Fellini SATYRICON

A highly liberal adaptation of Gaius Petronius’ Latin work of fiction, first published around the 1st Century AD, Federico Fellini’s film cleverly juxtaposes ancient Roman customs and debauchery with the anarchic counter-culture of Europe in the late Sixties. The result is as audacious as it is bewildering, suggesting a journey in the state of frenzied delirium.

Depicting a series of depraved, violent and satirical episodes set during the reign of Nero in imperial Rome; we are introduced to the main character Encolpio (Martin Potter) who is also the narrator. He is devastated over the loss of his young lover Gitone (Max Born) to Ascilto (Hiram Keller) – a young man who, it is suggested, was a previous lover of Encolpio. Searching for Gitone he finds him in a theatre and storms the stage, taking the man-boy with him. On the way back to Encolpio’s home, a strange-looking tenement building, they pass a brothel where they witness numerous erotic scenes before finally arriving in Encolpio’s room and making love. A little later Ascilto enters and succeeds in winning Gitone back again. After the pair has left, the shattered Encolpio contemplates suicide but a sudden earthquake brings his plans – and his home – to an abrupt end.

Thus begins the long journey of Encolpio during which he encounters all sorts of adventures and misadventures, most notably a bawdy banquet held by the rich Trimalchione (Mario Romagnoli) and his wife Fortunata (Magali Noel), culminating in an orgy and a crazed dance. At some point during his trip, Encolpio finds Ascilto and Giton again and they continue their travels as a trio. Along the way they get kidnapped by pirates lead by Lichas the merchant, who later gets beheaded. In another sequence they spend the night in a deserted villa where they make love to a freed African slave girl, encounter a nymphomaniac in a wagon during a desert storm, kidnap a hermaphrodite – worshipped as a demi-god – in order to ask for ransom but the hermaphrodite dies of thirst when exposed to the desert sun. Later still, Encolpio is captured by soldiers and released in a labyrinth where he is forced to play the part of Theseus and fight with a gladiator masked as Minotaur (George Eastman) while bemused spectators cheer on. As a price, Encolpio is invited to have sex with the beautiful Ariane (Elisa Mainardi) but realises that he has become impotent. At some point, Encolpio and friends are taken to the Garden Of Delights where his impotence may be cured by prostitutes. The plan fails though Encolpio is eventually cured by the powerful sorceress Enotea (Donyale Luna). Meanwhile, Ascilto is murdered by a boatman and embittered by his ill-fortunes, Encolpia decides to board a ship and head for Africa. The film ends suddenly with an image if an island emerging on the horizon, and the central characters of the story appear as ancient frescoes on a wall.

As famously described by its director, Fellini Satyricon is a science-fiction film, but one that looks backward into the past rather than forward into the future. The mood is deliberately dream-like and often the individual episodes give the feel of surreal stage sets, paired by bizarre costumes and make-up which gives the characters a neo-pagan and tribal look. Like the original work by Petronious, the film’s ‘plot’ is highly fragmented and occasionally random as if to emphasize the chaotic social structure of the time, but also the non-conformist thinking and antics of the inhabitants of this world.

The Blu-ray edition of SATYRICON offers the following bonus features:
• New 1080p presentation of the film, from a new 4K restoration
• Alternate English-language dub track
• Original theatrical trailer
• 48-PAGE BOOKLET featuring a new essay by Pasquale Iannone on Fellini and his usage of the 'Scope frame; rare archival imagery; and more