Satyricon (Federico Fellini, 1969)

I like Fellini, but I think the wildest film he has ever done, and the most unique, is Satyricon. I think he got closer to Roman decadence than in any other movie ever made. Today, this movie would be impossible to finance, all about homosexual sex with half of the characters underage. It’s so extreme that only he could have done it, and have done it in a joyful way. The movie’s kind of burlesque, also very funny and touching. I was re-watching most of Fellini’s movies lately, and by far that one is favourite. My other favourite is a bit more unknown; it’s called The Clowns. It’s a documentary he did for TV, just Fellini filming himself going to meet old clowns before they disappear from the circuses in Italy. It’s lovely. You can tell when you see a movie, what the personality of the director is, and Dario Argento confirmed to me, because he met Fellini, that Fellini was a great, funny, lovely man. You can tell that there’s a real love for humankind in his films.