Following the brutish modern neo-realism of his acclaimed pair of Cannes Grand Jury Prize winners, Gomorrah and Reality, this wild leap into fantasy represents a major shifting of gears for Matteo Garrone. The result is some kind of miracle: in both its sophisticated visual concept and authentic medieval imagery, Tales of Tales feels unprecedented. With this one film, Garrone has revolutionized a genre.

Tale of Tales is derived from a trio of legends collected by the seventeenth century Neapolitan poet and courtier Gianbattista Basile; three tales of three kingdoms ruled by three distressed monarchs. Under the council of a necromancer, a selfish queen (Salma Hayek) desperate to conceive an heir, sends her king (John C. Reilly) to a battle a sea monster. Having become obsessed with his pet flea—which has grown to gargantuan proportions—a childlike king (Toby Jones) marries his neglected daughter off to an ogre. Lastly, a lascivious king (Vincent Cassel) desiring eternal youth is seduced by a mysterious woman’s heavenly singing.

Unnerving, obscene, sensual, spellbinding and baroque, this fantasy “Italian-style” eschews excess computerized effects in favor of sounds and images grounded in earthly experience: Garrone’s world is definitively closer to Pasolini’s than Disney’s. His poor creatures shamelessly commit all seven deadly sins and then some. Tale of Tales is an audacious cavalcade of transgressions. It is also a definitive masterpiece. – Orlando Rojas

This film is also part of the Knight Competition.

This film is preceded by the short film “Glove”

This film is available for purchase with Desserts & Directors