Ceremony of Senses plays, in part, like a rip-off of Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom. I like the Pasolini film, but I wonder if it was successful enough to justify imitations.
I will try to explain the plot of Ceremony of Senses. The film opens with a car wreck. A man stumbles onto the scene, from somewhere. A group of leading citizens (a priest, a Cardinal, a police chief, etc.) wrap the bystander up and set him on fire. Next, the same bystander, our protagonist, saves a woman from thugs. She takes him home, explains about a conspiracy, gets high, and imagines him as the messiah. Later, the protagonist goes to a villa where he sees the people who set him on fire engaging in some Salo style thrills (there is some hardcore and softcore sex). When a group of caged boys is wheeled in, the protagonist smashes in and attacks the group before being arrested. Then, after witnessing how the police handle the case - blaming the captive boys - the protagonist escapes from prison and begins to heal the blind and the lame. This makes those in power nervous and they scheme to neutralize this new messiah.
If the summary sounds less than coherent, believe me, the film is not much clearer. Admittedly, the fan subtitles on the print I saw left much to be desired. Still, anyone expecting a narrative film is going to be confused.
For my part, I had hoped to groove on some wild, 70's madness, but Ceremony of Sadness is a dud. The director is clearly most interested in the sex, judging from his future career in hardcore pornography. Meanwhile, the "statement" comes off as both tiresome and half-hearted. Finally, the ending is so obvious, that I can't believe the filmmakers thought it would be a surprise to anyone.
Those interested in seeing a more enjoyable take on the 1970's new messiah idea should check out The End of Man from Brazilian horror filmmaker Jose Marins. For those wanting arty Salo style shocks, they would do better to just re-watch the Pasolini film. Although not quite as graphic as A Ceremony of Senses, Salo stands, by far, as the more disturbing and shocking of the two films.
As an aside, the print I saw ran about 113 minutes, which is longer than the listed running time, not that too many people will want more of the film.
