La Dolce Vita (Blu-Ray)

The biggest hit from the most popular Italian filmmaker of all time, La dolce vita rocketed Federico Fellini to international mainstream success—ironically, by offering a damning critique of the culture of stardom. A look at the darkness beneath the seductive lifestyles of Rome’s rich and glamorous, the film follows a notorious celebrity journalist (a sublimely cool Marcello Mastroianni) during a hectic week spent on the peripheries of the spotlight. This mordant picture was an incisive commentary on the deepening decadence of contemporary Europe, and it provided a prescient glimpse of just how gossip- and fame-obsessed our society would become.

Special features: 
– New 4K digital restoration by the Film Foundation, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
– New visual essay by : : kogonada
– New interview with filmmaker Lina Wertmüller, who worked as assistant director on the film
– Scholar David Forgacs discusses the period in Italy’s history when the film was made
– New interview with Italian film journalist Antonello Sarno about the outlandish fashions seen in the film
– Audio interview with actor Marcello Mastroianni from the early 1960s, conducted by film historian Gideon Bachmann
– Felliniana, a presentation of ephemera related to La dolce vita from the collection of Don Young
– PLUS: An essay by critic Gary Giddins