Fellini Satyricon (1969) 1: Introduction

“Rome. Before Christ. After Fellini.”—poster tagline

“I have purposely read all there is to read on the subject; I have studied frescoes, books; I was involved in exhaustive research for some time so that I might avoid giving Satyricon detailed archaeological and historical reconstruction. My Satyricon is a science-fiction film — a journey into the unknown.”—Federico Fellini, article in November 1969 Films and Filming p.29

• recap: Rome after the Fall
• making Rome strange again: ostranenje
• speaking in tongues: Rome out of synch in Satyricon’s dubbing
• Rome without Hollywood tropes: a contradiction in terms?
• junking the conventions, ditching the politics
• Fellini and his fellow Italian directors
• Fellini and the Hippies; the Beats
• Fellini Satyricon as ‘cut-up’:

1. the Villa of the Suicides

2. the Widow of Ephesus

• Rome/Interzone: Fellini, Burroughs, and the new pagan mythologies

Next week:

1. Fellini Satyricon continued: Fellini and his ancient sources
2. Seminar: ‘Fall of the Hollywood Epic’

“I feel that decadence is indispensable to rebirth. I have already said that I love shipwrecks. So I am happy to be living at a time when everything is capsizing.”—Fellini on Fellini p.157