My favorite movie of all time! (part 2 of 3)

The Satyricon has come to us mostly in fragments, but the largest and most intact part is called the "Dinner with Trimalchio".  It is where our young hero Encolpio tags along with his poet friend Eumolpo to a fabulous dinner at an incredibly rich patron's house.  The author Petronius pokes fun at Roman tradition by having Trimalchio be a super-rich but super-superstitious person who flaunts his money, has no real friends, and throws these ridiculously over-the-top lavish dinners.

As a tradition, Romans would bathe before a meal.  This usually consisted of simply washing one's hands, but in the book and in Fellini's film, the bathers are all in a mass bath, jumping up and down.  Only one of Trimalchio's over-the-top gestures to appease the "luck Gods".

During the dinner Trimalchio provides entertainment for the guests which includes a short poetic Greek play in the Homeric tradition.  He also has his belches read by a "reader" who proclaims there will be much wealth to come.  The dinner begins with a reading of all the wealth and lands Trimalchio owns.  He jokes that he owns lands that he has never visited, nor will ever visit; in fact, he doesn't even know where some of this land is.

Why use napkins when you can simply wipe your hands in the hair of a slave?  This was supposed to bring good luck to those who did it.

Trimalchio is so self-centered he is having a giant mosaic of his face created on the dining room wall.  This is one of Fellini's excessive sets, but done to terrific authenticity.

The dining room is an authentic recreation.  The patron lay down around the center runway where food and some entertainment was staged.  The food was so extravagant and ridiculous in the book, Fellini decided to go even further by making most of it unintelligible.  At one point the chef brings in a giant, bloated pig.  Trimalchio is angered because the pig looks cooked, but ungutted.  The crowd wants him to spare the chef's life, but Trimalchio still wants to have him killed.  However, when the pig is cut open, all sorts of cooked meats spill out to the crowd and Trimalchio's amusement.  It was a clever trick played by the chef. 

Again, Fellini likes his characters to break the "fourth wall" and suck in the viewer.   During the dinner Trimalchio pays creepy, undue attention on his young nephews while his wife kisses another woman.  He demands that she gets up and entertains the guests with a dance that ends up being a bit too overtly sexual.  He is angered at her and humiliates her in front of everyone. 

The dinner is concluded by a quick trip to Trimalchio's mausoleum.  He lays down in the grave and everyone pretends to be distraught over his passing.  He is even moved himself at the world's loss of such a great man.  He gives coins to the guests he feels best displayed sadness.

End of part 2 of 3.