"One of Pasolini's most abstract and difficult movies that mixes his earthy, violent style with artsy, intellectual obscurity... Mediocre intellectualism."

The first half hour is barely tolerable - the dialogue between Leaud and Wiazemsky is so silly and pretentious that it seems like a parody of Godard. The rest of the film is better: the cannibal sequences are well-shot and interesting and the interaction between the two aging industrialist is, pig-fucking innuendo aside, aptly snide and amusing. Not Pasolini's best by a long shot, but for fans of his work it has some interesting moments.

While Pasolini's films have a tendency to seem like lectures, they are seldomly uninteresting, and neither is this one. Unlike most people, who seem to favor the story set in current time, I find both stories equally interesting and capably handled. Pasolini is a hard director to like, but not impossible.