Tale of Tales (2015) User Reviews

Charmingly bleak compilation of twisted fairy tales.

[quincytheodore · 7/10 · 7 September 2015]

This is not your average princess and prince tales, it is a series of the grim version of myths without warm Disney filter. The multiple stories are woven together in one underlying tragic theme, occasionally wicked Tale of Tales is definitely not for children. The most vexing thing about it is not the scandalous tale, but the slow pacing as it tries to deliver three nearly horror stories.

The focus continuously shifts between monarchs from three separate kingdoms. Each of them is affected by equally peculiar plaguing events. One queen's over protective nature rules over her senses, a king's lust leads to mishap in bed and a princess' wedding becomes malady as she faces an ogre as the groom.

Its screenplay is mixed feeling of innocence remnant and utter perversion. There's a good quality of cast to ensure overall bizarre atmosphere, and make no mistake, these stories can be downright disturbing for some. The director even adds a couple gore scenes or rather appalling instances which are shockingly unexpected, even more so considering the colorful setting.

Visual is very good, the medieval vibe simply oozes from the scenery. It resembles a lively stage for dramatic play yet feels convincingly dreadful enough. Production, from make-up and costume, looks captivating and sometimes intimidating. As many TV series or movies adapt modernization of fairy tales, this one is more memorable with the eccentric outlook and more modest on CGI usage.

However, it can be a bit slow. The three stories span across more than two hours, so it takes its time. Fortunately, it sets the characters really well, but on the flip side, some of scenes feel plodding. Tales of Tales might resemble the iconic Pan's Labyrinth at some turns, although it's still not on such legendary stature.

This movie is certainly not for everyone. The mixture of odd fables and near horror elements leave strange lasting trail, it might not be all merry party yet it's enigmatically and irresistibly bewitching.

Refreshingly different with a danger of unsatisfaction.

[thekarmicnomad · 7/10 · 30 August 2016]

This is an anthology of adult fairy tales. Rather than one after the other with a tie together the film opts for a more unusual parallel running of the three stories.

If I was to sum this up in one word I would say it is unorthodox. The characters and plots do not conform to the normal templates you would expect, either do the themes. The plots twist and turn like a path into a dark enchanted wood.

This film has excellent production, acting, script. There were more boobs, gore, rape and breast feeding than I was expecting but saying that, this film is not pornographic, disturbing or violent; a pretty safe watch.

The story lines keep you guessing as they have a life of their own. This is very refreshing but causes a satisfaction problem I also did not expect.

Consider this: Imagine you watch a film about a man planning to sail to Hawaii. You follow him as he builds his boat, saves up money, gets his sailors licence and an anchor tattoo. Then fifty minutes in, the boat burns down so he buy a plane ticket instead. If you think that sounds really annoying then you may want to give this a miss.

Very interesting, very different, well acted and produced. It keeps you on your toes the whole way. Don't expect the pay-off to be too great or to head anywhere near you thought it would.

Beautiful cinematography, but highly dissatisfying!

[riasheridan-75247 · 5/10 · 22 June 2016]

Where do I start? Epic proportions both in the way this is beautifully filmed in the locations, costumes and attention to detail (worth watching for these things alone) and the length of the film (2 and a quarter, very long, hours.)

Story is a mixture of several traditional Italian fairy tales with more than a sprinkling of sex and gore (Think Brothers Grimm meets Silence of the Lambs)

Disturbing tales of human failings that start and stop throughout the film, picking up where they left off a few moments later. Some of them didn't have very satisfying conclusions and the ending was rather a let down (You would expect all the tales to come together at the end but they don't)

Superb acting from all of the cast. Some relatively new faces that I am sure we will see again.

All in all, worth a watch for the casting and production, but if this had been a book, I would have flung it across the room in frustration after the last page as the story promised so much more than the weak ending delivered.

Not your mother's fairy tales

[ferguson-6 · 7/10 · 20 April 2016]

Greetings again from the darkness. Fairy tales have long been a fruitful source for movie material. Some, like Disney productions, land gently on the family/children end of the scale; while others like the Brothers Grimm material are much darker and adult in nature. And now, along comes director Matteo Garrone and his blending of three stories loosely based on the 17th century tales published by Giambattista Basile … and "black comedy" falls short as a description.

