Day 3: Italian Romance Films

Senior Experience Foreign Film Project


Day 3: Italian Romantic Film

Due to unforeseen circumstances, I'll have to be pushing back this week's schedule by a day and watch the French movies on Saturday. Not very much an issue as I'm excited to see the movies coming up. Anyway, today's movies are "L'Avventura (1960, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni)" and "La Dolce Vita (1960, directed by Federico Fellini)".

L’Avventura (1960, dir. Michelangelo Antonioni)



Somewhat disappointed with this one. Excellent framing and composition throughout the movie, very interesting to look at throughout, and very strong in basically all its technical aspects (great performances, great editing, etc.). However, the script left something to be desired. The way men act and women react in this movie is entirely unbelievable. I get that Antonioni is trying to make a point on the gross objectification of women (which I agree with), but this is not a compelling portrayal of how poorly women are treated, and only services to ruin my immersion in the story. Speaking of, after the great first hour, the pacing and plot utterly lack substance, as the outcome of the story becomes easily predictable and the film drags its feet until the ending. A great looking film and a great first hour, but a lack of interesting story in the second half makes this, on the whole, just ok to me. 3/5

La Dolce Vita (1960, dir. Federico Fellini)



This movie I was fairly excited for. All of my friends are huge Fellini fans, and I’m happy to say my introduction to him with La Dolce Vita was great. My absolute favorite aspect of La Dolce Vita was the direction. The way actors act, the way the camera moves, it’s distinct and entertaining. Marcello Mastroianni is incredible in the lead role, making his scumbag of a character entertaining and at points (although very rarely) endearing. The repetitive, episodic  nature feels purposeful and works to the movies benefit, although the 2nd of the total 3 hours does drag a bit. My main issue is that there is a lot of very obvious dubbing and unconvincing technical details that took me out of the movie. Despite that, I thoroughly enjoyed La Dolce Vita. 4/5

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