The biggest hit from the most popular Italian filmmaker of all time, La dolce vita rocketed FEDERICO FELLINI (8½) to international mainstream success—ironically, by offering a damning critique of the culture of stardom. A look at the darkness beneath the seductive lifestyles of Rome’s rich and glamorous, the film follows a notorious celebrity journalist—played by a sublimely cool MARCELLO MASTROIANNI (8½)—during a hectic week spent on the peripheries of the spotlight. This mordant picture was an incisive commentary on the deepening decadence of the European 1960s, and it provided a prescient glimpse of just how gossip- and fame-obsessed our society would become.
ITALY | 1960 | 174 MINUTES | BLACK & WHITE | 2.35:1 |
ITALIAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES
SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
- New 4K digital restoration by the Film Foundation, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- New visual essay by : : kogonada
- New interview with filmmaker Lina Wertmüller, who worked as assistant director on the film
- Scholar David Forgacs discusses the period in Italy’s history when the film was made
- New interview with Italian film journalist Antonello Sarno about the outlandish fashions seen in the film
- Audio interview with actor Marcello Mastroianni from the early 1960s, conducted by film historian Gideon Bachmann
- Felliniana, a presentation of ephemera related to La dolce vita from the collection of Don Young
- PLUS: An essay by critic Gary Giddins