I viewed my first Fellini film in 1960, as a young college student attending the University of Maryland -- La Dolce Vida -- Now, over 55 years later, the event is still vivid in my mind -- I remember being totally confused, but in love with the film -- And with Fellina -- Certain scenes remain vivid in my mind -- But my life took a different path, and I did not revisit Fellini until many years later -- It came rushing back on viewing Fellini Satyricon -- Petronius's Satyricon was written during the Nero's reign, and what survives are largely disconnected fragments -- Fellini's Satyicon apparently is largely faithful to Petronius (with a couple of additions) which are then viewed through Fellini's imaginative genius --
The story begins with a prologue where two male student lovers (Encolpius and Ascyltus, Encolpius is ostensively the narrator), and a male slave youth (Gitón), lover to both), have a spat, decide to separate, and allow Gitón to chose which of the pair he will stay with -- He choses Ascylpius -- Encolpius is heartbroken --
The remainder of the film is basically Encolpius's road-trip of discovery -- Remember. Petronius' Satyricon is fragmentary and there is no connecting link between the scenes, much like visiting an gallery of a particular artist's work, going from picture to picture, and sensing that they are connected but that the connection is left to your imagination -- The joy is in each scene individually -- Like Petronius' manuscript, Fellini ends the film mid sentense.