La+Dolce+Vita

La Dolce Vita Film Analysis

REDO! (I didn't fix my analysis, just added this new paragraph in blue!) *Opening Scene* -MES The first scene of the movie is a statue of Christ being carried by a helicopter and Marcello's helicopter following it. Visually this scene makes a point very clear to the audience that Marcello is only "half" serious about his job. Marcello's helicopter was tightly following the helicopter carrying the Christ, until they spotted a group of women in bikinis next to a pool. This suggests to the audience that he is distracted from his job. He takes everything way too "unserious." When the women refuse to give him their numbers, he simply shrugged and went back chasing the helicopter. Even when he is pursing an important news story (and supposedly a "holy story" as well, because its a statue of a Christ), he rather gets distracted to get numbers of random women sunbathing.

What the character wants: Marcello wants a more exciting life. What the character needs: Marcello needs to realize that his life is good enough already. Theme/Emotions: Love, fame and paparazzi.

1) Framing: Throughout the entire film, there are multiple times where Marcello is on the car going somewhere. Every time the car is framed in a similar way, thus, creating a sense of continuity. It also emphasizes the fact that Marcello is constantly involved and searching for something fresh. A big chunk of this movie involves cars brining the characters from one place to another. 2) Props: Most of the scenes where the paparazzi is present, the cameras are always in an obvious position. This is an intentional choice to put emphasis on the cameras in the scene. Though camera is just a tool, photographs can cause a riot, a scandal and a lot of other chaotic events. Many scenes end with the last shot being the camera in the near middle of the frame. Even when they were trying to announce to Steiner’s wife her husband and children's death, Steiner’s wife was not in the middle, but rather the paparazzi with his camera. 3) Acting: The famous Swedish-American actress was dramatic from the very beginning when she enters the film. She descends from the plane like a royalty, and she is adored by the crowd of journalists. She is treated as if she was a Saint, a queen and an angel. She is always the center of attention, and very dramatic. Especially when they were dancing, she was raised up by Franky, symbolizing her superiority. She can "enslave" anyone she wants to. 4) Characters {acting): The journalists mostly behave like paparazzi. They are presented in an extremely negative way in this film. They are always "hungry for coverage," they constantly "cross the line," and don't know when to stop when it is appropriate. Even after Marcello and Steiner’s wife got into the car, the paparazzi continued to chase after them, as if there were a bunch of hungry wolves trying to catch a prey. Thus the actors for journalists exaggerates their greedy trait. 5) Mysterious Maddalena: The character Maddalena is mysterious from the very beginning. Her mysteriousness is achieved in many different ways, from her costume, her acting and the placement of her on the screen. When she first enters she was wearing huge sunglass that covered up almost her entire face. She only took them off for a little while, to show that she had a bruise on her eye, and put them right back on. Since this film is black and white, we can't really tell what specific color she is wearing, but she always wear dark colored dresses. The character Maddalena is so mysterious that when she asks Marcello to marry her, he could only hear her voice and not see her (because she was hiding in another room). 6) Color: Since the film is black and white, there is basically only two different color, either the character is wearing black or white. Most of the time, the "innocent ones" will be wearing white, and the "evil" one will be wearing black. For example, after Emma overdosed, Marcello took her to the hospital, where only Marcello was wearing black. His black suite stood out from all the white backgrounds of the hospital and the nuns who all wore white. At the party, All most all the adults wore black and the children were dressed in white. The color white symbolizes "purity and innocence," exactly what the two children were. 7) Indulgent life: One of the theme that runs through the film is "fame." This theme is conveyed in almost every scene. Marcello always goes to some bar, night club or restaurant to watch performances. Towards the end, Marcello was throwing feathers in the air. This action can be interpreted as a symbol of wealth. With a tint of irony, the party ends. Marcello acts completely happy when he tosses the feathers into the air, as if he was tossing confetti. Though there is actually not much to be celebrated, Marcello is so drunk that he acts as if his life was "good." It is understood that Marcello indulges in alcohol and fame but does not actually have a happy life. 8) Victims: Marcello's life can be described as "scandalous," and every action Marcello takes, there is almost always a victim. Most of the time the victim is Emma; there is rarely a shot where she is framed in the foreground, and she takes up very small space in the frames. Only when she is in the hospital she is framed in the foreground. Most of the other times, she is either really small at the side of the street, watching Marcello drive off, being passed out on the floor, or sitting in her room alone, calling Marcello. 9) Costume: Sylvia's dramatic character is further emphasized by her dramatic clothing. She dramatically enters the fountain in her long gown, she also wears a white fluffy cape, a huge sunglasses. Her costume makes her stand out from the crowd, besides the fact that she was being "hailed" as a queen. It is a deliberate choice of the director to put Sylvia in such "attention grabbing" costume. 10) <range type="comment" id="403780482_9">Comedy/Irony/Satirical</range id="403780482_9"> : A lot of the times, the director inserts a little bit of irony in the scenes. Towards the end of the scene where Sylvia and Marcello were in the fountain, there was this ironic, satirical moment where it ruins the "romance." La Dolce Vita contains a lot of little moments where its "funny," or "ironic," it aids the dramatic plot by loosening the audiences up a little. For example, when the paparazzi were flipping Robert's head back and forth, even though this is supposed to be a very dramatic and serious scene. Also towards the end when Steiner’s wife thought that she was being treated like a star, she was actually about to find out about the death of her family. This ironic scene causes the audiences to feel extremely uncomfortable and creates an overwhelming feeling.