Fellini Satyricon (18.)
Directed by Federico Fellini. 1969
Starring Martin Potter, Hiram Keller, Max Born, Mario Romagnoli and Capucine. Italian with subtitles or in dubbed English. 128 mins. Released on Blu-ray by Eureka as part of their Masters of Cinema series.
The reaction of anyone seeing Satyricon for the first time is likely to be What The Hell Am I Watching? The reaction of anyone who is familiar with the work of Fellini and has read a bit about the film and is seeing Satyricon for the second/third/ fourth/ umpteenth time is likely to be, What The Hell Am I Watching? Fellini's celebration/ condemnation of the decadence of Nero era Roman Empire is oddly inscrutable: it entices and enthralls; is a wonder to behold but thoroughly aloof. It keeps you at a disdainful distance while still exerting a hold over you. Nothing fades faster than decadence and Fellini Satyricon is considered to be the epitome of film decadence; yet nearly a half century after its release it remains genuinely shocking, or at least abrasive and jarring to an unsettling degree.
What the hell it is, is Fellini's second full film in colour (after Juliet of the Spirits) and an adaptation of the two thousand year old (give or take a century) book by Petronius, a study of life in Rome. The film begins with two students Encolpio (Potter) and Ascilto (Keller) fighting over the affections of the effeminate and submissive boy Giton (Born.) From there the film follows Encolpio as he wanders around Roman society, attending obscenely lavish banquets and getting into scrapes with one eyed sea captains, hermaphrodite deities and Minotaurs.
Satyricon is traditionally described as a science fiction film about the past, but if it is sci-fi it is definitely a post-apocalyptic. The original book survives only in fragments and the film replicates this by having the story jump around from place to place with no effort to explain what happened between or providing any kind of explanation of the wider Roman society. This is a vision of disorder and fragmentation. This should be the height of the Roman Empire but feels like the fall; all we see is groups living in underground cities or scavenging around on the surface. On occasions the sky is the same colour as the sky in David Bowie’s Ashes to Ashes video, a new romantic shade of nuclear fallout.
It is a bleak, ugly vision but also staggeringly beautiful. In this new 4K restoration the 2.35:1 scope images have never looked better. It starts with Potter declaiming against a wall of graffiti and from there the film is a succession of mesmerising visual set pieces – colourful, opulent and extravagant sets that offer an abstract version of Rome, filled with bizarre figures. Typical Fellini, but with a colder, harder edge.
Hard to believe that a decade earlier Fellini was still basically a neo-realist – it’s like Mike Leigh becoming Terry Gilliam. From La Dolce Vita and 8½ onwards, audiences became accustomed to Fellini films being sumptuous freak shows. Satyricon is a little different though – while all the other freaks, like Fellini Roma and City of Women shows were basically benign, there seems to be real contempt here. The film is all tunics and loincloths, leering and hollering, wailing and hysterical laughter. It makes every effort to distance audiences. Apart from the disjointed narrative, there is a lot of unsubtitled (or undubbed, if you're watching that version) dialogue. Early on in the subterranean and banquet scenes a lot of the people on set are allowed to look straight into the camera, peering out at the future with an uncomprehending disinterest.
Satyricon inspired many filmmakers but the film that it has most in common with is Caligula. Not just because the subject matter and visual style are very similar but because the attitude is almost identical – they are both examples of glum costume pornography. It's common for artists to replicate the bacchanalian excesses of the past to condemn the excesses of the present, but there's always a little underhand titillation at work. Caligula, the most expensive porn movie ever made, seems to despair of pornography and Satyricon takes just as little pleasure in its perversity. It also doesn't seem particularly bothered with making parallels with contemporary society. There's an anger there but anger at what? If anything Satyricon's disillusionment is rooted in the notion of history; it is affronted and distressed that there was something before the present day.
It's been beautifully restored but really Satyricon is not a film to watch at home, it is best seen in an old drafty rep cinema, in a scratchy print where the reels are in the wrong order. (Fellini achieves what Tarantino was grasping after when he made Grindhouse.) It is also, like a lot of later Fellini, a film that may be best enjoyed in short bursts, a half hour or so. It all gets a bit oppressive after a while. It is hard to love but essential to watch. It is one of Fellini's greatest achievements; though what exactly it achieves is a mystery.
Extras.
The original “Rome – Before Christ, After Fellini” trailer.
The choice of Italian or English soundtrack.
