La Dolce Vita

La Dolce Vita marks an essential stage in Federico Fellini’s work, and a break with the past. He went beyond the neo-realist inspiration of his early films and decided to recreate the Rome by night of the jet set in Cinecittà. Fellini, whose early films were marked by Christianity, distanced himself from a moribund religion and made the film of a moralist describing a world in transformation, the Italy of the economic boom, media images and advertising. But above all, he broke with the traditional screenplay and invented a new form of cinematic writing that made La Dolce Vita, like Antonioni’s L'Avventura, a milestone in the history of modernity. The film is made up of large tableaux that form a mosaic, with Marcello Mastroianni as a sleepwalking and increasingly disillusioned guide. An absolute masterpiece, more moving with each viewing. (Olivier Père; Les Inrocks)