THE CANTERBURY TALES (I Racconti di Canterbury) (1972) - ♦♦♦♦♦

Directed by - Pier Paolo Pasolini

Written by - Pier Paolo Pasolini (based on a poem by Geoffrey Chaucer)

Starring - Hugh Griffith, Laura Betti, Ninetto Davoli, Franco Citti, Josephine Chaplin, Alan Webb

"The second film in PASOLINI's TRILOGY OF LIFE is based on GEOFFREY CHAUCER's famous medieval poem THE CANTERBURY TALES. 

Far from it being by the book, and much like its predecessor THE DECAMERON, the original text is greatly altered to best suit the filmmaker's own interests and construct a unique eclectic vision. In fact, more than an adaptation, it is an active collaboration, represented by PASOLINI playing the role of CHAUCER on screen. The episodes themselves unfold as the author writes them down, and this seems to dictate the pacing of the film in a way that aims to represent as closely as possible an artist's trail of thoughts in a collected and yet wild and lively stream of consciousness. 

The usual sharp cuts and distinctive editing language of PASOLINI's new wave brand of cinema helps him achieve this greatly. Another thing that helps is the film's grit and texture in blending a fine line between narrative and abstract poetry, through a blunt, organic and often unannounced inclusion of unannounced dreamlike or nightmarish imagery. This makes THE CANTERBURY TALES one of the most impulsive blends of literature and cinematic humour. Nevertheless, cinema remains an important and distinctive tool, even directly referenced here with its leniance towards rebellious slapstick humour. NINETTO DAVOLI, for instance, has never mimicked CHARLES CHAPLIN as closely - incidentally JOSEPHINE CHAPLIN, daughter of the greatest tramp to ever grace the silver screen, plays a role in THE CANTERBURY TALES as well. 

As far as the narrative arch is concerned, each one of the episodes exists as an independent entity and only eight of the twenty-four in the original text made it into the film. Most of the characters do not cross paths throughout its duration, and yet aside from the sense of rebelliousness and sexual charge tying them together, there is a meaningful exploration of the element of the human body that acts drives many of its explorations, through nudity, including the taboo male frontal kind, and the most purposeful extensive use of organic scatological humour one could ever hope to find in a film."

Comedy, Italy/France