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Fellini Satyricon

Fellini Satyricon
Fellini Satyricon poster italian.jpg
Italian theatrical release poster
Directed by Federico Fellini
Produced by Alberto Grimaldi
Screenplay by Federico Fellini
Bernardino Zapponi
Brunello Rondi
Based on Satyricon
by Petronius
Starring Martin Potter
Hiram Keller
Max Born
Salvo Randone
Music by Nino Rota
İlhan Mimaroğlu
Tod Dockstader
Andrew Rudin
Cinematography Giuseppe Rotunno
Edited by Ruggero Mastroianni
Production
company
Distributed by United Artists
Release date
  • 3 September 1969 (1969-09-03) (Rome)
  • 18 September 1969 (1969-09-18) (Italy)
  • 11 March 1970 (1970-03-11) (United States)
Running time
129 minutes
Country Italy
Language Italian
Latin
Budget US$3 million
Box office $1.4 million (US/ Canada rentals)
$8 million (outside Italy)

Fellini Satyricon, or simply Satyricon, is a 1969 Italian fantasy drama film written and directed by Federico Fellini and loosely based on Petronius's work Satyricon, written during the reign of the emperor Nero and set in imperial Rome. The film is divided into nine episodes, following the scholar Encolpius and his friend Ascyltus as they try to win the heart of the young boy Gitón, whom they both love, within the film's depiction of a surreal and dreamlike Roman landscape and culture.

The film opens on a graffiti-covered wall with Encolpius lamenting the loss of his lover Gitón to Ascyltus. Vowing to win him back, he learns at the Thermae that Ascyltus sold Gitón to the actor Vernacchio. At the theatre, he discovers Vernacchio and Gitón performing in a lewd play based on the "emperor's miracle": a slave's hand is axed off and replaced with a gold one. Encolpius storms the stage and reclaims Gitón. On their return to Encolpius's home in the Insula Felicles, a Roman tenement building, they walk through the vast Roman brothel known as the Lupanare, observing numerous sensual scenes. They fall asleep after making love at Encolpius's place. Ascyltus sneaks into the room, waking Encolpius with a whiplash. Since both share the tenement room, Encolpius proposes they divide up their property and separate. Ascyltus mockingly suggests they split Gitón in half. Encolpius is driven to suicidal despair, however, when Gitón decides to leave with Ascyltus. At that moment, an earthquake destroys the tenement.

Encolpius meets the poet Eumolpus at the art museum. The elderly poet blames current corruption on the mania for money and invites his young friend to a banquet held at the villa of Trimalchio, a wealthy freeman, and his wife Fortunata. Eumolpus's declamation of poetry is met with catcalls and thrown food. While Fortunata performs a frantic dance, the bored Trimalchio turns his attention to two very young boys. Scandalized, Fortunata berates her husband who attacks her then has her covered in gizzards and gravy. Fancying himself a poet, Trimalchio recites one of his finer poems whereupon Eumolpus accuses him of stealing verses from Lucretius. Enraged, Trimalchio orders the poet to be tortured by his slaves in the villa's huge kitchen furnace. The guests are then invited to visit Trimalchio's tomb where he enacts his own death in an ostentatious ceremony. The story of the Matron of Ephesus is recounted, the first story-within-a-story in the film. Encolpius finally leaves the villa, helping the limping, beaten Eumolpus to drink water from a pool in a tilled field. In return for his kindness, Eumolpus bequeaths the spirit of poetry to his young friend.


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