The opening sequence of this film mesmerizes as only a Fellini film can. In fact you are so intent on the back drop, it only hits you after the film is over that it was about (mostly) homosexuality. This film is a visual poem that makes total sense only on that level. When the final freeze (frieze) occurs, you feel as though you have awakened from a pleasant dream that made sense only in the fact that it was pleasant.<br /><br />Was this ancient Rome? It may or may not have been, but Satyricon is certainly everything lacking from all other films about this ancient city which holds the modern fascination.