Satyricon

R

Released Sep 3, 1969

2h 8m

Drama

LGBTQ+

List

76%

34 Reviews

Tomatometer

75%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

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.

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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.

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Derek Malcolm

Guardian

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.

Mar 20, 2018

Full Review

Keith Phipps

The Dissolve

It's, by design, an overwhelming film, and sometimes an exhausting one, but the melancholy and wariness keep it grounded.

Rated: 4/5

Feb 23, 2015

Full Review

Variety Staff

Variety

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.

Sep 13, 2008

Full Review

Zita Short

InSession Film

Fellini at his laziest...

Rated: D-

Feb 7, 2023

Full Review

Dennis Harvey

48 Hills

Equally classic in an entirely different way...

May 4, 2022

Full Review

Jordan M. Smith

IONCINEMA.com

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.

Rated: 3/5

Oct 29, 2020

Full Review

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Andrea F

It's my number one all time favorite move. A masterpiece! Felini pieces together ancient history in the ic as the way it's been handed down to us - in fragments, vignettes, that bring across the the true nature of our understanding of the past, which is almost as enigmatic as the future. His sets are lavish, The actors are bizarre. The whole culture is alien. Yet, we catch a glimpse, the same glimpse we have through our fragmented history, what life was like in Antiquity, An incredible film,

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/07/22

Full Review

Heironymus B

Definitely Fellini's most expressive film, at a time when he was trying to shake off the creative lull of his unmade project: "The Journey of G Mastrona". This is a hugely impressive collage of scenes, interestingly edited to reflect the fragmented nature of Patronius's surviving ancient satire. Yes, there are indeed a lot of wrong ingredients, but mashed together - as perfect a banquet as Trimalchios! This is Ancient Rome but made to resemble a sci-fi movie (in the past instead of the future) complete with bizarre theatrical backdrops, beautiful and grotesque occupants and Nino Rota's surreal, tribal and sublime score. The scenes themselves can range from being very chaotic and noisy, and then suddenly calm and serene. Fellini truly expresses all the elements in every episode - Earth, Wind, Air and Fire. This film is a personal favorite of mine. As movies set in Ancient Rome go, do not expect the outstanding epic 'Spartacus' or the awful cult exploitation flick 'Caligula' - Fellini's Satyricon is a planet all of its own!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

09/06/22

Full Review

Audience Member

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.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

Full Review

Audience Member

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

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

Full Review

thomas d

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.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

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.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

Full Review

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Federico Fellini

Director

Martin Potter

Encolpio

Hiram Keller

Ascilto

Max Born

Gitone

Salvo Randone

Eumolpo

Mario Romagnoli

Trimalcione

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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
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