Mr. Garrone is best known for his chilling look at an Italian crime family in the award winning Gomorrah (2008), so a trilogy of demented monarchial fantasies may seem a bit outside his comfort zone … but grab ahold of your crown jewels and be ready for just about anything.

A very strong opening leads us into the first story about a King (John C Reilly) and Queen (Salma Hayek) who are by no one's definition, the perfect couple. The Queen's inability to have children leads her to strike a deal with a Faustian seer who promises a baby to the royal couple. The only catch is that the King must kill a sea monster, and the Queen must eat its heart after it's properly prepared by a virgin. Yep, it's pretty dark and pretty odd. Of course, as with all actions, there are consequences (albino twins of different mothers) … some of which are not so wonderful.

The second story involves a lecherous King (Vincent Cassel) who falls in love with a local woman based solely on her singing voice. Much deceit follows and the actions of two sisters (played by 3 actresses – Hayley Carmichael, Stacy Martin, Shirley Henderson) and some supernatural aging products lead to a twisty story of romance that can't possibly end well for anyone involved.

The third of our 3-headed story is the strangest of all, as a King (Toby Jones) nurtures a pet flea until it grows to behemoth size. Yes, a pet flea would be considered unusual, but eclipsing even that in uniqueness is the King's willingness to offer the hand of his daughter (Bebe Cave) in marriage to a frightening ogre who lives a solitary life in the mountains.

These three stories are interwoven so that we are bounced from one to another with little warning … which seems only fitting given the material. Knowing the theme of the three stories does not prepare one for the details – neither the comedy, nor the dramatic turns. All actors approach the material with deadpan seriousness which adds to the feeling of a Grimm Brothers and Monty Python mash-up.

Alexandre Desplat provides the perfect score for this oddity, though the audience may be limited to those who can appreciate grotesque sequences assembled with the darkest of comedy. The moral to these stories may be difficult to quantify; however, it's a reminder that actions beget consequences no matter the time period.

It is a cinematic spectacle on its own terms

[lasttimeisaw · 7/10 · 15 September 2015]

Matteo Garrone has finally strode into the international territory after the success of his last two features, GOMORRAH (2008) and REALITY (2012). TALE OF TALES debuted this year in Cannes' main competition category and is based on a collection of tales from Giambattista Basile's PENTAMERONE in the 17th century.

The film contains 3 tales, happen in 3 different kingdoms (Darkwood, Stronghold and Highmountain) with authentic locations in Italy, three grandiose castles where human frailties fester between a queen and her son, two elder sisters and a king and his daughter. Garrone doesn't shy away from the gory and chilling elements in the rather dark fairy tales, each tale encompasses its own distinctively dreadful shocker, either an underwater battle against an aquatic dragon and the ensuing devour of its heart, a bat-like monster aiming for slaughter, a blood-sucking flea growing into an abnormally giant size, a primitive ogre running amok or a flayed old hag stained in blood, for sure, they are for adults only.

The tale in Darkwood is about a queen's possession of her adolescent son, a mother's love is unconditional, but unwisely she demands the same from the young prince, however, fate binds him with an identical-looking brother (they were born at the same day under the magic of the dragon heart) and they becomes inseparable, when the queen realises her love cannot be reciprocated, she has to resort to a necromancer to settle the score once for all. Hayek stimulates a possessed urgency in her performance as the queen, again proves that she is unjustly underused in Hollywood as an exotic bombshell only.

In Stronghold, it is a tale about youth and lust, two crone sisters, one of them seduces the king with her youthful voice, but is thrown out of the window when her unsightly appearance is discovered, then being unconsciously rejuvenated by a witch's milk, she transforms into a gorgeous beauty and charms her way to be the new queen, but when her sister badgers to stay with her in the palace, her off-hand lie will lead her sister to experience the inhuman cruelty so as to achieve the same effect, only in vain, eventually her deceitful front will dissolve sooner or later. Here, Shirley Henderson upstages the rest of the line-up with her gravitating persistence and pathos-occasioning commitment as the other sister.

