Fellini Satyricon [DVD]

Quite astounding when it first came out, your values may have changed a bit since you first saw this film way back when. Definitely a benchmark for cinema, regardless of your revisionist take on Fellini's "values".I have couple of technical issues with the DVD (I bought it in 2001):1) A lip-synch error pervades the entire disc - the dialog lags the actors mouths by a consistent and noticeable fraction of a second.2) A pivotal scene in the film, the death of the hermaphrodite in the white hot desert canyon, is intentionally over-exposed in the film to appear almost completely washed out on screen. The DVD production house has "corrected" this exposure, which now looks muddy and lacks its original magic and meaning.Amazon replaced my first copy - same deal. Too bad either Fellini wasn't well enough to oversee these types of technical details, or else the people designated to do this for him couldn't be bothered to do their job. Or maybe it's been fixed by now. Caveat emptor.

*Fellini-Satyricon* was the Maestro's first movie in which his name appears as part of the title. It is also one of the most fascinating and origninal films of the 20th century. Every Fellini movie is unique. He had no peers. *Fellini-Satyricon*, however, is a cardinal enry in Fellini canon (not to mention the canon of Italian cinema) because it is the perfection of the new style announced in *8 1/2* and the innauguration of a new visual extravagance that would inform all of Fellini's subsequent films.The subject, 1st century Rome in all its florid, tumescent decadence, is lovingly transformed through Fellini's comic vision. The self-contained sequences, vignettes really, are not only fair translations into cinema of what is probably the first "novel" in Western literature, they also serve to reflect the fragmentary nature of the surviving evidence of antiquity. Scenes are fitted together like pieces in a puzzle where some of the picture is ultimately lost. This is emphasized by the visual references to broken frescoes, from which the characters seem to emerge and revert back into.The DVD provides a sparkling, lush, diamond-sharp transfer with a choice of English or Italian soundtracks and English, French, Spanish subtitles.A word about the dubbing: The English version is much better than the Italian version, for a number of reasons. 1) Fellini dubbed all his actors anyway because he used international casts. There is no such thing as a Fellini movie where the actors are actually speaking their lines in real time. For the most part, different actors were used for the dubbing. 2) The Italian actors used in the Italian dub are horribly miscast. There is just no way that those voices could come out of those people. Physically. The English actors are better. (If you watch their lips, you'll notice that Hiram Keller and Martin Potter are both speaking their parts in English). 3) You'll want to watch, not read, this film. 4) A good amount of the sound that comes out of the characters' mouths is either Latin, gibberish, or some admixture thereof, and, for the most part, what the characters are actually saying isn't all that important.There are sadly, no extra features on this DVD. A commentary by surviving cast members would have been so great. Nevertheless, this is a DVD that anyone who loves movies should want to own. Highest recommendation!!!

