Fellini Satyricon-1969

Director Federico Fellini

Starring Martin Potter, Hiram Keller

Scott’s Review #530

Reviewed November 30, 2016

Grade: A

Fellini Satyricon (1969) is a fascinating experience and is a great film, but only for the very broad-minded and patient viewer- it is more of an “experience” than watching a conventional start-to-finish type finish.

It is nothing of that nature.

I both loved the trip and was fascinated by the creativity and depth of it- dreamlike is a word that immediately springs to mind.

The story does not make perfect sense, nor does it need to. The fact that it is set some two thousand years ago is fantastic in itself as the sets are filled with decadent imagination.

The film is certainly not for everyone and is a fairy tale for adults.

It tells of a journey through Ancient Rome and is divided into nine chapters. A scholar (Encolpius) and his friend (Ascyltus) traverse the land in the hopes of winning the heart of a young boy (Giton).

They are both in love with him and the topics of bisexuality, public sex, slavery, and brothels are explored.

I love Fellini films because they are wild, dream-like, fantasy-like, with odd characters.

Is Fellini Satyricon strange? Absolutely. But that is to its credit- this film is highly imaginative, and wild, and will leave one pondering its beauty afterward.

Oscar Nominations: Best Director-Federico Fellini