“La dolce vita” obviously lost its controversial character, but it's still worth watching as the charming tapestry that captures the dark beauty of Rome’s “sweet life” and its weird characters. We witness the ambiguities and contradictions of people who, sometimes for very different reasons, are being turned into superstars by the media's attention.

Despite the demanding running time, the film has no plot, no beginning nor ending. We are just shown the daily life of a journalist trying to quit being a mere chronicler of Rome’s good life and finally become one of its protagonists. As the opening with “Jesus” leaving Rome suggests, behind the excesses and distractions of the stardom and its surrounding intellectual circles, lies the bitter reality of a society that lost the values and pure heart that Fellini and a generation of neorealist director used to show us in his early works.