La Dolce Vita

Winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes, this sprawling, scathing satire on the decadence of contemporary Italy and the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church confirmed Federico Fellini's reputation for flamboyant, controversial imagery. Marcello Mastroianni is outstanding here as the journalist who, by day, jostles with the paparazzi in the hunt for movie stars, miraculous visitations and flying statues of Christ. By night, he indulges his passion for intellectual pretension and the indolent delights of the jet set, which includes an unforgettable encounter with Anita Ekberg in Rome's Trevi fountain. A dire warning that Italy was still politically and socially prone to the false promises of Fascism, this almost Dantesque odyssey so drained its Oscar-nominated director, he did not make another feature for three years.