Pasolinis tolldreiste Geschichten (1972)

Pasolinis tolldreiste Geschichten: Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. With Hugh Griffith, Laura Betti, Ninetto Davoli, Franco Citti. Pasolini’s artistic, sometimes violent, always vividly cinematic retelling of some of Chaucer’s most erotic tales.

“If you watched this movie in order to get a crib of Chauceru0026#39;s Canterbury Tales, youu0026#39;d be out of luck, and missing the point. Chauceru0026#39;s underlying anti-clerical and pro-love-and-life philosophy may be there, but the substance is very different. Pasoliniu0026#39;s 14th century England lives and dresses more like 16th Century Italy.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe Milleru0026#39;s Tale is much grimmer when brought to the screen than Chaucer would have intended. u0026quot;And Nicholas is branded on the bum, And God bring all of us to Kingdom Comeu0026quot; in Coghillu0026#39;s cheerful popular translation, becomes something more like the execution of Edward II. Not just on, but in. And the execution of a sodomite too poor to bribe his way off the griddle seems drawn out just to make a bad joke about the seller of u0026quot;griddle cakesu0026quot; (frittelli) plying his trade in the crowd.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHe is one of the more than fair share of handsome young men in the film, and thereu0026#39;s more than a fair share of closeups of their middle regions, front and back, in tight-fitting breeches (not that Iu0026#39;m complaining).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOne feature that is almost entirely absent is any sense of pilgrimage. The storytellers appear only at the beginning and end of the tale. Instead we cut back to Chaucer himself (Pasolini himself, and very handsome he is too), writing the tales at a snailu0026#39;s pace. There are also long (by 2006 standards) tracking shots over indifferent scenery. Yet other scenes jump disconcertingly, the start of one tale used to mark the end of the previous one.”