The Highmountain tale, a king indulges on his petty hobby, which boomerangs on the marriage of his only daughter, who is married off to an gruesome ogre under his oath, then the young princess must learn from desperation about how to retrieve her freedom using her own hands, a potent feminist manifesto, led by an engaging performance from the newcomer Cave as the princess, also Jones is pretty solid as the king, whose approachable personality makes him more human in a tall-tale.

There is no denying Garrone is further perfecting his exquisite aesthetics in constructing such a grand scale where everyone is donned with gorgeous period costumes, the surreal ingredients are brilliantly crafted too (e.g. the unwieldy underwater shooting is realistic- looking albeit it is obvious not real), and Desplat's score is as captivating as ever. But a jarring dissonance comes from the dialogue, maybe because it is all interpreted in English, or it is adapted from fairy tales written centuries ago, a sense of frustration transpires whenever the characters are hampered by their very limited lines (notably for Hayek and Henderson, both are tremendously evocative, yet all the words they can utter fail to embody that), repetitious, tedious and uninspiring. Sometimes words don't have to mean anything, but if one must use them, use them wisely, otherwise, it will be a drag on the entire film. All three tales are crisscrossed into a coherent narrative, one has no difficulty to understand the plain condemnations beneath each tale and places favourite as one feels, in short, this film is indeed a cinematic spectacle on its own terms, one should not miss.

Italian Gothic

[petra_ste · 6/10 · 29 August 2015]

Much like the albino sea monster of the prologue, this movie is a strange beast.

It's a fantasy film, whereas today Italian cinema is dominated by comedies and dramas: horrors and thrillers are rare and generally direct-to-video stuff, while sci-fi and fantasy are almost nonexistent. It has the naive storytelling of fairy tales (it comes in fact from "Lo cunto de li cunti", a 17th century collection of fairy tales), where things happen "just 'cause" (like a king giving his daughter in marriage to the first who can solve a riddle), but features violence, nudity, explicit sex and implied rape, which make it inappropriate for children.

Il Racconto dei Racconti follows three unrelated story lines; they do happen in the same narrative universe but never intertwine in a meaningful way.

In the first, a mature queen (Salma Hayek) gets pregnant through magic but so does one of her servants; when the two boys grow up they develop a unique bond. In the second, a debauched king (Vincent Cassell) tries to seduce a sweet-voiced woman seen from afar, who turns out to be an ugly crone. In the third, an eccentric monarch (Toby Jones) marries his daughter to an ogre. Obsession is the common theme here - how it destroys the protagonists' lives and drives away their loved ones.

Director Garrone elevates the movie with a fine eye for colors and composition, crafting some neat Gothic vignettes: a salamander-like monster lying in murky waters, a queen eating a giant red heart in her pristine white room, a bat-like creature swirling in a cave, a young woman draped in red sleeping in the underbrush of a lush green forest. The visuals are reminiscent of Neil Jordan or Tim Burton. Composer Desplat provides a moody, dream-like soundtrack.

Don't expect the Machiavellian politics of Game of Thrones or the sweeping epic of The Lord of the Rings: this is a different kind of fantasy, bare-bones simple in plot and structure but mature in tone.

6,5/10

This movie could've been so much better

[lspivey-49119 · 5/10 · 21 September 2015]

I love the premise of the movie but it failed to deliver. I expected more interweaving of the stories but that didn't happen. The acting of the main characters was done very well; costumes and scenery were awesome; the stories were good but felt thrown together instead of being more thought out and completed. This movie could've been so much better with more effort.

I had more questions than answers after watching the movie: -The heart was shown being boiled, but when eaten it was completely raw all the way around and inside -Why would the king and queen trust what the man in black said? -When the boys were under the water it was a bit cloudy and they were swimming between the men's legs, but the men (who were searching for them) were only in the water up to the knees and couldn't see the boys? -Why was there no back story to the breast-feeding woman and her powers? -Why wouldn't the king make the ogre live in the castle if he were to wed the daughter? -Why was the twin in the woods and how did he end up where he was? -Why no back story of the bat/woman? - What happened to the queen's sister? -How were the performers going to get out of the narrow passageway that seemingly led nowhere when the princess was trying to escape? -The stories didn't interweave; characters only came together at the coronation

A gorgeous and bloody anthology on love and obsession

[manus_nigra · 8/10 · 19 May 2015]

