Having already given us a tour of hedonistic modern-day Rome with La Dolce Vita, director Federico Fellini decided on a lascivious return to Italy, this time of the ancient variety by bringing to the screen his Satyricon, a disjointed, patchwork picaresque using bits and pieces of Nero arbiter Petronius' legendary sociological comic farce with much added material from the writer-director. Though critic/social commentator Parker Tyler once observed that Satyricon was the "most profoundly homosexual movie in all history" (and this after having seen The Boys in the Band released around the same time), it's really nothing of the sort. Fellini’s epoch drama captures the polysexual ambiance and overall barbarism of its era quite well enough, but with one of cinema's most notorious heterosexuals at its helm, there isn’t really much erotic about the movie no matter which characters are paired together at any given moment. The sexuality portrayed in the film in which everyone accepts sexual urgings without questioning any inherent morality and without prejudice is only part of a larger picture of a world Fellini is showing that is almost totally alien to our own.
Studio: Criterion
Distributed By: N/A
Video Resolution and Encode: 1080P/AVC
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audio: Other
Subtitles: English
Rating: R
Run Time: 2 Hr. 10 Min.
Package Includes: Blu-ray
keep caseDisc Type: BD50 (dual layer)
Region: A
Release Date: 02/24/2015
MSRP: $39.95
The Production Rating: 4/5
Secondly, the film’s pacing is glacial. Writer-director Federico Fellini is attempting to present the ancient world not as a precursor to our own but rather as an entity completely foreign to our own, and to do that, he spends long periods, for example, basking in an orgy/banquet sequence or a ritual suicide at a villa or a temple where worshipers bring the sick and afflicted or the brothel called the Garden of Delights so we can observe behaviors, customs, and visages of a time and a place which have little or no bearing on modern civilization (Fellini makes no effort to make connections to modern day parallels; he leaves that to an audience if it's interested in doing so). In his customary way, Fellini has hired people with interesting or fascinating faces and body types and then revels in their individuality. All sizes, shapes, and colors (with makeup augmenting natural flesh tones by Rino Carbone) are ripe for his camera, and the costuming by Danilo Donati and production design by Dontai and Luigi Scaccianoce then completes the mise-en-scene Fellini is trying to capture.
Besides the slender storyline and the measured pacing, one must also not go into Satyricon expecting to be erotically titillated. While there are heterosexual and homosexual pairings and even threesomes of multiple descriptions, sexual dalliance really isn’t of interest to the director (nor, for that matter, are the usual stagings of debauchery which often accompany Hollywood renditions of the ancient world, particularly during the Roman era of Nero and immediately afterward). He seems to be more interested in capturing the looks, the flavors, and the textures of life in the period: a mock burial, for example, so a rich man can see how his household would react to his passing, a walk around an art gallery to show the citizenry’s lack of interest in the fine arts, the tone and tenor of the bathhouses and the tenements of the time. The script by Fellini and Bernardino Zapponi often takes unexpected segues from a sequence to start a parable or myth only to return to where it was before in a few minutes. Such jarring interruptions would be unthinkable in most films, but it’s just a fact of life with Satyricon.
With the voices of the principals dubbed by uncredited Italian actors, one must simply say that Fellini has chosen his porcelain three principal actors for their looks alone, and if Martin Potter, Hiram Keller, and Max Born sometimes seem more of their era than those of ancient times, they do as the Maestro has instructed and convey appropriately what is needed in any particular scene. For the more flamboyant characters, actors Salvo Randone as an aging poet, Mario Romagnoli as the wealthy man, Magali Noël as his dancing wife, Fanfulla as the famously farting actor Vernacchio, and Alain Cuny as the Roman general all convey wonderfully the demands of their parts. The most famous name in the cast for English-speaking audiences is Capucine who plays the wife of Alain Cuny’s general. She’s given next to nothing to do in that sequence and makes little impression except to look lovely.
Video Rating: 5/5 3D Rating: NA
Audio Rating: 4.5/5
Special Features Rating: 5/5
Ciao, Federico! (1:00:15, HD): a 1970 documentary about the famous director’s life and career with behind-the-scenes views during the filming of Satyricon. Directed by Gideon Bachmann.
Three Fellini Interviews (HD): a 1969 audio interview with Gideon Bachmann (10:48), a 1969 French television interview (1:38), and a 1975 interview with Gene Shalit (2:08).
Giuseppe Rotunno Interview (7:38, HD): the famed cinematographer in 2011 discusses the pleasures and difficulties of working with Fellini especially on Satyricon.
Fellini and Petronius (23:51, HD): educator Joanna Paul and adviser Luca Canali discuss impressions of the film compared to the original work and other influences on Fellini that suggested various set pieces in the movie.
Mary Ellen Mark Interview (12:57, HD): Look magazine photographer took pictures on the set for a month and discusses her experiences covering the movie.
Felliniana (HD) a step-through gallery of Don Young’s memorabilia collection on the movie
Theatrical Trailer (2:24, HD)
Enclosed Pamphlet: contains cast and crew lists, information of the transfer, and film author Michael Wood’s essay on the production.
Timeline: can be pulled up from the menu or by pushing the red button on the remote. It shows you your progress on the disc, the title of the chapter you’re now in, and index markers for the commentary that goes along with the film, all of which can be switched on the fly. Additionally, two other buttons on the remote can place or remove bookmarks if you decide to stop viewing before reaching the end of the film or want to mark specific places for later reference.
Overall Rating: 4.5/5
Reviewed By: Matt Hough
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