La Dolce Vita Blog

I'm struggling to find the words for this one. It's a long movie and there should be so much to talk about but I'm trying to recall everything and it all blends together in a series of encounters, parties, and situations.

The opening scene was a good intro to the film, with Jesus flying over the city via helicopter and the women and men flirting with each other from rooftop to the chopper. 'Oh, we're taking Jesus to the Vatican for the Pope, but can I have your phone number while I'm here?' I didn't fully dive into any religious aspects of the film as I watched however.

I enjoyed watching the character progression of Marcello, trying to understand him, what he was all about, and where he would be headed next. He always seemed to be right in the middle of everything, knowing everyone or getting to know them right off the bat. But at the same time, he often looked like he was laying low in scenes, waiting for his moment to pounce on the nearest starlet that he could work his magic on. I felt like we never truly know his motivation for the life he's leading and I just don't get the vibe ever that he's happy doing it either.

It was especially bizarre watching his relationship with his wife. It was shocking to see how often he was out and about, partying, and hanging out with other women while she sits at home. And even when they were together, like at the Madonna sighting, how even there, he had to distance himself from her by climbing up the scaffolding. You've got to wonder what kept him with her if he had zero interest in her. I don't think it was meant to be humorous, but when he got out of the his car when they were fighting to walk around and kick her out, I found is so amusing to walk around such a small car in that moment. Most times in movies when that happens, the car is what I'd call a 'normal' size so it takes a bit more time to get around it making the gesture powerful, but his car was so tiny that it made the ordeal seem funny to me, even to swinging open her small car door.

The decadent times being shown through Marcello's days and nights was evident. The parties, the lewdness, morals thrown out the window it seemed, all pointed to a particular lifestyle that generated the initial distaste for movie when it was made. It showed the darker side of life, in which the people in the darker side thought they were actually seeing the brighter side of life. It all depended on where your morals lie. To some, it might be the dream life, whereas to others it was totally against all of their beliefs to live like that.

One scene threw me for a loop. The scene where Marcello is placed in a room and the woman who we first saw him pursue is in another room talking to him through some sort of speaker system. I actually got a bit pissed when it seemed like just when she was professing her love for him, some other clown walks up and starts kissing her and she stops her chat with Marcello to embrace said clown. Perhaps that was there to show how that sort of lifestyle plays out. It's not about commitment, attachment etc, it's just about the moment. Like, screw it, let's just go ghost-hunting in the old villa until sunrise. You just do it because you can.

And we end with a sea monster. It's looking at them all as they look at it. Monsters looking at a monster. And across the way we see a charming looking girl. So we have a distinct wall that divides the monsters from the 'normal' people. They can't even begin to communicate since they are eons apart. Marcello smiles and waves goodbye to the life that he just doesn't know and will likely never live.

Last Year at Marien-blog

Wow this movie was odd. I won't state examples, but I thought I had seen some strange movies before, but those seem like perfectly structured masterpieces compared to 'Last Year at Marienbad'.

I think a bit of Orpheus trailed into this week's viewing because in trying to make sense of this one, I attached the label of 'Death' to the character, X. The most striking detail that implied that he might be a Death-like entity was A's continued reluctance to accept what he was saying and truly seeming to not want to leave with him to wherever they were going. Her reaction seemed like something someone might say to Death if they had the chance to reason with him; "Can I have one more year, please?". What other than that could he be that she wants nothing to do with him, yet he pursues her again and again, with what seemed like her ultimately giving in at the end? But, like I said, I suppose it could have just been Orpheus sneaking into my thoughts towards this movie. But even beyond that, the whole hotel and it's clientele seemed to constantly be in a state of moving about aimlessly or even at a stand-still, like a waiting room for the afterlife (except you get to dress nicely, watch plays, and play games).

There was mention in class of the repeating of everything, conversations, actions, card games etc. It was almost like everyone was stuck in a cycle of some sort, and it's possible they all needed something to break them out of it. For example, perhaps X needed A to get out of his cycle? It's weird to think of life like that at all, so this may have been some mind game that was being played. The part about things repeating over and over reminded me of times when you fall asleep with the TV on and whatever's on TV starts working its way into your dreams. And then shortly after you wake up, and you get an odd feeling where reality has just gotten into your dreams and now you're awake and trying to process it. Just a thought that jumped out to me. Especially if you fall asleep to an informercial or something that cycles, or even on a similar level, when you're alarm goes off to wake you up and instead of waking up, you work that sound into your dream somehow, like a fire drill at an elementary school or something.

"I think therefore I am". Crazy idea for this movie which I feel like I could ponder for hours on end. After we started to discuss this idea, it just eliminated all of my other theories, and I started to think , was X really just trying to prove A's existence by getting her to acknowledge they met before and that she should leave with him? Would that solve something in his mind? Once you start to examine the movie from an existence standpoint, you have to wonder who even existed? Did any of these people exist? Did one person exist and everything else was in their heads? Maybe this was in the mind of an insane person. X might think he exists, but that didn't mean that anyone knew it. 'A' certainly resisted the idea early on. Maybe it was X's solipism took complete control over him. "I know you. You know me. I know you. You know me......". After a while, it would just become the truth. Trying to convince someone of that would be so damn frustrating.

Speaking of the character, M, he was an odd duck. I thought it was ironic that he wins every game he plays, especially that logarithm game, but in the end, he appears to lose his woman. Woops. Maybe he should have taken a break from kicking everyone's ass in pick-up-stix. But I didn't know what to make of him. Was it him shooting 'A' in that one seemingly fake scene? I didn't get that completely. Minus all of that weirdness, I couldn't put my finger on what he was all about. At first, I didn't think he was involved with 'A', and then it seemed like they had something going at one point; it was confusing.

I can say this, that motel/set/studio was amazing. They way that camera worked it's way through the hallways and rooms was dizzying. If having the audience lose their minds with an entree of camera manipulation, peppered with bizarre plot, and seasoned with cyclic dialogue/sound, then I would say the filmmaker's succeeded greatly with this delicious treat. I'll tell you what, I didn't enter the class overly tired, but I found my blinks getting longer and longer as the film progressed. Their weird dream-world almost brought me to my weird dream-world.