Fellini Satyricon [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Federico Fellini Federico Fellini

Overview

Federico Fellini's intent with Fellini Satyricon was not to bring Rome to task, but to draw parallels between the libertinism of the Eternal City and the hippie culture of the 1960s. Martin Potter plays Encolpius, a young Roman student who spends the early portions of the film battling with his friend Ascyltus (Hiram Keller, a veteran of the Broadway musical Hair) over the affections of androgynous youth Giton (Max Born). Ascyltus wins, whereupon Encolpius embarks upon a hallucinatory odyssey throughout the empire. He partakes in a spectacular drunken orgy staged in a crumbling multistoried building (which collapses under the weight of the revellers); is captured by bisexual sea captain Lichas (Alain Cuny) and Lichas' concubine Tryphaena (Capucine, barely recognizable under her period makeup); rejoins Ascyltus for a visit to a respectable Roman couple who commit suicide rather than endure the deterioration of their moral values; joins in a plot to kidnap a "sacred" hermaphrodite; and much more. Woven throughout the proceedings are such pure Petronius anecdotes as the story of a widow who rescues her soldier lover from punishment for leaving his post ("Better a dead husband than a dead lover"). The concluding sequence involves a group of avaricious heirs who are compelled by the terms of the will to eat the corpse of a departed relative. Despite his sordid portrait of Petronius' Rome, Fellini concludes Satyricon on a hopeful note.

Product Details

Release Date:	02/24/2015
UPC:	0715515136518
Original Release:	1969
Rating:	R
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	A
Language:	English
Time:	2:10:00
Sales rank:	11,795

Special Features

Audio commentary featuring an adaptation of Eileen Lanouette Hughes's memoir On the Set of "Fellini Satyricon": A behind-the-scenes diary; Ciao, Federico!, Gideon Bachmann's hour-long documentary shot on the set of Fellini Satyricon; Archival interviews with Director Federico Fellini; New interview with Rotunno; New documentary about Fellini's adaptation of Petronius's work, featuring interviews with classicists Luca Canali, a consultant on the film, and Joanna Paul; New interview with photographer Mary Ellen Mark about her experiences on the set and her iconic photographs of Fellini and his film; Felliniana, a presentation of Fellini Satyricon ephemera from the collection of Don Young; Trailer; Plus: an essay by film scholar Michael Wood

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Martin Potter	Encolpius
Hiram Keller	Ascyltus
Salvo Randone	Eumolpus
Max Born	Giton
Fanfulla	Vernacchio
Mario Romagnoli	Trimalchio
Capucine	Tryphaena
Alain Cuny	Lichas
Magali Noel	Fortunata
Lucia Bose	Suicide Wife
Tanya Lopert	Caesar
Gordon Mitchell	Robber
Donyale Luna	Oenothea
Giuseppe Sanvitale	Habinnas
Hylette Adolphe	Oriental Slave Girl
Joseph Wheeler	Suicide Husband
Eugenio Mastropietro	Cinedo
Danica La Loggia	Scintilla
Antonia Pietrosi	Widow of Ephesus
Wolfgang Hillinger	Soldier at Tomb
Elio Gigante	Owner of Garden of Delights
Pasquale Baldassare	Hermaphrodite
Sibilla Sedat	Nymphomaniac
Lorenzo Piani	Her Husband
Luigi Zerbinati	Her Slave
Vittorio Vittori	Notary
Carlo Giordana	Captain of Ship
Marcello DiFolco	Proconsul
Luigi Montefiori	Minotaur
Elisa Mainardi	Ariadne
Suleiman Ali Nashnush	Tryphaena's Attendant
Luigi Battaglia	Transvestite
Tania Duckworth	Brothel Girl
Maria De Sisti	Fat Woman
Elizabetta Moscatelli	Actor
Antonia Mirio	Actor
Luigi Visconti	Vernacchio
Richard Simmons	Actor
Il Moro	Actor
Ilhan Mimaroglu	Composer
Tod Dockstader	Composer
Andrew Rudin	Composer
Nino Rota	Composer
Carlo Rustichelli	Composer

Technical Credits

Federico Fellini

Bernardino Zapponi

Brunello Rondi

Federico Fellini	Director,Screenwriter
Alberto Grimaldi	Producer
Adriano Pischiutta	Special Effects
Bernardino Zapponi	Screenwriter
Brunello Rondi	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

A director known for picaresque narratives and grotesque imagery, Federico Fellini's Satyricon is easily his most lurid and bizarre work. The film is both a continuation of the director's obsessions and a stark break from previous works. Just as in La Dolce Vita and 8 1/2, Fellini strives to create a work that captures the zeitgeist of a given era with his inimitable brand of psychological realism. Unlike his earlier works, Satyricon dispenses with any kind of moorings in reality, favoring instead a stream of pungent images barely connected by narrative. Though the film is structured with a fragmented narrative, Satyricon is far from being formless. As a whole, the film is a rumination on the varieties of male sexuality. The first third of the film deals with primarily homosexual themes: Encolpio is heartbroken over the loss of his boy lover; Trimalchio lavishes attention on his; and the Lichas impresses Encolpio into a gay wedding at sea. The middle section complicates manners, first with a threesome between Encolpio, Ascilto, and a young slave girl, and then more strikingly with the presence of the hermaphrodite fortune teller. The film finishes by exploring hetero motifs: Encolpio discovers that he is impotent while flailing around on the alter of the whore-priestess, and then recovers his virility while pleasuring Oneothea, a corpulent sorceress sex therapist. On another level, Satyricon mirrors the chaos and decadence of Europe in the late '60s. Every character in the film is corrupt, libidinous, avaricious, and estranged from tradition and family. Ancient Rome is rotten to the core. Taken in conjunction with films like La Dolce Vita, Fellini's critique of modern mores develops a real bite. Though not as highly regarded as his other works such as La Strada, Satyricon is a rich and lyrical masterpiece.

All Movie Guide - Jonathan Crow