vanity

His films like 'La Dolce Vita' and '8½' dissect the vanity of the entertainment industry, celebrity culture, and the human desire for admiration through visually sumptuous yet morally hollow worlds.

He explores vanity through obsessive character studies that reveal how ego, desire, and self-deception trap individuals in destructive power dynamics and tragic relationships.

His provocative films interrogate vanity, beauty, and narcissism within systems of corruption and materialism, particularly in works like 'Salò' and his Decameron adaptations.