“He never made a better one”: Roger Ebert named his favourite Federico Fellini movie
There wasn’t a film that Roger Ebert didn’t have a strong opinion on. Whether he absolutely despised everything about a movie or thought it was the best thing since sliced bread, Ebert didn’t shy away from sharing his thoughts on cinema’s highs and lows throughout his career.
There were many titles that the film critic despised, like Freddy Got Fingered, Caligula and The Brown Bunny, even stating that watching a colonoscopy would be more enjoyable than having to sit through the latter. Ebert was vocal about what he considered bad cinema, but he also praised films that he thought were masterpieces.
One of these was Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, adding it to his list of the ‘10 greatest movies of all time’. The Italian film, which starred Anita Ekberg, Anouk Aimée and Marcello Mastroianni, is widely considered Fellini’s masterwork, although he made quite a few other movies which could also bear this title. Still, few people can find fault in La Dolce Vita, which sees Mastroianni’s character spend a week in Rome searching for love and fulfilment.
The movie has inspired many filmmakers and even gave us the word ‘paparazzi’ due to a character called Paparazzo, a photographer. Its place in cinema history is legendary, with Fellini highlighting a world of glamour and celebrity, marking a progression from the country’s post-war conditions frequently depicted in Italian neorealism movies from the ‘40s and ‘50s.
Ebert thought the movie was spectacular, writing, “Fellini’s 1960 film has grown passe in some circles, I’m afraid, but I love it more than ever.” The critic stated that for him, the message of the film isn’t even that important. “Forget about its message, about the ‘sweet life’ along Rome’s Via Veneto, or about the contrasts between the sacred and the profane.”
He added, “Simply look at Fellini’s ballet of movement and sound, the graceful way he choreographs the camera, the way the actors move. He never made a more ‘Felliniesque’ film, or a better one.” Continuing his praise of the film, Ebert said, “Then sneak up on the subject from inside. Forget what made this film trendy and scandalous more than 30 years ago. Ask what it really says.”
The writer seemed to admire how Mastroianni’s character (calling his portrayal of Marcello Rubini his “definitive performance”) gets lost as he tries to search for meaning in his life. “He seeks love from the neurosis of his fiancee, through the fleshy carnality of a movie goddess, from prostitutes and princesses. He seeks it in miracles and drunkenness, at night and at dawn.”
Yet, his attempts wear him out, leaving him unable to grasp what he actually wants in the end. “Marcello gives up and sells out and at dawn sees a pale young girl who wants to remind him of the novel he meant to write someday, but he is hung over and cannot hear her shouting across the waves, and so the message is lost,” Ebert adds.
La Dolce Vita stood among other acclaimed titles as one of Ebert’s favourites, such as Raging Bull, Casablanca and Citizen Kane.
