It is not surprising that Federico Fellini is held to be an auteur. His work is distinctive from that of his peers and notable for its use of the grotesque and for deliberate imagery. Two of his films in particular-La Dolce Vita and Satyricon-can be interpreted as expressing Fellini's personal vision, which is one of ceaseless debauchery and the meaninglessness of life in the face of man's need and search for redemption. La Dolce Vita came out in 1960, and Satyricon was released in 1969. The significance of this nine-year gap can be seen in the progression of Fellini's expression between the two films. This paper will examine La Dolce Vita as an expression of Fellini's vision and will then discuss Satyricon and the changes evident in Fellini's expression associated with this later work.
In La Dolce Vita, the main character, Marcello, is a study in opposites. Attracted by human connection and the domestic life epitomized by a wife and family, he nevertheless simply cannot see himself living that life. He goes through a series of women and from one group of bored Bohemian partyers to the next while his girlfriend Emma becomes depressed at his lack of commitment and attempts suicide. Marcello starts out as a man who appears to care for others, and he is terribly distraught at Emma's suicide attempt, as well as demonstrating kindness to various other characters in the film, but as he proceeds from one group of mindless partyers to the next, he begins to lose that human quality. Near the end of the film, his friend Steiner, who has symbolized home, family, and fulfillment to him, murders his two young daughters and kills himself. This tragedy propels Marcello more deeply into the senseless partying, and the final party in the film verges onto the grotesque as Marcello throws feathers onto a young woman who is sick and vomiting, and the feathers stick to her face. When the party moves outside to the beach, the yo...