Arabian Nights

Zumurrud, a young slave, chooses her own buyer and points to a boy named Nureddin. He loses her and sets out to find her, and that search is the spine of the film, though the story keeps stopping and other stories come out of it. Pier Paolo Pasolini made it as the last part of his Trilogy of Life, interlocking tales chosen from the Thousand and One Nights. It was shot in Yemen, Iran, Nepal and Eritrea, with most of the cast non-professionals. Sex here is not sin but the ordinary working of the world; Pasolini repudiated the trilogy soon afterwards, saying desire had been captured by consumer society. It took the Grand Prix at Cannes. Who it is for: viewers who like Pasolini and the telling of tales. Who it is not for: anyone troubled by extensive nudity and sexual content.