The Decameron

A film made of connected stories set in medieval Italy. The narrative builds no single plot. A series of stories set in and around Naples follows one after another: a swindler, a convent, a theft, a marriage, the robbing of a tomb and a love affair. What they share is that they turn on religion, money and sex and all take place among ordinary people. There are no nobles; the narrative proceeds in squares, fields and courtyards. In the second half a painter appears. He is making a fresco on a church wall and the narrative returns to him from time to time. The director himself plays the part. A line the painter says sums up the film's own subject: it is finer to imagine the work than to make it. The source is Boccaccio's book of tales; some of the many stories in it were chosen. Most of the performers are not professionals. The director worked with people he found in the street; the speech is in the Neapolitan dialect. Pier Paolo Pasolini directed. It is the first part of what is called his trilogy of life and won the grand jury prize at Berlin. Franco Citti and Ninetto Davoli are in the cast. An important production for anyone who likes European art cinema and free adaptations of classical texts. Before you watch, know this: the film contains nudity and sex and openly mocks the morality of its period.