“I fell in love with Basile’s tales, since they are the origins of all European fairytales. I was amazed by the visual power and the originality of these stories and characters...” (M. Garrone)
The fairytales of Brothers Grimm and H. Ch. Andersen are well known, but few people are familiar with the 17th century collection of fairytales by the Neapolitan poet Gianbattista Basile, which were the source of inspiration for the more famous authors. His original versions of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Hansel & Gretel are far more sinister than the ‘polished’ versions known to the modern man, and this is precisely why the director Matteo Garrone was attracted to them and decided to adapt them for the big screen. “I fell in love with Basile’s tales, since they are in the origins of all European fairytales. I was amazed by the visual power and the originality of these stories and characters, and I wanted to try my hand at this fantastic surrounding, to explore fantasy genre which is not common in Italy, while at the same time keeping a very personal approach”, Garrone has said.
For the film Tale of Tales (Il racconto dei racconti) he chose three intertwined stories which take place in an imaginary kingdom. In the first one, the king (John C. Riley) goes on a dangerous mission into the ocean to kill a sea monster and bring its heart to his wife (Salma Hayek), because she believes that eating this precious item will help her conceive a child. Having eaten the heart of the monster, she does get pregnant; however the magic also works on the innocent cook who prepared it. Thus, a couple of magical albino twins are born into this world, born to two different mothers.
In the second story, the promiscuous king (Vincent Cassel) falls in love when he hears a song which he believes is sung by a young girl. However, the owner of the beautiful voice is an old hag who is trying to become young again by using all sorts of morbid tricks, hoping to win the heart of the handsome king.
The third story involves another eccentric king who grows attached to a fly and starts feeding it until it grows enormous. His bizarre pet is obviously dearer to him than his own daughter, since he decides to organize a ritual competition with the giant fly in its center - and the winner of the contest will also win the hand of his daughter in marriage. However, the results of this contest will be catastrophic.
Although it may appear that the film market has been overloaded with adaptations of fairytales, this film stands out owing to its absolute originality. In the surreal world created by Garrone one can identify the influences by Monty Python or Tim Burton, but Garrone balances successfully between dark comedy and allegoric depths. The director’s two previous films, Gomorra and Reality dealt with corrupted structures of power and with their influence on different aspects of society. In the Tale of Tales he transforms this motif into an overemphasized distortion of capitalistic fantasies which make people do crazy things. In the end, Garrone questions the famous fairytale ending “And they lived happily ever after” - bringing his characters to that point, but without any certainty for the future.
The film was premiered in Cannes where it was in competition for the Palme d’Or. Garrone’s two previous films won him the Jury Grand Prix in Cannes. His film Gomorra also won European Film Awards for best film, best director, best male leading role, best cinematography and best screenplay in 2008 and it was nominated at the BAFTA Awards. Tale of Tales is Garrone’s first feature film in English language.
SCREENINGS
March 4 | 10 PM | 350 din, Sava centar
March 5 | 1.30 PM | 250 din, Sava centar
March 6 | 9 PM | 300 din, Fontana
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