Using a traditional folklore anthology as guideline (XVII century "Lu cunto de li cunti" by Gian Battista Basile) Garrone puts on screen three gorgeous (loosely) intertwined stories that have for protagonists various Kings and Queens facing huge obsessions. - In one Salma Hayek and John C. Reilly are a royal couple that struggles to get an heir, until a mysterious cloaked man offers them a magical solution. The birth of the child will not be exactly as expected. - In another Vincent Cassel is a sex-maniac king that became obsessed by a mysterious woman with a beautiful voice. Her true identity is, well... complicated; and her desire to became queen will result in a magical help that will be for her both a blessing and a curse. - In the last story Toby Jones is a king so fascinated by a magical animal to neglect her only daughter Viola and her desire to marry. The death of the animal and the desperate need for affection of the king will result in a bizarre challenge that will mark a dire fate for the princess. Every story it's connected by the themes of blood and duplicity: how obsession seems like love and makes you do things without caring for the consequences. All this in a slow paced, softly spoken movie that suddenly outburst in tense scenes of violence, gore and horror; always gorgeous in its unique aesthetic based on the constant opposition between rich baroque splendor and poor barren settings. It may appear "bare" by the current standards of fantasy movies but that's exactly the point: this is not fantasy, it's folklore; even a grand task like slaying a sea dragon became trivial compared to the depths of human relationships.

Visually striking, but ultimately uninspiring

[lisa-ravenclaw · 6/10 · 13 July 2016]

The royal court roars with laughter. A group of jesters grin and jeer at one another, do cartwheels, breathe fire. In the midst of all this mirth, the Queen sits sad and silent on her throne. Her eyes fall on one of the players and suddenly she runs off, distraught. The King chases after her, shouting that he is sorry, that he did not know. His apologies fall on deaf ears.

So begins Tale of Tales, Matteo Garrone's visually striking, but ultimately uninspiring adaptation of the Pentamerone, a book of Italian folk stories collected in the 17th century.The film cuts between three separate narrative strands, linked together by the unifying theme of all-consuming obsession. One tale centres around a monarch mad with lust, and two crones in his kingdom who desire only to be young again. Another depicts a woman who will do anything for motherhood. The third tale introduces us to a king's unhealthy fascination with a flea, and an ogre unable to set free his reluctant and unhappy bride.

Fairy tales these may be, but their delightfully disturbing content ensures that they are not meant for children. (At least by modern, if not by 17th century standards – the Pentamerone, just as full of sex and violence as Garrone's 15 rated film, was subtitled 'Entertainment for Little Ones'). Yet even though Tale of Tales is too graphic and gruesome for kids and is clearly aimed at older audiences, it remains too childishly straightforward to be captivating. I would have needed either more nuance or more mystery and suggestion for the film to draw me in and immerse me in its world. There are, for instance, scenes where characters morph into a different physical shape. Had these transformations remained unexplained by the narrative they would have evoked a sense of wonder and significance, like visual poems hinting at some elusive but compelling underlying idea. Instead, the characters transform because a magician cast a spell, and there is nothing to think about. It is the kind of simple cause and effect storytelling with a clear moral – for all three narrative strands put forward the idea that 'obsession is not good for you' – which works so well for children's stories, but is too obvious to really interest adults.

To be fair, it was never Garrone's intention to prompt intellectual engagement with Tale of Tales. 'Don't try to understand it. Just feel it, like when you are standing in front of a painting. Follow the characters, take the journey, feel the emotion,' the director said in a Guardian interview. But the characters are too one-dimensional to seem real, and I found it hard to care about their lives or fates. They also speak far too much to function well as figures onto whom one can project emotion, like when one is standing in front of a painting. It should have been show not tell, with the camera lingering on the characters' facial expressions, and allowing spectators to empathise and identify with them. Instead, feelings, from love to longing, are spoken – 'He's like a brother to me', 'I want to be young again' – and the action moves forward.

Less would have been more, with Tale of Tales. The power of the film lies in its visuals, which are beguiling, gorgeous and grotesque. The dialogues and narrative explanations serve only to trivialise the images, lessening the overall effect of the film. The trailer for Tale of Tales, a succession of visuals set to nothing but music,is better than the film itself.

