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IMDbPro

Tale of Tales

Original title: Il racconto dei racconti - Tale of Tales
  • 20152015
  • RR
  • 2h 14m
IMDb RATING
6.4/10
29K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
4,430
761
Salma Hayek, John C. Reilly, Vincent Cassel, Toby Jones, and Stacy Martin in Tale of Tales (2015)
Once upon a time there were three neighboring kingdoms each with a magnificent castle, from which ruled kings and queens, princes and princesses. One king was a fornicating libertine, another captivated by a strange animal, while one of the queens was obsessed by her wish for a child. Sorcerers and fairies, fearsome monsters, ogres and old washerwomen, acrobats and courtesans are the protagonists of this loose interpretation of the celebrated tales of Giambattista Basile.
Play trailer2:01
3 Videos
99+ Photos
  • Drama
  • Fantasy
  • Horror
From the bitter quest of the Queen of Longtrellis, to two mysterious sisters who provoke the passion of a king, to the King of Highhills obsessed with a giant Flea, these tales are inspired ... Read allFrom the bitter quest of the Queen of Longtrellis, to two mysterious sisters who provoke the passion of a king, to the King of Highhills obsessed with a giant Flea, these tales are inspired by the fairytales by Giambattista Basile.From the bitter quest of the Queen of Longtrellis, to two mysterious sisters who provoke the passion of a king, to the King of Highhills obsessed with a giant Flea, these tales are inspired by the fairytales by Giambattista Basile.
IMDb RATING
6.4/10
29K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
4,430
761
  • Director
    • Matteo Garrone
  • Writers
    • Edoardo Albinati
    • Ugo Chiti
    • Matteo Garrone
  • Stars
    • Salma Hayek
    • Vincent Cassel
    • Toby Jones
Top credits
  • Director
    • Matteo Garrone
  • Writers
    • Edoardo Albinati
    • Ugo Chiti
    • Matteo Garrone
  • Stars
    • Salma Hayek
    • Vincent Cassel
    • Toby Jones
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 145User reviews
    • 233Critic reviews
    • 72Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 21 wins & 15 nominations

    Videos3

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:01
    Official Trailer
    Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:06
    Official Trailer
    'Tale of Tales': The King is Listening
    Clip 1:03
    'Tale of Tales': The King is Listening

    Photos137

    Stacy Martin in Tale of Tales (2015)
    Salma Hayek and John C. Reilly in Tale of Tales (2015)
    Toby Jones in Tale of Tales (2015)
    Salma Hayek in Tale of Tales (2015)
    Salma Hayek in Tale of Tales (2015)
    Guillaume Delaunay and Bebe Cave in Tale of Tales (2015)
    Salma Hayek in Tale of Tales (2015)
    Toby Jones in Tale of Tales (2015)
    Vincent Cassel and Stacy Martin in Tale of Tales (2015)
    Stacy Martin in Tale of Tales (2015)
    Salma Hayek in Tale of Tales (2015)
    Vincent Cassel in Tale of Tales (2015)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Salma Hayek
    Salma Hayek
    • Queen of Longtrellis
    Vincent Cassel
    Vincent Cassel
    • King of Strongcliff
    Toby Jones
    Toby Jones
    • King of Highhills
    John C. Reilly
    John C. Reilly
    • King of Longtrellis
    Shirley Henderson
    Shirley Henderson
    • Imma
    Hayley Carmichael
    Hayley Carmichael
    • Dora
    Bebe Cave
    • Violet
    Stacy Martin
    Stacy Martin
    • Young Dora
    Christian Lees
    Christian Lees
    • Elias
    Jonah Lees
    Jonah Lees
    • Jonah
    Laura Pizzirani
    • Jonah's Mother
    Franco Pistoni
    • Necromancer
    Jessie Cave
    Jessie Cave
    • Fenizia
    Michael Martini
    • 1st Circus Boy
    Alessandro Campagna
    • 2nd Circus Boy
    Lorenzo Bernardi
    • Contortionist
    Giselda Volodi
    Giselda Volodi
    • Lady-in-Waiting #1
    Giuseppina Cervizzi
    • Lady-in-Waiting #2
    • Director
      • Matteo Garrone
    • Writers
      • Edoardo Albinati
      • Ugo Chiti
      • Matteo Garrone
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The movie was based on the Pentamerone ("The Tale of Tales, or Entertainment for Little Ones"), a collection of fairy tales by 17th century Italian poet and courtier Giambattista Basile.
    • Goofs
      In the credits the name of the Italian composer Girolamo Frescobaldi (1584-1643) is misspelled 'Frescobladi'.
    • Quotes

      Elias: I like being with him.

