Anouk Aimée Against the Wall", 1958). Besides the French cinema, Aimée's career include a number of films made in Spain, Great Britain, Italy and Germany. She achieved worldwide attention in Fellini's "La Dolce Vita" (the Good Life, 1960) and "Lola" (1961). She appeared again in Fellini's "8½", and would remain in Italy during the first half of the 1960s, making films for a number of Italian directors. Because of her role in "La Dolce Vita", biographer Dave Thompson describes Aimée as a "rising star who exploded" onto the film world. He adds that singer-songwriter Patti Smith, who in her teens saw the
La Dolce Vita dawn. Also employed as an ordering device is the image of a downward spiral that Marcello sets in motion when descending the first of several staircases (including ladders) that open and close episodes. The upshot is that the film's aesthetic form, rather than its content, embodies the theme of Rome as a moral wasteland. Writing for "L'Espresso", the Italian novelist Alberto Moravia highlighted the film's variations in tone, In "Filmcritica XI", Italian poet and film director Pier Paolo Pasolini argued that ""La Dolce Vita" was too important to be discussed as one would normally discuss a film. Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, film