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

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

The line spoken by the angel in the last segment, "Vuolsi così colà dove si puote ciò che si vuole e più non dimandare" ("'It's will'd, where will and power are one. Ask thou no more"), is a quotation from Dante Alighieri's Inferno.

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Goofs

Some of the women have tan-lines from bikinis.

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Quotes

Perkin's mother: [singing] Oh, there was a little beggar man that goes from town to town, and wherever he get a job and work he's willing to sit down.

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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

References The Circus (1928)

User Reviews

Offensive, but with style

Having seen all of Pasolini's medieval trilogy inspired from international literature classics, I cannot but admit that this is his least inspired contribution. I don't know exactly what's wrong with the film - maybe it's the majority of the acting, or else it's the script. Naturally, having read the book beforehand helps to tell which tale is being shown, but assuming that the majority of the viewers have not read Chaucer's masterpiece, I doubt how many managed to guess what the tales are about. Still the movie has Pasolini written all over it: shockingly explicit scenes, watersports, unisex nudity galore (even senseless), sickening graphics of people vomiting and devils shitting monks, sex all over the place etc... Only for Pasolini admirers or for people who like an "uncut" interpretation of ambiguous medieval classics.