164 LA DOLCE VITA
00:17
Marcello and Maddalena
make love at the residence of a
prostitute. He returns home to find
that his fiancée has overdosed.00:50
Sylvia wades into
the Trevi Fountain and
Marcello follows. They
return to her hotel, where
her fiancé, Robert, slaps her
and punches Marcello.01:33
Marcello introduces his
father to Fanny, a dancer. She
takes Marcello’s father back to
her apartment, but he suffers a
minor heart attack.02:23
Marcello rushes to
his friend Steiner’s
apartment, where he is
told that an awful tragedy
has occurred.00:33
On the balcony of the
dome of St. Peter’s, Marcello
gets a moment alone with
Sylvia. He takes her dancing.01:29
Working on his novel
at a seaside restaurant,
Marcello meets Paola
and tells her that she
looks like an angel.00:00 00:30 01:00 01:30 02:00 02:30 02:5402:02
Marcello bumps into
Maddalena at a party.
Drunk, she asks him to
marry her, but is soon
distracted by another man.02:48
On the beach, a dead
ray is pulled out of the
water. Marcello sees
Paola in the distance,
but he cannot hear her.Minute by minute
woman, unearthly in her radiance,
a vision of light in the dark city.
But then dawn arrives and the
magical spell of nighttime is
broken, just as Sylvia anoints
Marcello’s head with water from
the fountain. The next day Sylvia
leaves Rome, and Marcello must
begin his search again.
The chaos of Marcello’s night-
wanderings is reflected in the
movie’s meandering, episodic story
structure. His adventures take
him all over the city, from a field in
which two children claim to have
seen a vision of the Virgin Mary—
the archetypal elusive, idealized
woman—to the domestic bliss of
Steiner’s house. Steiner (Alain
Cuny) is Marcello’s best friend,
and the epitome of all that Marcello
envies: Steiner is stable, happily
married with two perfect children,
and enjoys a balance of materialistic
comfort and intellectual fulfilment.
When Marcello visits Steiner’s
home, he ascends from the dark
underworld of the streets, clubs, and
basement bars, into a kind of heaven.
Illusion of happiness
But, just as Sylvia and the Virgin
Mary turn out to be illusions,
Steiner’s domestic happiness is
also a lie, as Marcello discovers
when Steiner tells him, “Don’t be
like me. Salvation doesn’t lie within
four walls.” That there is no comfort
in either a sheltered, intellectual,
domestic life nor the hedonistic
“sweet life” is the existential
conundrum Marcello wrestles with
in the face of Steiner’s subsequent
suicide. After an unspecified timelapse, we see Marcello at the beach
house in Fiumicino, owned by his
friend Riccardo, where the all-night
party descends into mayhem.
As morning approaches, he finds
himself staggering across the
beach, where the staring eye of the
dead manta ray is waiting for him.A man who agrees to live like this
is a finished man, he’s nothing but
a worm!
Marcello / La Dolce Vita
La Dolce Vita takes place over seven days, nights, and
dawns. While day appears to offer Marcello hope, night
leads him into depravity, and dawn brings rude epiphanies.- Marcello follows Christ
statue flying over Rome - Climbs St. Peter’s
dome with Sylvia - Reports on children’s
vision of the Madonna - Encounters Steiner
playing Bach in church - Sees angelic waitress
Paola by the sea - Spots Paola beckoning
to him from riverbank,
but can’t hear her- Meets Maddalena at
club; sleeps with her - Dances with Sylvia
at Baths of Caracalla - Witnesses stampede
at site of fake miracle - Attends Steiner’s
literary salon - Sets up father with girl
- Sleeps with Jane at
aristocratic house party - Argues with Emma
- Instigates beach orgy
- Finds fiancée Emma
overdosed at apartment - “Anointed” by Sylvia
in Trevi Fountain - Observes mourning
for trampled child - Hears Steiner has killed
himself and his children - Learns of father’s stroke
- Spies matron at Mass
- Reconciles with Emma
- Discovers sea monster
washed up on beach
- Finds fiancée Emma
- Meets Maddalena at