This is certainly a unique film. Other film makers were influenced but this was never matched for sheer visual opulence and visionary style. All this does not necessarily make for an easy watch for whilst Fellini is never particularly bothered about having a coherent narrative, this one is as fragmentary and disjointed as they come. Apparently the original written source only exists in bits and pieces and this follows that even towards the end finishing a sequence with half finished sentence. Can't deny the look though and almost any captured frame would be a joy to look at. Its just that here there might be a little too much of a good thing, too rich maybe but hard to overly criticise. Love it or loathe it, this probably really is a film you have to see.

Federico Fellini's movies were deliberately bizarre, but none more so than "Satyricon". The story focuses on ancient Rome during the decline, and we get to see WHY it was declining: the ruling class was disgustingly decadent. Two young men (Martin Potter and Hiram Keller) are the window into this orgiastic society. An example of the decadence is when a patrician man rips his servant's hand off, just to entertain his patrician friends.

Overall, "Satyricon" is not the sort of movie that you can try to simply describe; like I said, it's deliberately bizarre. A far cry from the glamorous sword-and-sandal movies that came out of the US, this film never idealizes ancient Rome. On the contrary, the whole place looks very grim. But don't let that give you the wrong impression. Fellini accomplished a visually stunning masterpiece with this movie.

I admire Federico Fellini and what films so far I've seen of his. While not a bad film at all, of the 8 films I've seen(La Dolce Vita, 8 1/2, Amarcord, La Strada, Nights of Cabiria, Roma, Casanova and Satyricon), Satyricon is my least favourite. I did find the story disjointed, some scenes are fine but others are not sure what tone it wants to be or I wasn't sure what they were trying to do. While the characters are not as detached to the audience in the way the titular character from Casanova is, whereas I identified with the leads of La Strada and especially Nights of Cabiria the characters were never really developed enough to make me care properly. Pacing has rarely, if ever, been an issue in Fellini films, I am well aware that his pacing is largely deliberate, but with a story and characters that I was indifferent to on the most part I will admit that my interest did waver. Also, the parts dealing with sexual immaturity were really quite bizarre to put it politely. However, Satyricon is stunning visually with striking roman garb and costumes beautifully photographed, and Fellini's direction while not as nostalgic as personal as some of his other films is accomplished. The score positively sweeps and accompanies the film very well, while the acting from especially the two leads is very good. Overall, there will be people who admire this film and others who'll find it self-indulgent and perhaps cold. Coming from someone who still isn't sure what she makes of Satyricon, I can understand both sides. I am glad I watched it, however I can't see myself watching it again. 6/10 Bethany Cox