FELLINI SATYRICON - the first film I experienced directed by Federico Fellini. I was with two or three other people in a small theater, and remember sitting through the movie with my jaw gaping like a little kid watching cartoons; I was on the edge of my seat. I walked out and spent an hour or so trying to figure out what the hell it was I just saw? Favorite scenes: Vernacchio, marriage at sea, minotaur. I later read that Fellini had always wanted to make a science fiction picture, and SATYRICON was the closest he would come to that goal.Petronious Arbiter was a Roman scholar and poet who mixed with the courtesans of the emperor Nero. The remains of his writings are his observations of the world he lived; ultimately, he was "asked" by Nero to end his own life for various insults to the emperor. A strange, distant world is painted in the fractured remains of the Satyricon. Fellini used the text as a jumping off point to attempt to imagine a world completely alien to our own (images, sound, everything). Fueling this tour-de-force of invention is the period of the film's creation - the late sixties. If not directly quoted in its scenes, the spirit and free form of the late sixties definitely influenced Fellini and company.BARBARELLA comes to mind as a comparison, in terms of color pallet, bizarre situations and a comic book quality - psychedelia at its finest. Fellini's interpretation of the Satyricon seems to capture that weird pulse of chaos and the "climate" of revolution; stripping away a mere "classic literature travelogue" approach - and presenting a libidinal sideshow of monsters, perverts, politicians, artists, and other variations of the human condition. The movie works like a dream, just presenting this river of existence that we follow through the misadventures of the main characters: Encolpio, Ascilto and Gitone. It's certainly a wonderful work of art and invention, among the best the cinema has provided thus far. Since its release, major filmmakers have dipped into this film for inspiration - Terry Gilliam, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, etc.In the end, Encolpio's desperate way of life leaves nothing behind, except an expressionless face carved in stone amongst other faces. Life is short and fleeting. What will people two thousand years from now think of the way we live today? Trying to imagine a possible inkling of an idea to follow that question was all I could think about after walking out of FELLINI SATYRICON.So, I'm not sure what you'd call this movie - science fiction? A comedy? CALIGULA on acid? I read [maybe in Playboy] that Fellini was asked to direct CALIGULA, and refused to take the job. Funny, that. Certainly SATYRICON is an entertainment of some kind? Whatever it is - definitely RENT it first.

This review is for the Eureka Masters of Cinema Blu Ray release. I purchased this back in 2018 on the recommendation from a friend, but never got round to watching it until now. The usual Eureka high quality presentation, audio, and picture quality. The film itself blew my mind; Fellini's own evocation of it being like a sci fi film rings true. You really feel as though you are transported to a place outside of time and space, at once familiar in some regards while simultaneously feeling utterly alien. "Spartacus on acid" would be a good initial descriptor, but the depth and nuance of the movie can hardly be conveyed by such a crude tabloid subheading. The acting is impeccable, the musical score haunting, but what really stays with you are the sets, which are at times epic in scope. As the film is made up of a series of fragmented vignettes, held together in only the loosest of ways by some key characters, expect to feel completely lost at times, and this lack of a firm narrative trail is the only real avenue of criticism towards the film. However, to me this was all part of the charm, and if you approach this masterwork by throwing yourself fully into the world, then it will be an experience you will not forget in a hurry.

Fellini Satyricon (Eureka; Blu Ray;Europe B Region) - At long last, Fellini's masterpiece is released with its English speaking soundtrack! My only viewing of this film has been with its Italian, German and Spanish soundtracks and I did begin to wonder if the English dub' had been lost to posterity. My biggest fear was that it would feature those familiar awful trans-Atlantic voices used by Italian looping studios we all know so well via Giallos, Spaghetti Westerns, Exploiters etc, Thankfully 'il Maestro' protected his project by utilising theatrical talent of the quality of Sir Michael Hordern. It would be interesting to know the names of the other dubbing actors; Capucine seems to have spoken her own lines but i'm pretty sure that the voices of Encolpio and Ascilto are not those of Martin Potter and Hiram Keller. The Eureka release also differs from the region A Criterion one in that it's extras don't, unfortunately, stretch to the inclusion of the documentary, "Caiao Federico", but for hard-core fans of this Fellini classic i'll forgo that for the English soundtrack. Picture quality, as you'd expect, is superb and packaging and the Amazon price worth every penny. Take a bow Eureka. All we need now is for a full version of Stephen Soul's graphic novel, "Satyricon '70" to be reissued on Kindle.

Granted, this is an acquired taste.... Fellini ist not for everybody, but if you like the antiquity and quirky takes on old texts, then you will enjoy this movie. Fellini proves once more that he was a real visionary. He takes us on a roller-coaster of images and impressions - It is so visceral, it's almost as if you can smell what's going on in this movie.

I have had this movie on DVD for some time, weird or what. I decided to upgrade to Blu-ray and I am very pleased that I did, the picture and sound quality is excellent. This Blu-ray version I am pleased to say has an English dub version. No less weird but at least I can understand how weird.

DVD did not have English subtitles. Seller has agreed to refund.