The Canterbury Tales (1972)

Pasolini's artistic, sometimes violent, always vividly cinematic retelling of some of Chaucer's most erotic tales.

Director:

Pier Paolo Pasolini

Writers:

Pier Paolo Pasolini (screenplay), Geoffrey Chaucer (book) (as G. Chaucer)

Stars:

Hugh Griffith, Laura Betti, Ninetto Davoli

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Hugh Griffith	...	Sir January
Laura Betti	...	The Wife from Bath
Ninetto Davoli	...	Perkin
Franco Citti	...	The Devil
Josephine Chaplin	...	May
Alan Webb	...	Old Man
Pier Paolo Pasolini	...	Geoffrey Chaucer
J.P. Van Dyne	...	The Cook
Vernon Dobtcheff	...	The Franklin
Adrian Street	...	Fighter
Orla Pederson	...	Pilgrim (as OT)
Derek Deadman	...	The Pardoner (as Derek Deadmin)
Nicholas Smith	...	Friar
George Bethell Datch	...	Host of the Tabard (as George B. Datch)
Dan Thomas	...	Nicholas

Storyline

Pasolini's artistic, sometimes violent, always vividly cinematic retelling of some of Chaucer's most erotic tales.

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Plot Keywords:

male full frontal nudity | erotica | male pubic hair | male rear nudity | strong sexual content | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | History

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Certificate:

NC-17

Details

Country:

Italy France

Language:

Italian English

Release Date:

30 May 1980 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Canterbury Tales

Filming Locations:

Layer Marney Tower, Tiptree, Essex, England, UK

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$8,368

Company Credits

Production Co:

Les Productions Artistes Associés, Produzioni Europee Associate (PEA)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min 140 min (premiere)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Pier Paolo Pasolini later disowned his Trilogy of Life, feeling their commercial success betrayed his artistic vision.

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Goofs

Some of the women have tan-lines from bikinis.

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Quotes

The Cook: Between a jest and a joke, many a truth can be told.

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Alternate Versions

The original UK cinema version was cut by the BBFC with edits to anal sex shots, a man being whipped, and Rufus urinating on the crowd during the 'Pardoner's Tale' segment for an 'X' certificate. The cuts were fully restored in 2001 and the certificate downgraded to a '15'.

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Connections

Referenced in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

User Reviews

The weakest link.

It is the second part of Pasolini's "trilogy of life" and IMHO,the weakest :part of the reason can be found in the fact that it's merely more of the same ;after" Il decameron' the sensation of surprise has disappeared.Bawdiness,bawdiness and bawdiness,and a good dose of scatology.Besides,the stories,adapted from Chaucer are less interesting than in "IL decameron" ;the only good really good segment,as far the script is concerned ,is the one with the students and the miller's family:the mistaken identities are hilarious.But what remains is never really exciting.The scene in which a gay is literally "fried " is downright disturbing,coming from a director like Pasolini;the sequence is treated seriously ,almost without humor-unless the donuts seller counts-.

No one can argue the splendor of the cinematography;most of the times,it looks like pictures at an exhibition:the moist misty landscapes -particularly in the students' sequence- sharply contrasts with the mediterranean overcome by the heat ones in "il decameron";and the score,which includes old English traditionals is first-rate too.Ninetto Davoli,Pasolini's favorite actor,does his usual (almost silent) stint,in the grand tradition of Charlie Chaplin,which almost seems supernatural in this context;One should add that Josephine Chaplin is also part of the cast:some kind of double tribute.

The script is the Achille's heel of the movie."Il fiore della mille e una notte" will set the record straight and redeem Pasolini,for it's without a doubt the peak of the trilogy of life,with its numerous stories " à tiroirs".