to sweep us off our feet with different side objects. There's a whole sequence devoted to religion, another devoted to family, and one exquisite one where Marcello meets his father in Rome, and takes him to a night club. He loves being with his father, and would love to spend some time with the man he doesn't know, as he tells his friend Paparazzo. But his father is more interested in the sweet life, and in fact, ends up leaving the club with another woman.
And when he leaves, he is unable to understand that his son wants to know him better. It's a touching scene, a short glimpse of Marcello's past that Fellini allows us, possibly to let us understand where his personality came from. When Marcello tells Paparazzo that he doesn't know his father, he also talks of the way he would stay away for weeks, and he would hear her mother cry very often. This is the way he has been treating Emma, yet he fails to understand it. Or, more possibly, he does understand it, but chooses to ignore it.
*
I could talk about this film a lot more. Every time I see such a cinematic masterpiece, it leaves me speechless, completely speechless. To me, this film appears flawless on all levels. And to think that its runtime is almost three hours...you just don't feel it. I recommend it to all lovers of cinema. Do not miss it, watch it before you die, and be immersed in the sweet life of a time that will never come back, in a time place that will never exist as such again.
