(Here's Take I).
Marcello (played by Marcello Mastroianni) seemed to have it all. Great looks, women falling for him, a fiancée prepared to kill herself for him - he lead a glitzy lifestyle, being a reporter for a gossip magazine, but he could maintain the friendship and respect of intellectuals, along with praise for his literary talent. Yet all this would prove to be superficial. In one of cinema's classic scenes, near the film's end, Marcello and his fellow party-goers get to see a dead giant fish ashore. Its empty eyes mirrored the emptiness Marcello felt, the void in his soul, which he would try to fill with the lifestyle he was leading. The search for what is missing (most people, including our protagonist, seem not to know what it is) is reflected in a whole sequence, where a large number of pilgrims gather to witness some supposedly miraculous apparition of the Virgin Mary which is, in fact, a scam perpetrated by two schooled small children.
Only once, during the whole movie, does Marcello realize that he knows what he is missing and that he has it in front of him: beauty and innocence, in the form of a girl serving him at a seaside restaurant, whom he sees in mid-movie. He calls her an angel and the viewer can see that, regardless of Marcello's overall spiritual beliefs, he does believe, at least in that moment, in angels and he almost worships her. He sees that girl again at the final scene and tries to communicate with her - but strong winds and a water basin that lies between them renders their communication impossible. It is evident: he has lost his chance with the angel.
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