Like a very long prologue for a film that never connects

[troels-henrik · 5/10 · 30 July 2019]

Incorporating three art fairy tales (that is: Not folk fairy tales, but written ones) of which only one is well portrayed, the film becomes a bit of a mess. It succeeds in depicting three rather disconnected kingdoms, with a narrative in each. The only one that really 'works' is one about a king's affection to a monster (!) which leads him to making a monster of his daughter (!!) by marrying her to a completely different monster (!!!). A bit constructed? Well, there you have it. The other stories are about a particular king, and a pair of magic twins born out of the queen's wish to become a mother - sacrificing her king and more in the process.

As said in the headline it all seems a tad like a prologue - the stories never connect properly, and the points of each story flyes a bit in the wind.

Great cast, though, but actually a hard watch. Manages to create bleak worlds, but also to obscure three rather simple stories...

fairy tales were not always for children

[lee_eisenberg · 10/10 · 25 February 2018]

"Il racconto dei racconti" ("Tale of Tales" in English) is an adaptation of Giambattista Basile's works focusing on how desire and obsession lead to tragic outcomes. In one, a queen desires a child, so the king slaughters a sea monster and she eats the heart, but she focuses more on making the prince follow her orders than on letting him have a friendship. In another, a king spends all his time raising a flea, ignoring his daughter until he decides to marry her off. In the last one, a king is infatuated with a woman until he finds out that she's old, but then she puts on a facade.

If you've spent your life knowing only the sanitized versions of fairy tales, then Matteo Garrone's movie will be a real shock: no singing, no cute animals (but there are some scary ones), and no happily ever after. The dialogue is more concentrated in certain spots, allowing the action to be the main focus elsewhere. There's still a lot in the way of aesthetics - palaces, costumes, hairdos - but this is truly a dark fantasy. After all, it's not every movie in which a queen eats a sea monster's heart (with blood smeared all over her face). Not a masterpiece, but still an interesting look at fairy tales, much the way that "Into the Woods" is. I recommend it. A real feather in the cap of Salma Hayek, John C. Reilly, Toby Jones, Vincent Cassel and Shirley Henderson.

Fairy tales your mother never told you..

[hiyaboyos · 7/10 · 2 September 2015]

I had the chance to see this movie. As with most, I didn't have a chance to see any trailers so I had no idea what to expect.

In a word, I would call the movie unique and not just another fairy tale movie like all the others. These have a darker twist to them and a fate and/or consequences for those involved. The movie has definite pluses and minuses.

Definite pluses: the music, the costumes, the beautiful exotic settings, the special effects, and the acting and choice of cast. All were very good.

I'm neutral on the separate plots. Some people say the plots are related and some say they aren't. I guess that's up to the viewer and how he/she interprets them. I'm not a particular fan of the macabre.

Definite minus: the movie as a whole piece of work is kind of a mess. The three stories jump around and there is no smooth time line of events. They are all kind of just thrown together. A visual mess.

Another minus: the ending. It just ends leaving you hanging and wondering what happened to certain people.

This movie is so unique that is can have such exceptional cinematography but yet have such jumbled up plot lines.

I guess the only main theme across all the stories is about obsession and how it can affect you and those around you if it is not kept under control.

Tale of Tales

[julianspalding · 2/10 · 2 June 2018]

This is one of the most disjointed movies I've seen. Script and editing are nonsensical. It didn't hold together and basically a waste of my time.

"wow" with a little bit of "come on"

[seb-leitner · 5 September 2015]

It's a fantastic audio-visual journey that takes you into a world of medieval fantasies full of all the classical elements but with fresh stories and views. If you enjoy the work of Paolo Sorrentino (2013 Oscar for "La grande bellezza") you will love this film for it's masterful craft of building a world within. Only Salma Hayek delivers a disappointing performance: Stiff and uninspired. Pictures, music as well as sound design and costumes (not to mention the practical effects) are all stunning! Italy (with the help of France and the UK) delivers once again a masterpiece on the very tight budget of only 12 million €uros while the rest of European cinema is sleeping.

