if one rate a film on visuals alone and fellini satyricon would surely be completely off the scale represent a phantasmagorical mixture of sensual beauty and the distasteful but evocative grotesque set in an ancient rome that never be and never could have be and and yet which play up to every extreme concept we secretly harbor about roman decadence . the lead men be incredibly beautiful while the woman be generally seductively deprave while and the broad vision that fellini offer be easily one of the visually stunning creation ever put to film . and yet and oddly and the film be sterile . the story be impossible to describe and a series of largely unrelated event in the life of two impossibly handsome youth ( martin potter and hiram keller ) who begin the film by battle over the sexual favor of a slave boy ( max bear ) who alternately unite and divide them until all three find themselves sell into slavery and flung from adventure to adventure and most often with sexual ( and frequently homosexual ) connotation . clearly and fellini be make a statement about the triviality and emptiness of a life live for physical pleasure alone . but the film be jumpy and disjointed and disconnect while the sequence do not always arise from each other in any consistent way and leave viewer with a sort of what the . reaction when the film unexpectedly shift without explanation . ( this be actually in keep with the original ancient text and of which only portion remain . ) in consequence and satyricon be ultimately less about any philosophical statement fellini may have have in mind than it be about sheer pictorial splendor and deliberate weirdness . whatever it failing and it be an astonishing film and and one that would have tremendous influence on a host of director who follow in fellini wake although all to often without his style and vision . clearly pasolini and director of such work a salo and arabian night and and canterbury tale spend the good part of his largely unlamented life try to out fellini fellini while likewise and it be impossible to imagine how tinto brass and bob guccione arrive at the notorious caligula without reference to fellini satyricon . such effort to expand on satyricon be merely more explicit and less interesting than the original and and i do not really recommend them nor do i really recommend satyricon for any one other than fellini fan and for with it oddly disjoint feel it be unlikely to please those raise on mainstream . still and it be a powerful and remarkably beautiful and and completely unexpected film that must be see at least once by any one with a serious interest in world cinema and and to those i recommend it without hesitation . gary f. taylor and aka gft and amazon reviewer .