Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

Satyricon

Play trailer Poster for Satyricon R 1969 2h 8m Drama LGBTQ+ Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
76% Tomatometer 33 Reviews 74% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
After his young lover, Gitone (Max Born), leaves him for another man, Encolpio (Martin Potter) decides to kill himself, but a sudden earthquake destroys his home before he has a chance to do so. Now wandering around Rome in the time of Nero, Encolpio encounters one bizarre and surreal scene after another. He's invited to a poetry reading that ends in violence; is taken hostage by pirates; and is even forced to battle a gladiator disguised as a minotaur in a giant labyrinth.
Satyricon

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Episodic and strange, Satyricon offers a hedonistic tour through an ancient Rome that exists not in history books, but from Federico Fellini's singular imagination.

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View More
Derek Malcolm Guardian 03/20/2018
Stunning camerawork in deliberately garish colour from Giuseppe Rotunna, incomparable art direction, and some riveting music from Nini Rota aid Fellini in his principal task, which is simply to astonish and to widen the imagination. Go to Full Review
Keith Phipps The Dissolve 02/23/2015
4/5
It's, by design, an overwhelming film, and sometimes an exhausting one, but the melancholy and wariness keep it grounded. Go to Full Review
Variety Staff Variety 09/13/2008
Federico Fellini presents an incredible fresco-like vision of Rome's social structure 2,000 years ago in which survival and pleasure were man's sole motivating forces. Go to Full Review
Zita Short InSession Film 02/07/2023
D-
Fellini at his laziest... Go to Full Review
Dennis Harvey 48 Hills 05/04/2022
Equally classic in an entirely different way... Go to Full Review
Jordan M. Smith IONCINEMA.com 10/29/2020
3/5
It must be said that, though Fellini Satyricon is unarguably astounding in its visual depiction and its audacious narrative form, I find it personally a bit impenetrable. That said, it could be argued that that is indeed the point. Go to Full Review
Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More
g j 4d Hallucinatory and dreamlike and visually engaging, butits structure and pacing are too chaotic to really deliver. There's probably a story in there somewhere? See more 06/24/2022 If you ever get a chance to see this movie on a big screen, do not miss it! While I found the story to be very interesting the visuals are a complete experience in themselves. A truly beautiful film. See more @Lakeman 06/12/2022 Not for me. I didn't appreciate what Fellini brought to the screen with this one. I find Roger Ebert's claim that the movie 'shows humanity in their unfiltered nakedness' preposterous, incredibly shortsighted, and an attempt to bring much greater gravitas to a work that doesn't measure up to it. I'm quite certain the great majority of non-Europeans/Italians would not turn to such behavior, indeed building a culture out of such behavior as it becomes typical of the customs of a people. I can appreciate Fellini's apparent intent in setting the dubbing so it doesn't synch with the actor's mouths. but it still takes me out of the film too much rather than adding to the 'profound sense of estrangement throughout the film'. It's jarring. 2.6 stars See more thomas d 05/26/2022 A movie that will always add something new upon each viewing. It transports the viewer to a hellish and depraved Rome where anything goes. Not for the faint of heart. See more @Cameron11 01/22/2022 A film with a nice cinematography and a unique vision but a film that also lacks an overall cohesive story. The film starts with Encolpius who tries but fails to win make his slave(?), Giton. His flat is then destroyed and he is confusingly in an art study talking to Eumolpus and they travel to Vernchacchio's party which goes on too long and becomes quite tiresome. However, the most interesting part of the story happens when Encolpius is captured by Caesar's men and is forced to marry. His husband's head is cut off by an invading force and Caesar is disposed. From then on the story becomes less entertaining as it goes all over the place with no sense of what the character's main objective is. Gilton disappears from the story with no mention of him again and Eumolpius and the character who stole Gilton at the start of the film, Ascyltus, live in a palace, steal Hermaphrodite and try to solve Eumolpius's erectile dysfunction. The film's ADR is also very bad and distracting. The film dramatically jumps from one story to the other which left me confused and less interested. Fellini was nominated for the Best Director Oscar but lost to Schaffner for Patton. I don't think he deserved to be nominated for this film and his direction was not near the level of Schaffer and was also marginally worse than Russell's Oscar-nominated direction for Women in Love. Overall, Fellini Satyricon is a disappointingly aimless film that had potential but becomes lost in a lot of filler and story points that come out of nowhere. See more William L 07/10/2021 Not usually the first film that comes to mind when you ask a cinephile what their favorite Fellini is, Satyricon is certainly a departure from the work that the acclaimed Italian director was largely known for. Instead of the fantastical twists on reality, we are instead treated to a mythological interpretation with tinges of modern flavor, reversing the formula. Dripping with debauchery and anarchism, the film brings some impressive set design and practical logistics in its presentation of a narrative that is only known in fragments and was intended as a satire of manners, while Fellini's touch injects a surrealism. All together, it seems awfully similar to Pasolini (apart from the disjointed structure), though that may just be the lingering aftertaste of a recent viewing of Salò. Where does that leave Satyricon? It seems to hang in the aether with many other particularly original films - interesting for its defiance of convention, but far enough removed from comfortable territory that many viewers may find it off-putting. For me, it's not a personal favorite, but I'm big into blockbusters so what do I know. Some may find it particularly insightful, many will think it's somewhat dull despite the overflowing sexuality. Certainly operates against expectations plot for Fellini. (3/5) See more Read all reviews
Satyricon

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW
The Boys in the Band 90% 87% The Boys in the Band Watchlist The Sergeant 20% 75% The Sergeant Watchlist Sunday, Bloody Sunday 83% 70% Sunday, Bloody Sunday Watchlist The Damned 83% 81% The Damned Watchlist The Music Lovers 59% 74% The Music Lovers Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis After his young lover, Gitone (Max Born), leaves him for another man, Encolpio (Martin Potter) decides to kill himself, but a sudden earthquake destroys his home before he has a chance to do so. Now wandering around Rome in the time of Nero, Encolpio encounters one bizarre and surreal scene after another. He's invited to a poetry reading that ends in violence; is taken hostage by pirates; and is even forced to battle a gladiator disguised as a minotaur in a giant labyrinth.
Director
Federico Fellini
Producer
Alberto Grimaldi
Screenwriter
Federico Fellini, Petronius, Brunello Rondi, Bernardino Zapponi
Distributor
United Artists
Production Co
United Artists
Rating
R
Genre
Drama, LGBTQ+
Original Language
Italian
Release Date (Theaters)
Sep 3, 1969, Original
Rerelease Date (Theaters)
Mar 11, 1970
Release Date (DVD)
Apr 10, 2001
Runtime
2h 8m
Sound Mix
Mono
Aspect Ratio
35mm