Journalist and man-about-town Marcello struggles to find his place in the world, torn between the allure of Rome's elite social scene and the stifling domesticity offered by his girlfriend, all the while searching for a way to become a serious writer.
The film was hugely successful and widely praised in its time, though it's really nothing more than the old C.B. De Mille formula of titillation and moralizing.
– Dave Kehr,
Chicago Reader,
8 May 2007
fresh:
Everything has changed, and nothing has changed. How sour it still is.
– David Fear,
Time Out New York,
1 Jun 2011
rotten:
Fellini has set out to move us with the depravity of contemporary life and has chosen what seems to me a poor method: cataloging sins. Very soon we find ourselves thinking: Is that all?