La Dolce Vita

La Dolce Vita
Italian theatrical release poster
by Giorgio Olivetti
Directed byFederico Fellini
Screenplay by
Story by
  • Federico Fellini
  • Ennio Flaiano
  • Tullio Pinelli
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyOtello Martelli
Edited byLeo Catozzo
Music byNino Rota
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • 5 February 1960 (1960-02-05) (Italy)
  • 11 May 1960 (1960-05-11) (France)
Running time
174 minutes
Countries
  • Italy
  • France
Languages
  • Italian
  • English
  • French
  • German
Box office
  • $19.5 million (US)
  • 16.6 million tickets (Italy/France)

La Dolce Vita (Italian: [la ˈdoltʃe ˈviːta]; Italian for 'the sweet life' or 'the good life') is a 1960 satirical comedy-drama film directed by Federico Fellini and written by Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli, and Brunello Rondi. The film stars Marcello Mastroianni as Marcello Rubini, a tabloid journalist who, over seven days and nights, journeys through the "sweet life" of Rome in a fruitless search for love and happiness. The screenplay can be divided into a prologue, seven major episodes interrupted by an intermezzo, and an epilogue, according to the most common interpretation.

Released in Italy on 5 February 1960, La Dolce Vita was both a critical success and worldwide commercial hit, despite censorship in some regions. It won the Palme d'Or at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Costumes. It was nominated for three more Oscars, including Best Director for Federico Fellini, and Best Original Screenplay. Its success proved a watershed moment for Italian cinema and European cinema-at-large, and it has come to be regarded as a masterpiece of Italian cinema, as well as one of the greatest films ever made.

In 2008, the film was included on the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage’s 100 Italian films to be saved, a list of 100 films that "have changed the collective memory of the country between 1942 and 1978."

The character of Paparazzo, the news photographer (portrayed by Walter Santesso) is the origin of the word paparazzi, used in many languages to describe intrusive photographers.