They even stripped the tree that was said to have sheltered the Madonna with its branches. Marcello never actually “meets” the children, but the audience does, and The High swiftly follows The Encounter in the rain, as the children run around, pointing at empty places, claiming they see the Madonna, and the crowd follows them in an uproar, wanting the blessings of the Virgin Mary to themselves, regardless of their religious teachings, ultimately representing human selfishness. Marcello was deeply disturbed at his best friend’s suicide, but goes to pick up Steiner’s wife while paparazzi swarm around them.īetween the parts of the Steiner episode, the Madonna-sighting would be the fourth. The Tragedy is, obviously, the suicide of Steiner after he killed his two children, because he didn’t wish for them to experience the ugly side of the world. While it wasn’t the most “high,” the party would count as the second step. He later invites Marcello to the gathering at his house, where they listen to sounds of nature recorded on tape-a homage to the fact that this is all being portrayed in a movie-natural scenes put into manmade recorders and distributed. The Encounter is at a church, where Steiner plays the organ for Marcello. The third episode is scattered throughout the film, but mainly centers around Marcello’s relationship with the wealthy intellectual Steiner. Peter’s dome would be the first time they’ve “met.” There are ups and downs in the events following, but mainly, The High would be the party Sylvia dances at, and the overarching Tragedy would be when the sun rises, and the water in the Trevi Fountain gets turned off it effectively broke the movie-esque spell of love and romance Marcello and Sylvia were in, prompting them to leave. The arrival of American actress Sylvia marks the beginning of the “second episode,” and his talk with Sylvia on the top of St. When Marcello returns home and finds Emma on the ground, having overdosed, his panicked professions of eternal love is The Tragedy. The High would be when they went to the house of a prostitute and proceeds to make love. He sees her by chance, which would be The Encounter. The first principal episode is Marcello’s meeting with Maddalena at the nightclub. Each Encounter offers the hope of a new life for Marcello, each High convinces him that the life is perfect for him, and each Tragedy sends Marcello’s hopes crumbling down, until, at last, he hits rock bottom at the ending party, with the eye of nature looking up at him, and Marcello being too blind to recognize the girl, and most importantly, his writing, which might have saved him. While Marcello’s many episodes with different people at different places may not seem to be in order of particular importance, each story arc seems to have the plot sequence of 1.) The Encounter, 2.) The High, and finally 3.) The Tragedy. Paola is still smiling after him, smiling in the face of how sad it is that he can’t see what he should be doing. It ends with a remembrance of the small, good, hopeful time when Marcello was trying to be himself. The movie ends like this, with a long close up of the little angel smiling. He is too far off the path of his writing to be able to interpret her signs. But the wind is too strong he can’t hear her. She’s gesturing to Marcello across an estuary, making typing motions, reminding him of his true calling. Then at the end of the movie, Paola shows up again. Even though Marcello writes next to nothing and goes back to his regular life fast, there has been one moment of truth for him. He compares the serving girl, Paola, to an angel: in fact, the whole scene is a kind of heaven, like the eye of a hurricane. Marcello is wasting the only time he has given himself to be a writer, but the scene is also hopeful: at least there is a brief interval where he tries to do what he is meant to do. The scene at the very center of the movie where he is working on his book is the one scene where he is trying to write for himself, putting his talents to use-but he writes hardly anything. Marcello is a writer at heart, but he is too obsessed with “the sweet life” to realize it or to become a writer. By the end of the scene, the viewer is not overcome with the anguish of Marcello and Emma’s relationship, although the sadness in the scene is clearly felt. It is obvious that their love is unhealthy, but the scene is constructed hilariously. At first Emma won’t get back into the car, but then she won’t get out: “‘Where are you going, stupid? Come here,’ ‘No,’ … ‘Get out of this car!’ ‘No!’ ” Marcello wants to be rid of Emma’s “aggressive, sticky, maternal love,” but he keeps coming back to her anyway he leaves her on the side of the road, then comes back in the morning and ends up in bed with her. An example of this is the scene when Marcello and Emma are fighting in Marcello’s car.
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