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The Canterbury Tales

Original title: I racconti di Canterbury
  • 19721972
  • XX
  • 1h 51m
IMDb RATING
6.4/10
7.7K
YOUR RATING
The Canterbury Tales (1972)
ComedyDramaHistory
Pasolini's artistic, sometimes violent, always vividly cinematic retelling of some of Chaucer's most erotic tales.Pasolini's artistic, sometimes violent, always vividly cinematic retelling of some of Chaucer's most erotic tales.Pasolini's artistic, sometimes violent, always vividly cinematic retelling of some of Chaucer's most erotic tales.
IMDb RATING
6.4/10
7.7K
YOUR RATING
    • Pier Paolo Pasolini
    • Pier Paolo Pasolini(screenplay)
    • Geoffrey Chaucer(book of short stories: The Canterbury Tales)
  • Stars
    • Hugh Griffith
    • Laura Betti
    • Ninetto Davoli
    • Pier Paolo Pasolini
    • Pier Paolo Pasolini(screenplay)
    • Geoffrey Chaucer(book of short stories: The Canterbury Tales)
  • Stars
    • Hugh Griffith
    • Laura Betti
    • Ninetto Davoli
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 43User reviews
    • 56Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards

    Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 4:47
    Watch Trailer

    Photos80

    The Canterbury Tales (1972)
    The Canterbury Tales (1972)
    The Canterbury Tales (1972)
    The Canterbury Tales (1972)
    The Canterbury Tales (1972)
    The Canterbury Tales (1972)
    The Canterbury Tales (1972)
    The Canterbury Tales (1972)
    The Canterbury Tales (1972)
    The Canterbury Tales (1972)
    The Canterbury Tales (1972)
    The Canterbury Tales (1972)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Hugh Griffith
    Hugh Griffith
    • Sir January
    Laura Betti
    Laura Betti
    • The Wife from Bath
    Ninetto Davoli
    Ninetto Davoli
    • Perkin
    Franco Citti
    Franco Citti
    • The Devil
    Josephine Chaplin
    Josephine Chaplin
    • May
    Alan Webb
    Alan Webb
    • Old Man
    Pier Paolo Pasolini
    Pier Paolo Pasolini
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    J.P. Van Dyne
    • The Cook
    Vernon Dobtcheff
    Vernon Dobtcheff
    • The Franklin
    Adrian Street
    • Fighter
    Orla Pederson
    Orla Pederson
    • Pilgrim
    • (as OT)
    Derek Deadman
    Derek Deadman
    • The Pardoner
    • (as Derek Deadmin)
    Nicholas Smith
    Nicholas Smith
    • Friar
    George Bethell Datch
    • Host of the Tabard
    • (as George B. Datch)
    Dan Thomas
    Dan Thomas
    • Nicholas
    Michael Balfour
    Michael Balfour
    • The Carpenter
    Jenny Runacre
    Jenny Runacre
    • Alison
    Peter Cain
    • Absalom
      • Pier Paolo Pasolini
      • Pier Paolo Pasolini(screenplay)
      • Geoffrey Chaucer(book of short stories: The Canterbury Tales)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Remarkably, this is the only major cinematic take on Geoffrey Chaucer's classic tales.
    • Goofs
      Some of the women have tan-lines from bikinis.
    • Quotes

      The Wife from Bath: There's nowhere in the Gospels that says we ought to stay virgins. Anyway, tell me, what were the genital organs made for at the creation? Not to lie dormant I suppose. And nobody's going to tell me they were just put there to piss through. Mark you, I use it for that as well. And every man must serve his wife in wedlock...

    • 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'.
    • Connections
      Featured in Playboy: The Story of X (1998)
    • Soundtracks
      The Old Piper
      written by Carl Hardebeck in 1912

      performed by Frank McPeake

      Played over the opening credits and sung frequently by Perkin the Reveler in the Cook's Tale

    User reviews43

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    7/10
    Pasolini dared to show the medieval era as extremely dirty, indecent, vulgar
    This is the second in Pasolini's series of setting classic bawdy tales to film… In this case, he selected eight of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, including the infamous miller's tale and the incident with the red hot poker kiss…

    The tales revolve around a group of pilgrims who are journeying to the shrine of Saint Thomas a Becket of Canterbury… The trip is so boring that they begin telling each other stories that soon get obscene, gory and very sexy… Pasolini adds another motif to his visualization by placing Chaucer himself into the movie, periodically cutting to him writing at his desk...

    Pasolini inserts pleasure and amusement at social customs, especially marriage… Some of the stories are funny, others are deadly serious… The scene where a young man is burned for making love to another of his own sex, for example, is chilling...

    In fact, Pasolini's using non professional actors, is more in keeping with the tone of the original than the usual romanticized versions...
    helpful•37
    6
    • Nazi_Fighter_David
    • Sep 7, 2008

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • May 30, 1980 (United States)
      • Italy
      • France
      • Italian
      • English
      • Latin
      • Gaelic
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Battle Abbey, East Sussex, England, UK
    • Production companies
      • Produzioni Europee Associate (PEA)
      • Les Productions Artistes Associés
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 1 hour 51 minutes
      • Mono

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