La Dolce Vita is a movie that follows Marcello, a gossip rag writer who lives a fast-paced life off Via Venito in Rome. He has a pretty girlfriend, interesting friends, access to beautiful women, a decent job, and a dream of being a respected writer. “Now that’s the lifestyle I wouldn’t mind living,” I thought, halfway through the movie. But things weren’t so great beneath the surface. The surface image looks exciting, but the movie keeps pulling back the curtain.

His relationship with his smothering girlfriend was draining him, most of his friends were vapid parasites, the beautiful women had nothing to offer him but their beauty, and his job was wholly unfulfilling. And when his most respected friend committed suicide, Marcello simply gave up and became the type of upper-class garbage that he wrote about, defeated by bitterness and cynicism. The shine of the life was there, but the life itself was hollow.

This movie does not tie things up for you in a neat little package. It does not tell you what the sweet life is, what is right or wrong, and who is good or bad, but it does make you think about your own life. What did it mean when Steiner, the most successful character in the movie, kills himself and his children? The main theme is entrapment, and the characters are trapped by their desires or their lot. They can see the walls, but they do not know how to walk out of them.

The sweet life is about being free, but sweetness for me will not be sweetness for you. It’s the freedom to go for long-term meaning instead of short-term thrills, of not letting yourself be held back, and of avoiding comfort. Marcello thought being a respected writer would make his life better, but it’s really the attempt, trying to be something, that would have made the difference in his life. The journey matters more than the label at the end.