dolce vita, La

Film made in 1960, in black and white, written and directed by Federico Fellini. It follows several days and nights in the life of a seedy gossip columnist (Marcello Mastroianni) in Rome, Italy, as he documents the high and low lifestyles of the rich and leisured classes. The film depicts the cumulative effect of encroaching decadence and the erosion of the spiritual world.

The film is also notable for its wealth of striking images, such as a helicopter lifting a statue of Christ over the city of Rome, and Swedish actor Anita Ekberg (1931- ) bathing in the Trevi Fountain.