I Vitelloni, written and directed by Federico Fellini

I Vitelloni, written and directed by Federico Fellini

                I Vitelloni is a superb film.

                However,It is not in the same league with:

La Dolce Vita, 8 ½, Amarcord, The Nights of Cabiria, La Strada, Juliet of the Spirits but it is outstanding nevertheless.

I Vitelloni was nominated for one of the Twelve Oscars (!) for which Federico Fellini was listed.

Moraldo Rubini, Alberto, Fausto, Leopoldo and Riccardo are all friends.

Moraldo Rubini is the positive, almost the role model type.

Signature strengths abound in the description of this character:

Integrity, Fairness, Wisdom and Knowledge, Justice, Temperance, Transcendence, Humanity and

Humility/modesty, Forgiveness and Mercy, Prudence, Self-regulation, hope, Gratitude, Love, Kindness and more.

Moraldo has a beautiful, candid and charming sister- Sandra Rubini.

Fausto Moretti is infatuated and attracted to her.

However, this is the evil character of the narrative, although he does experience if not a Redemption, at least some form of rehabilitation.

Fausto seduces Sandra, who becomes sick at an event and the doctor brought to see her asks for privacy.

This is when the dark side of Moretti is on display.

He runs home and tries to escape, by running away from the small town, only to be trapped by his father.

Fausto is so weak that he takes another beating, with the belt no less, from his parent later in the film.

Sandra is pregnant and the honorable father forces his son to do the moral gesture of marrying the girl.

The newly wed is then offered a job in a small shop where he tries to seduce the wife of the owner.

This man is feverish in his pursuit of women.

In one instance, he is at the cinema with his spouse and does not hesitate to touch the woman on the other side.

When she leaves the theater, Fausto gets up, walks out of the cinema and follows the woman to her house.

The poor wife is left to wait for him in front of the theater, after the show is finished and the lousy man has not returned.

He is fired from his job, when his employer understands what the shop assistant tries to do with the owner’s wife.

Moraldo is slow to realize how vicious, rotten and flawed his friend is.

Fausto lies about the reason why he was fired and convinces Moraldo to help him get some statues from the shop he had worked in.

Faced with the artwork, Moraldo protests that this is stealing, but his “friend” convinces him that he deserves reparation and a severance package, that he decides to take for himself.

Sandra gives birth to a child.

Nevertheless, her husband is not prevented from cheating her once he becomes a father and has an affair with a performer.

This is the moment when finally, Moraldo thinks more seriously about Fausto and his series of insults and shenanigans.

He tells his brother in law that he should have thought about his wife, before sleeping with another woman.

Sandra is at the end of her resilience and has a breakdown after which she disappears, terrifying her family…

-          Will she come back?

-          Has she done something drastic?

It takes some minutes of drama before we get an answer to these questions.