Federico Fellini, known as a writer or illustrator, became renowned as a director with an exceptional career. His film La Dolce Vita, as legendary today as it was controversial upon release, almost led to his excommunication by the Vatican.
After the success of La Strada with his wife, Giulietta Massina, Fellini decided to move away from natural settings for his next film. He aimed for pure creation, an aesthetic that would be uniquely his – and thus, the studio. He revisited an old script originally conceived as a sequel to Vitelloni, in the form of a series of sketches. “We have to create a sculpture like Picasso, break it into pieces, and recompose it according to our own whims,” he said. This film was, of course, La Dolce Vita.
The filming took place partly on Stage 5 of the Cinecittà studios in Rome. It was difficult – a dispute erupted between Fellini and his producer about the lead role. The production wanted a star like Paul Newman or Gérard Philipe, but Fellini insisted on casting an unknown actor, discovered in theatre and made a friend: Marcello Mastroianni.
Marcello played a scandal press journalist experiencing an existential crisis, wandering through Rome in search of scoops, crossing paths with a bourgeois intellectual embodied by Anouk Aimée, and an international actress played by Swedish Anita Ekberg.
One of the most iconic scenes in cinema history was born in La Dolce Vita: Ekberg and Mastroianni in the Trevi Fountain, on the verge of a kiss. The shooting was not easy; Anita Ekberg, used to cold water due to her Scandinavian origins, had no trouble, while Mastroianni, wearing a wetsuit under his clothes, reportedly drank a bottle of vodka per shot to withstand the cold.
La Dolce Vita premiered in Milan in early 1960. Some of the audience left the theatre, shocked by an orgy scene and unusual images for the era. Fellini was spat at, and Mastroianni was pushed. The film faced censorship threats, with the Italian Parliament even debating its moral value, and the majority Catholic population strongly opposing what they deemed an obscene work. There were even rumors of the Vatican contemplating excommunicating Fellini.
Despite the controversy, La Dolce Vita triumphed with 13 million admissions in Italy. The scandal was so intense that during the Cannes Film Festival screening in 1960, the reels had to be locked in a safe in the French embassy in Rome to prevent protests. Nevertheless, the film won the Palme d’Or, achieving great success, particularly in Italy with 13 million admissions. La Dolce Vita became the absolute reference of what the press called the “Felliniesque baroque” – a fully embraced aesthetic and cinema concept.
It’s worth noting, as a side note from the film, that it was from La Dolce Vita that the word “paparazzi” entered common language. The young photographer accompanying Mastroianni’s character was named Paparazzo, giving rise to the term now used for the dubious profession.
Author: Franck Ferrand.
