Il Decameron (1971)

Director:

Pier Paolo Pasolini

Writers:

Giovanni Boccaccio (novel)
Pier Paolo Pasolini (writer)

Release Date:

1971 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

An adaptation of nine stories from Bocaccio's "Decameron": A young Sicilian is swindled twice, but ends...

Plot Keywords:

Priest | Church | Convent | Nun | Painter

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Franco Citti	...	Ciappelletto
Ninetto Davoli	...	Andreuccio of Perugia
Jovan Jovanovic	...	Rustico (scenes deleted)
Vincenzo Amato	...	Masetto of Lamporecchio
Angela Luce	...	Peronella
Giuseppe Zigaina	...	Monk
Gabriella Frankel
Vincenzo Cristo
Pier Paolo Pasolini	...	Allievo di Giotto (as P.P. Pasolini)
Giorgio Iovine
Salvatore Bilardo
Vincenzo Ferrigno	...	Giannello
Luigi Seraponte
Antonio Diddio
Mirella Catanesi

Also Known As:

Decameron (West Germany)
Decamerone (West Germany)
Le Décaméron (France)
The Decameron (USA)

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

Italy | France | West Germany

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Italy:VM18 | Spain:18 | West Germany:18 (nf) | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Canada:R | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Portugal:M/16 | Sweden:11 | UK:18 (video rating) (1988) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:R (re-rating) (1991) | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | USA:X (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Amalfi, Salerno, Campania, Italy

Company:

Produzioni Europee Associati (PEA)

Trivia:

The first film in Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Trilogy of Life", continuing with I racconti di Canterbury (1972) and concluding with Il fiore delle mille e una notte (1974).

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Wie de Waarheid Zegt Moet Dood (1981)

Eros in Middle Ages

The erotic and more or less picaresque stories of which this movie is composed is based upon a collection of tales written in the 14th century by Bocaccio an Italian writer already called the Voltaire of 14th century. In the Middle Ages there was a tendency later abandoned, of considering erotic adventures under a humoristic point of view. The most common "hero" of those tales was the cuckold husband. I'm not a great fan of Pasolini. However this movie is more or less successful in depicting a series of funny situations related with erotic entanglements. Its merit is more due to the narrative form than to the stories itselves some them less funny than others. But the composition of the successive scenes develops in a series of pictures full of colour and movement portraying the people in the streets in a realistic way, showing popular types such as peasants, merchants, priests, nuns, etc. most of them with no make-up at all which contributes to create a vivid atmosphere that really puts us in the middle of a mediaeval scenery. Not a masterwork but something worth to be seen anyway.