Weird fairytale

[SimoCummings · 6/10 · 6 September 2015]

I was so looking forward to this movie.. Thinking I was in for a good costume / medieval drama with some great actors thrown in. Unfortunately it was most disappointing.. Random tales that had no meaning.. Film locations and costumes were great, and the acting itself was fine.. I just didn't enjoy the 'tales'... I wasn't expecting happy endings but the plots seemed randomly put together with no real substance and more baffling than entertaining. Fairy tales, regardless if for adults or kids, are meant to have reason or lessons learnt - the moral of the story is?.. Nothing that makes sense at all in this movie! Totally forgettable and I wouldn't recommend.

Three Dark and Weird Tales

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 13 October 2021]

"Il racconto dei racconti", a.k.a. "Tale of Tales" is composed by three dark and weird entwined tales:

First: In a Kingdom, the Queen (Salma Hayek) is sad in her marriage with the King (John C. Reilly) since she cannot get pregnant. One day, a strange man offers an alternative that would depend on bravery and sacrifice: the King should kill a sea monster and take his heart out; a virgin should prepare the heart alone; and the Queen should eat it. Then she would be pregnant. Will it work?

Second: In another Kingdom, the libertine King (Vincent Cassel) overhears a voice of a woman singing in the village and he falls in love with the voice. However, the woman is Dora (Hayley Camichael), who lives alone with her sister Imma (Shiley Henderson), and both are old and ugly women. What can Dora do to avoid the King's harassment?

Third: In another Kingdom, the King (Toby Jones) raises a giant flea and his daughter Violet (Bebe Cave) that is reaching the age of getting married. When his flea dies, he shows its skin and promises the hand of Violet to the one that guess what the skin is. When an Ogre (Guillaume Delaunay) correctly responds the question, Violet shall move to the mountains with him. What will happen with the couple?

The film is extremely dark and original without use of cliches, and the best tale if certainly Vicent Cassel's one. The others are intriguing, but pointless. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Conto dos Contos" ("The Tale of The Tales")

Solid Adaptation of Fairy Tales

[Reviews_of_the_Dead · 7/10 · 19 February 2021]

This was a movie that I'll be honest, I never heard of. It popped up on Letterboxd for horror films so I decided for Italian horror month to check it out for my podcast as Italy was its country of origin. This is a type of anthology where we have 3 interconnected tales involving three different kings. The synopsis is from the bitter quest of the Queen of Longtrellis (Salma Hayek), to two mysterious sisters who provoke the passion of a king, to the King of Highhills (Toby Jones) obsessed with a giant flea. These are tales inspired by the fairytales by Giambattista Basile.

We start this off following what appears to be a clown. There are others that make up what looks to be a circus and we see they are there to perform for the Queen and King of Longtrellis (John C. Reilly). He is enjoying what they're doing, but the Queen not so much. She leaves in anger when she discovers one of the performers is pregnant. We learn that the Queen cannot conceive. Their fortunes change when a Necromancer (Franco Pistoni) tells them a way. The King then goes to kill a sea monster, but he dies in the process. From this beast, its heart is prepared by a virgin and Laura Pizzirani is selected. The Queen must eat it and she will become with child. This virgin also becomes pregnant when breathing in the vapors while it is being prepared.

It is at the funeral procession for the King of Longtrellis do we meet our other kings. There's King of Strongcliff (Vincent Cassel) who gives into the lusts of the flesh and also the King of Highhills who has a daughter.

From here, the movie takes us 16 years into the future. The Queen of Longtrellis has a son of Elias (Christian Lees) who is albino. He has befriended Jonah (Jonah Lees) who looks exactly like him. The Queen forbids the two from being friends and threatens to send the commoner away if they do not heed her warnings. The two are connected though much more than she cares to believe.

The King of Strongcliff continues to lead his life of debauchery. He's entranced when he hears the singing of Dora (Hayley Carmichael). When he goes to see her, she refuses to open the door. The reason is that she is old and ugly. She lives with her sister Imma (Shirley Henderson). They come up with a way of staving off the king, but in the end, he's going to want to see the woman with the beautiful singing voice. She isn't what he's expecting though and Imma doesn't want it going too far. She will do what she has to though if it means losing her sister.

There is then the story of King of Highhills. His daughter grows up to be Violet (Bebe Cave). She's heard the beautiful tales of knights and chivalry. Her father doesn't want to lose her. He becomes obsessed though with this magical flea. It grows to a monstrous size, but unable to support itself. He sees a way to ensure he never loses his daughter, but that backfires when an Ogre (Guillaume Delaunay) enters to guess the hide that is displayed.