A 48 page booklet of essays.
Directed by Federico Fellini. 1969
Starring Martin Potter, Hiram Keller, Max Born, Mario Romagnoli and Capucine. Italian with subtitles or in dubbed English. 128 mins. Released on Blu-ray by Eureka as part of their Masters of Cinema series.
The reaction of anyone seeing Satyricon for the first time is likely to be What The Hell Am I Watching? The reaction of anyone who is familiar with the work of Fellini and has read a bit about the film and is seeing Satyricon for the second/third/ fourth/ umpteenth time is likely to be, What The Hell Am I Watching? Fellini's celebration/ condemnation of the decadence of Nero era Roman Empire is oddly inscrutable: it entices and enthralls; is a wonder to behold but thoroughly aloof. It keeps you at a disdainful distance while still exerting a hold over you. Nothing fades faster than decadence and Fellini Satyricon is considered to be the epitome of film decadence; yet nearly a half century after its release it remains genuinely shocking, or at least abrasive and jarring to an unsettling degree.
What the hell it is, is Fellini's second full film in colour (after Juliet of the Spirits) and an adaptation of the two thousand year old (give or take a century) book by Petronius, a study of life in Rome. The film begins with two students Encolpio (Potter) and Ascilto (Keller) fighting over the affections of the effeminate and submissive boy Giton (Born.) From there the film follows Encolpio as he wanders around Roman society, attending obscenely lavish banquets and getting into scrapes with one eyed sea captains, hermaphrodite deities and Minotaurs.
Satyricon is traditionally described as a science fiction film about the past, but if it is sci-fi it is definitely a post-apocalyptic. The original book survives only in fragments and the film replicates this by having the story jump around from place to place with no effort to explain what happened between or providing any kind of explanation of the wider Roman society. This is a vision of disorder and fragmentation. This should be the height of the Roman Empire but feels like the fall; all we see is groups living in underground cities or scavenging around on the surface. On occasions the sky is the same colour as the sky in David Bowie’s Ashes to Ashes video, a new romantic shade of nuclear fallout.
It is a bleak, ugly vision but also staggeringly beautiful. In this new 4K restoration the 2.35:1 scope images have never looked better. It starts with Potter declaiming against a wall of graffiti and from there the film is a succession of mesmerising visual set pieces – colourful, opulent and extravagant sets that offer an abstract version of Rome, filled with bizarre figures. Typical Fellini, but with a colder, harder edge.
Hard to believe that a decade earlier Fellini was still basically a neo-realist – it’s like Mike Leigh becoming Terry Gilliam. From La Dolce Vita and 8½ onwards, audiences became accustomed to Fellini films being sumptuous freak shows. Satyricon is a little different though – while all the other freaks, like Fellini Roma and City of Women shows were basically benign, there seems to be real contempt here. The film is all tunics and loincloths, leering and hollering, wailing and hysterical laughter. It makes every effort to distance audiences. Apart from the disjointed narrative, there is a lot of unsubtitled (or undubbed, if you're watching that version) dialogue. Early on in the subterranean and banquet scenes a lot of the people on set are allowed to look straight into the camera, peering out at the future with an uncomprehending disinterest.
Satyricon inspired many filmmakers but the film that it has most in common with is Caligula. Not just because the subject matter and visual style are very similar but because the attitude is almost identical – they are both examples of glum costume pornography. It's common for artists to replicate the bacchanalian excesses of the past to condemn the excesses of the present, but there's always a little underhand titillation at work. Caligula, the most expensive porn movie ever made, seems to despair of pornography and Satyricon takes just as little pleasure in its perversity. It also doesn't seem particularly bothered with making parallels with contemporary society. There's an anger there but anger at what? If anything Satyricon's disillusionment is rooted in the notion of history; it is affronted and distressed that there was something before the present day.
It's been beautifully restored but really Satyricon is not a film to watch at home, it is best seen in an old drafty rep cinema, in a scratchy print where the reels are in the wrong order. (Fellini achieves what Tarantino was grasping after when he made Grindhouse.) It is also, like a lot of later Fellini, a film that may be best enjoyed in short bursts, a half hour or so. It all gets a bit oppressive after a while. It is hard to love but essential to watch. It is one of Fellini's greatest achievements; though what exactly it achieves is a mystery.
Extras.
The original “Rome – Before Christ, After Fellini” trailer.
The choice of Italian or English soundtrack.
A 48 page booklet of essays.
