La Dolce Vita

Fellini's massive portrait of the excess that was Rome in the postwar economic boom of the 1950s is one of the most critically acclaimed - and referential - films of all time. Wrote Roger Ebert: "I have heard theories that La Dolce Vita catalogs the seven deadly sins, takes place on the seven hills of Rome, and involves seven nights and seven dawns, but I have never looked into them, because that would reduce the movie to a crossword puzzle. I prefer it as an allegory, a cautionary tale of a man (Marcello Mastroianni) without a center." Individual scenes are indelibly embedded in our collective memory, whether it be that of a statue of Christ hovering over ancient Roman ruins, suspended from a helicopter; or Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg cavorting in the Trevi Fountain late into the night. Continues Ebert: "When I saw the movie right after Mastroianni died, I thought that Fellini and Marcello had taken a moment of discovery and made it immortal. There may be no such thing as the sweet life. But it is necessary to find that out for yourself."