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| Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg, Anouk
Aimée |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.1 |
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DTS |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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Marcello
Rubini (Marcello Mastroianni): You are the first woman on the first
day of creation. You are mother, sister, lover, friend, angel, devil,
earth, home.
A
disillusioned reporter experiences the decadence of Rome's high society.
 It's
not too hard to see why La Dolce Vita has the immsene reputation
for which it is known. An episodic commentary on the vapidity of Rome's
rich and/or famous as seen through the jaded eyes of a disillusioned
reporter, the movie is gorgeously shot, beautifully scored by legendary
composer Nino Rota, and has a great many memorable moments. On top of
that, the film coined the term papparazzo (after a character's
name) and provided cinema history with the iconic image of the voluptuous
Anita Ekberg wading through Rome's Trevi fountain.
but for all its wit, style, absurdity and pervasive cynicism, La
Dolce Vita can be a wearying film to watch. Its totally episodic
structure doesn't provide a narrative that pulls one effortlessly along
its extended running time, and its slow-moving story development makes
it a dreamy experience that will be as off-putting to some as it has
proved mesmerizing to others. The movie also takes a lot of time to
hammer home its central point of vapid decadence among the upper levels
of Fellini's godless society, while many observations have by now grown
overly familiar and farily quaint. Together with 8 1/2, this
groundbreaking film represents a major, hugely influential shift in
Fellini's career, marking a movement towards self-indulgent stream-of-consciousness
filmmaking that doesn't stand up today nearly as well as his earlier,
more cohesive masterpieces such as La Strada and I Vitelloni. |
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Currently
unavailable on DVD for Region 1, though a Criterion Collection edition
has long been rumored to be in the works.
A UK Region 2 release is available subtitled in English, but it was
mastered from a rather poor source print and slightly cropped to a 2:1
aspect ratio. The new Dutch Region 2 release from distributor Dutch
Filmworks has a much better transfer from a near-flawless source print
in the full original aspect ratio, but has only Dutch (optional) subtitles,
and therefore requires fluency in either Dutch or Italian to understand
the dialogues. The Dutch Region 2 release served as a basis for this
review.
The
non-anamorphic widescreen image is framed at the film's original Totalscope
aspect ratio of approx. 2.35:1. The source print used for this transfer
is near-flawless, without any distracting blemishes such as scratches
or dirt distracting from the film. Although the transfer lacks anamorphic
enhancement, its deep, solid black levels and consistent contrast make
this a more than adequate visual presentation.
The mono soundtrack is presented in two-channel Dolby Digital, and is
lacking in dynamics and distinction. Dialogues (all of which were dubbed
in post-production, as is common with Italian films) often sound ADR-processed,
with poor lip-synching a continuous distraction.
A
few minor extras are present on this release: filmographies for
Fellini and the most important members of cast and crew, and some production
notes that are informative about the film's development and reception.Static
menu screens are pleasantly designed. The feature only has about 12 chapter
stops, which is an inadequate number for a movie that runs close to three
hours.
Noah
Eamon
Reviewed: 2001
Click
here for IMDB info on La
Dolce Vita.
Click here
to return to the front page.
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