Encolpius loses his young lover Giton to his rival Ascyltus and wanders through a decadent, dreamlike Imperial Rome looking for him. The episodes are strange and loosely joined. Worth watching for sets and costumes that make the ancient world feel truly alien.
At a glance
Fellini Satyricon is a 1969 fantasy, drama and adventure film directed by Federico Fellini. This breakdown covers 5 techniques (1 narrative, 1 psychology and 3 cinematography), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Fellini's Roma uses several of the same techniques.
Telling the story as a loose string of separate adventures, often following a low-status hero through different levels of society. With no single plot, the episodes add up to a portrait of a world.
How this film uses it
Encolpius drifts from one episode to the next with no single plot. Each one shows another corner of Roman society.
Where to see it
The episodes: a tenement destroyed by an earthquake, a feast, a pirate ship and a labyrinth battle follow each other.
Keeping it unclear what is real and what is imagined in the film's world. You end up as unsure as the main character.
How this film uses it
Scenes shift without warning and rarely explain themselves. You never feel sure what is real and what is a hallucination.
Where to see it
Encolpius's pursuit: he moves through Rome as if through a dream, and no scene settles the rules.
Building a set so complete, with its own weather, crowds, architecture and social rules, that it feels lived in. It reads as real until one deliberate slip shows that it was built.
How this film uses it
Fellini shot mainly at Cinecitta with sets and costumes by Danilo Donati. The sets feel strange and complete, not like a museum version of Rome.
Where to see it
Trimalchio's feast: the villa of the freedman is a lavish, overstuffed space where the dinner becomes a spectacle.
Designing wardrobes that carry character, status or change as much as the acting does. Clothes tell you who someone is or has become before they speak.
How this film uses it
Donati's costumes make each character look like a creature from another world. They carry status and decadence before anyone speaks.
Where to see it
The feast guests: their dress and makeup show wealth and excess.
Closing on images that turn into worn paintings or ruins. The story reads as a record that survived only in pieces.
How this film uses it
The film ends mid-sentence with crumbling frescoes of its characters. It tells you the story you just saw is a fragment of a lost world.
Where to see it
The final frescoes: the live action turns into cracked wall paintings of the characters.
Questions
Keep watching
Same director
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