I think that is where I'll leave my recap of the movie. That gets you up to speed what the three stories we will follow without giving away too much. I didn't know that these were fairy tales from Italy, but I thought it was pretty cool. They're not ones I'm familiar with so they are fresh. It would be interesting to see if people growing up there if they are common knowledge.

Being that they are fairy tales, they are interesting cautionary tales here with a good message. The Queen of Longtrellis is willing to do whatever it takes to have a son, even sacrifice her husband. The problem then becomes not wanting to give up her son. He's a bit young to be married from the looks, but she doesn't even want him to have a friend in Jonah. She sends him away and this causes Elias to leave her to find him when he discovers he's in trouble. This leads to an interesting showdown with a monster that isn't what it seems. Sometimes we become the monster we don't expect.

The King of Strongcliff story is interesting to have Cassel playing the lead. He does so well at living this lifestyle of debauchery. Being that he's a king, he can do whatever he wants. When he falls in love with Dora's voice, she knows that he will never love her, but she likes the attention. Imma tries to prevent it as it leads them down this path of destruction and ruin for the two of them. There's a bit of getting the taste of something better and not wanting to give it up. We also get the 'what are you willing to give up for a better life' angle as well.

King of Highhills is another odd one as well. He has this beautiful daughter. She's heard these fairy stories of knights and love. She wants that. As a princess, it would be expected that he would marry her off to a similar family. Instead, this king gets caught up in this magical flea he finds. I like his discovery is while Violet is playing a song on a lute she wrote. It appears he is ignoring her, which in a sense he is. I don't feel it is intentional though. He really has no plans to marry her off and sets up a game that he thinks is unbeatable. That is until the Ogre shows up. Now this isn't a monster one like Shrek. It is just a mountain man who has grown to quite a large size and is uncivilized. This takes a strange journey to Violet becoming a strong woman for sure.

Where I think I'll go next is the acting. We have some heavy hitters here for sure with Hayak, Cassel, Jones and Reilly. They're all really good in their performances. Despite them being the stars of the movie technically, I'd say it really is more of Henderson, Carmichael, Cave and the Lees brothers. I really like Henderson as Imma. She wants to just live her life, but Carmichael messes this up with the King showing interest in her. They both get punishments in different forms. Cave was really good as well as Violet. I think she has some of the best growth to where she ends up. It is really showing her losing her naivety and coming of age. I'd say aside from that, the rest of the cast rounds this out for what was needed.

What I also thought was good was the effects of the movie. This is visually stunning. I do need to give a lot of credit to the set-pieces they have here. They really did look amazing and feels like we're in this fictional world it is set. There are practical effects here which also looked good. The giant flea and the sea monster would fall into this. There is some CGI for both of these that don't look amazing. It isn't overly important and small part of the movie so I won't hold it against the movie too much. The costumes and everything there were also on point for me.

If I do have any issues with this movie though, it would definitely be that it runs too long. We're clocking this in at 134 minutes. It does make sense to run a bit longer as we have to introduce 3 stories, give us the crux of what will be the downfall and then having it end as tales like these tend to do. I did find myself bored though near the end of the second act, going into the third. It does bring me back in, but I think there's some fat that could be trimmed in my opinion.

So with that said, this is still a movie that I found interesting. We have some cautionary tales here that I wasn't familiar with. It feels fantastically with some of the elements like giant sea monsters, fleas growing to epic sizes and even a witch thrown in there. It does have social commentary that you can pull from it, even though it is a period piece. I thought the acting was good. No real glaring issues with the effects and the soundtrack fit for what was needed. Overall I'd rate this as above average overall, but just lacking a bit for me to really go higher at this time.

What?

[parkerpineault · 4/10 · 19 September 2015]

As much as this movie had me hyped up for a well designed medieval themed movie I was much disappointed.

Good things: 1) A fun team of actors. Vincent Cassle and Toby Jones really add to the value of this film.

2) Excellent costume and effects design. I was highly impressed by the level of hard work put into the costumes, really looked like they were in Medieval times.

