Fellini Satyricon has the look of a
spectacular box office failure, richly filled with extravagant visuals and an
often incoherent storyline. Loosely based on the classic Roman satire written
by Petronius during the reign of Nero, Fellini’s film is an episodic collection
that plays up the infamous Roman excessiveness in decadence for visual splendor
and disgust, in equal measure. Story becomes nearly insignificant compared to
the film’s visual self-indulgence, though there are a series of characters we
follow through much of the narrative.
The film begins
with a dispute over a young slave boy, who two men both want as their sexual
pet. Encolpio (Martin Potter) believes himself to be in love with the
feminine-looking slave boy, Giton (Max Born), though he has been sold to a
theater company by the callous Ascilto (Hiram Keller). Ironically, even after
Encolpio has freed Giton, he chooses to return to the company of Ascilto
anyway. After an earthquake and a series of other events, these three are
snatched up and sold into slavery, leading to a series of often disjointed
adventures often laced with implications of homosexuality.
The film often
feels disconnected and incoherent due to the way we jump from one segment to
the next, often without explanation or reason. This could very well have been a
deliberate feeling thrust upon the audience as a way of capturing the essence
of the text, which has portions missing and feels incomplete as a result.
Whatever the reason, the result seems to emphasis ideas and themes over plot
that could skip forward without reason or explanation at any point. The one
thing that remains consistent is the lushness of the costumes and characters
within the bleak or despair-filled settings.
Though there are
many questionable choices within Fellini
Satyricon which make it difficult film to recommend for an evening of
entertainment, there is also no denying the significance it has had on other
filmmakers. Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Trilogy of Life (The Decameron, Arabian Nights,
The Canterbury
The Blu-ray
special edition release features a new 4K digital restoration, supervised by
director of photography Giuseppe Rotunno, along with an uncompressed monaural
soundtrack. The special features include an audio commentary featuring an
adaptation of Eileen Lanouette Hughes’s memoir “On the Set of Fellini Satyricon: A Behind-the-Scenes
Diary, as well as Gideon Bachmann’s hour-long making-of documentary, a handful
of new and archival interviews, and a new documentary on the film. Also
included is a foldout insert, with an essay by film scholar Michael Wood on one
side and a poster on the opposite.
Entertainment Value:
6/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 8.5/10
Historical
Significance: 8/10
Special Features: 9.5/10
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