      Elias: He's like a brother to me.

    • Crazy credits
      Dedication before end credits:  "To Nico and Marco"
    • Connections
      Featured in Medieval Weapons Master Rates 11 Weapons and Armor n Movies and TV (2020)
    • Soundtracks
      Se l'aura spira tutta vezzosa, F 7.15
      Composed by Girolamo Frescobaldi

    User reviews145

    Review
    Top review
    6/10
    Visually striking, but ultimately uninspiring
    The royal court roars with laughter. A group of jesters grin and jeer at one another, do cartwheels, breathe fire. In the midst of all this mirth, the Queen sits sad and silent on her throne. Her eyes fall on one of the players and suddenly she runs off, distraught. The King chases after her, shouting that he is sorry, that he did not know. His apologies fall on deaf ears.

    So begins Tale of Tales, Matteo Garrone's visually striking, but ultimately uninspiring adaptation of the Pentamerone, a book of Italian folk stories collected in the 17th century.The film cuts between three separate narrative strands, linked together by the unifying theme of all-consuming obsession. One tale centres around a monarch mad with lust, and two crones in his kingdom who desire only to be young again. Another depicts a woman who will do anything for motherhood. The third tale introduces us to a king's unhealthy fascination with a flea, and an ogre unable to set free his reluctant and unhappy bride.

    Fairy tales these may be, but their delightfully disturbing content ensures that they are not meant for children. (At least by modern, if not by 17th century standards – the Pentamerone, just as full of sex and violence as Garrone's 15 rated film, was subtitled 'Entertainment for Little Ones'). Yet even though Tale of Tales is too graphic and gruesome for kids and is clearly aimed at older audiences, it remains too childishly straightforward to be captivating. I would have needed either more nuance or more mystery and suggestion for the film to draw me in and immerse me in its world. There are, for instance, scenes where characters morph into a different physical shape. Had these transformations remained unexplained by the narrative they would have evoked a sense of wonder and significance, like visual poems hinting at some elusive but compelling underlying idea. Instead, the characters transform because a magician cast a spell, and there is nothing to think about. It is the kind of simple cause and effect storytelling with a clear moral – for all three narrative strands put forward the idea that 'obsession is not good for you' – which works so well for children's stories, but is too obvious to really interest adults.

    To be fair, it was never Garrone's intention to prompt intellectual engagement with Tale of Tales. 'Don't try to understand it. Just feel it, like when you are standing in front of a painting. Follow the characters, take the journey, feel the emotion,' the director said in a Guardian interview. But the characters are too one-dimensional to seem real, and I found it hard to care about their lives or fates. They also speak far too much to function well as figures onto whom one can project emotion, like when one is standing in front of a painting. It should have been show not tell, with the camera lingering on the characters' facial expressions, and allowing spectators to empathise and identify with them. Instead, feelings, from love to longing, are spoken – 'He's like a brother to me', 'I want to be young again' – and the action moves forward.

    Less would have been more, with Tale of Tales. The power of the film lies in its visuals, which are beguiling, gorgeous and grotesque. The dialogues and narrative explanations serve only to trivialise the images, lessening the overall effect of the film. The trailer for Tale of Tales, a succession of visuals set to nothing but music,is better than the film itself.
    helpful•7
    3
    • lisa-ravenclaw
    • Jul 13, 2016

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • April 22, 2016 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • Italy
      • France
      • United Kingdom
    • Official sites
      • Le Pacte (France)
      • Official Facebook (United Kingdom)
    • Languages
      • English
      • Russian
    • Also known as
      • Казка казок
    • Filming locations
      • Castel del Monte, Andria, Bari, Apulia, Italy
    • Production companies
      • Archimede
      • Le Pacte
      • Rai Cinema
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • €12,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $118,925
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $8,871
      • Apr 24, 2016
    • Gross worldwide
      • $5,500,277
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours 14 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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