Il fiore delle mille e una notte (1974)

Director:

Pier Paolo Pasolini

Writers:

Pier Paolo Pasolini (writer)
Dacia Maraini (script collaboration)

Release Date:

20 June 1974 (Italy)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Fantasy

Tagline:

Pier Paolo Pasolini's Tales of the Arabian Nights

Plot:

In this film inspired by the ancient erotic and mysterious tales of the Middle East, the main story...

Plot Keywords:

Demon | Love | Slave | Flashback Sequence | Arabia

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Ninetto Davoli	...	Aziz
Franco Citti	...	The Demon
Franco Merli	...	Nur Ed Din
Tessa Bouché	...	Aziza (as Tessa Bouche)
Ines Pellegrini	...	Zumurrud
Margareth Clémenti	...	Aziz's mother (as Margaret Clementi)
Luigina Rocchi	...	Aziz's wife
Alberto Argentino	...	Prince Shahzmah
Francesco Paolo Governale	...	Prince Tagi
Salvatore Sapienza	...	Prince Yunan
Zeudi Biasolo	...	Zeudi
Barbara Grandi
Elisabetta Genovese	...	Munis (as Elisabetta Vito Genovese)
Gioacchino Castellini
Abadit Ghidei	...	Princess Dunya

Also Known As:

A Thousand and One Nights
Arabian Nights (USA)
Flower of the Arabian Nights (International: English title)
Les mille et une nuits (France)

Runtime:

130 min | France:155 min (Cannes Film Festival) (premiere)

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Italy:VM18 | Finland:K-18 (1974) (cut) | Spain:18 | France:-16 | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Canada:R | Hong Kong:III | Norway:16 | Portugal:M/16 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 (video rating) (2001) | UK:X (original rating) (cut) | USA:X (original rating) (1979) | West Germany:12 | USA:NC-17 (re-rating) (1991) | Singapore:(Banned) | Netherlands:16

Filming Locations:

Eritrea

Company:

Produzioni Europee Associati (PEA)

Trivia:

This film is the final entry in director Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Trilogy of Life", following Il Decameron (1971) and I racconti di Canterbury (1972).

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Wie de Waarheid Zegt Moet Dood (1981)

The sexual encounters in the film are strongly uninhibited, but not graphic or explicit...

This film version keeps much of the eroticism in Sir Richard Burton's original translation, which previous movie treatments saw fit to water down… Great care was taken in the details: it was shot on location (Africa and the Middle East) and a dark skinned girl was cast as the princess… The acting is extremely good, and the stories connect in and out in intriguing fashion...

The film selects some of the more popular of the Arabian Nights stories, but intertwines them in strange ways… Like the original, many stories lead into other stories and again into others…

One of the most erotic sequences is when two supernatural beings decide to play a trick on a virginal girl and boy… The beings make each young person seduce the other while he or she is asleep… In another scene, one of the heroes finds himself in a pool with a group of very pretty, very nude Arabian women, who tease and tickle him into an intense joy…