Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.5
Overall		5.0

La Dolce Vita Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 9, 2022

Note: This version of this film is available on Blu-ray as part of Essential Fellini.

It may not quite match the treatment Criterion afforded a certain iconic Swedish director with their frankly almost overwhelming Ingmar Bergman's Cinema release, but Essential Fellini should pretty easily serve as either an absolutely first rate introduction to or a nostalgic reacquaintance with one of Italy's most legendary filmmakers. Fourteen beloved if sometimes controversial Fellini films have been aggregated in this set, along with a bonus disc offering a special devoted to Marcello Mastroianni, and while Criterion only provided check discs for the purposes of this review, from the looks of things online, this is another beautifully packaged set from the label with a number of non-disc swag packaging bonuses.

La Dolce Vita is one of the films in this set which has had prior releases by The Criterion Collection. For those wanting a plot recap, I encourage reading La Dolce Vita Blu-ray review of the 2014 release of the film by Criterion. I'll only add in passing that anyone wanting a cinematic example of zeitgeist need only watch this film.

La Dolce Vita Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

La Dolce Vita is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Criterion only sent check discs for purposes of this review, and so I'm not privy to any verbiage about the transfer that may be included in an insert booklet, but the actual film includes some introductory text which offers the following information:

This digital restoration was carried out starting from the original camera negative -- which was shot in Totalscope (2.35:1) on Dupont film stock and scanned at 4K resolution. Some sections of the film showed clear signs of decay. Some frames, particularly at the beginning of each reel, were seriously damaged and irreparably affected by mold; therefore, a lavender print was scanned for those sections. Following scanning, the images were digitally stabilized and cleaned to eliminate signs of age such as spotting, scratches, and visible splices. In order to bring back the original splendor of the film, the digital grading was executed with particular care, using a vintage copy as a reference, as well as a copy restored in the mid- 90s for Mediaset - Medusa under the supervision of Vincenzo Verzini. The contribution of Ennio Guarnieri, DP Otello Martelli's camera assistant, was invaluable at this stage.

The original sound was digitally restored using the 35 mm optical soundtrack, from which a positive track was printed. Following the acquisition of this element, digital cleaning and background noise reduction were applied.

The restoration has generated a duplicate negative and a new soundtrack for preservation. A complete backup of all the files was produced by the digital restoration was also made, using several data storage media.

The restoration was carried out a L'Immagine Ritrovata Laboratory in 2010.

As with some other text introductions in this set of films previously released by Criterion, the verbiage here is a bit different than what Svet reproduces from the insert booklet of the 2014 release, though this is assumedly the same transfer. More information is available in Svet's review.

La Dolce Vita Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

La Dolce Vita features an LPCM Mono track that sounds interchangeable to my ears with the earlier Criterion release, though I'm once again slightly downgrading the score Svet gave, as with virtually all of these films, I'm not particularly fond of the somewhat hollow boxy sound and occasionally overly reverberant mix, though as Svet rightly describes in his review, fidelity here is fine and all dialogue and score aspects are presented without any issues. Optional English subtitles are available.

La Dolce Vita Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Aside from the absence of an insert leaflet, this release appears to duplicate all of the supplements that were included with Criterion's earlier Blu-ray. More details can be found in Svet's review.

• Second Look (HD; 30:57) offers the final episode of a four part interview Fellini did for Belgian television in 1960. The interview also icnludes a number of others, including Yvonne Furneaux and Marcello Mastroianni. Subtitled in English (and burnt in French).


• Federico Fellini (HD; 30:07) is a 1965 interview done for NBC News featuring Irving R. Levine.


• The Eye & the Beholder (HD; 9:32) is a 2014 visual essay by ::kogonada.


• Lina Wertmuller (HD; 7:25) offers the director's memories of her friend. Subtitled in English.


• David Forgacs (HD; 14:29) is an interview focusing on the film's depiction of cultural changes taking place in Italy at the time of the filming.


• Antonello Sarno (HD; 15:51) is a 2014 interview which among other subjects addresses the "outlandish" fashions in the film. Subtitled in English.


• Once Upon a Time: La Dolce Vita (HD; 52:03) is a 2009 documentary by Antoine de Gaudemar. Subtitled in English.


• Felliniana (HD) offers a gallery of so-called "ephemera" related to the film.

La Dolce Vita Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

La Dolce Vita is one of those films that only helped define its era, it helped define what cinema means and how much impact film can have (and continues to have). Technical merits are solid and the supplements very appealing. Highly recommended.