Poor things: 1) Was there even a plot to this movie? There were several sub-plots taking place during this movie with no big wind up to combine them or even create a common enemy, SOMETHING.

2) All characters in this movie are incapable of thinking for themselves or thinking creatively? The entire movie the characters were not doing things of their own free will, save the royalty. Boring.

3) An ending that was more than a cliff-hanger, no sense of closure what so ever. There were no hints or anything left to the imagination in order to get me to watch the second movie because there will obviously be a second.

Beautiful

[caterinamiriello · 8/10 · 22 May 2015]

This movie is a pure piece of beauty. The direction is amazing, the photography is beyond perfection and the music is inspiring. The locations are unusual and yet are all in Italy. Of course, since the movie is an intersection three fairy tales (not for children, as they're pretty harsh), don't expect the most intriguing plot ever, but its execution has been magistral. I did not give 10 because of the screenplay, which is sometimes a little predictable, and because of the acting, which is extremely heterogeneous across actors: great Salma Hayek, Toby Jones, John Reilly and the Lees brothers, but the others a little less. All in all, I definitely recommend to see this movie.

Beautiful but low rhythm

[carlovitulo · 7/10 · 5 August 2015]

Since I was a kid I was a fan of Basile's stories and when I heard about the movie I was convinced that I would face a good Fantasy movie.

Acting is good, scenography is very good, and the stories are full of actual messages.

So why it is only a 6?

The movie has to many "slow moments" and these s.m. impact in most of the cases negatively on the audience concentration.

It could be easily a 7 or an 8 with more care with some particulars related to the rhythm. Anyway we are talking about a movie that do not want to be commercial so it is hard to say if these s.m. could be avoided to build a better movie.

In my opinion cinema has been made to reach the mass, not only to specific group of people with a particular level of sensibility.

Anyway I suggest anyone to see this movie! All the castles are real and heritage of Italy

Cheers C.

Random, disjointed, pointless mess

[grantss · 3/10 · 6 December 2016]

A combination of several parallel fairy tales, based on the book by Giambattista Basile. We have the story of the King and Queen of Longtrellis, the mission they must undertake in order to have a child, and then the adventures of the child in later life. There's the King of Highhills and his pet flea, plus his plan to find a husband for his daughter. We also have the King of Strongcliff and how his wandering eye leads to his involvement with a woman that he later regrets.

Started interestingly enough - the sea monster quest was intriguing and entertaining. That's as long as the entertainment and engagement lasted, however. Having several stories told in parallel, skipping between one and the next, doesn't help the engagement.

Moreover, the stories are pretty silly and pointless. As each one was drawing to a close I was expecting a profound upshot, but nothing ever came. Each was just one linear, rambling story with no point at the end. Even more disappointing in that I could see potential for a great profundity or emotional twist in each of them, but these never materialised.

Avoid.

One of the most beautiful films I have ever seen

[manuelasaez · 9/10 · 24 April 2016]

Warning; I am going to gush heavily about this movie because, yes, it is one of the most impressive films I have seen in my entire life.

I saw this movie being advertised on a West Village theater marquee and I thought, why not, having no idea what the film was about. The poster was provocative, and piqued my interest as someone that enjoys horror, blood and gore. Yes, there are some horrific elements, some segments that might be considered "gory" (but even those that are sensitive shouldn't have much trouble getting through it), and it is certainly bloody in some spots. None of it is excessive, and all of it is integral to the story. Essentially, everything about it was so expertly crafted as to be a modern masterpiece.

The cinematography, the costuming, the acting, the writing, the music, the manner in which the tales interweave to create a wholly unique form of anthology film. I mean, not since The Fall (or more recently, Crimson Peak) have I fallen so head over heals in love with the way a film is presented. I marveled, literally mouth agape, at how utterly beautiful everything in this movie transpired. The costumes looked like they were borrowed from a museum, and the special effects blended seamlessly into the live action (to the point where you wonder if CG was even necessary if they were able to accomplish what they did using practical effects). There are animatronics, there are full-body old age make-up, there are full-blown set pieces created for this movie; I mean, it's a film buff's dream! You will be hard pressed to find a more visually stunning film made this decade. The budget for this movie could easily been in the millions, and it shows in every facet of its production.

Honestly, I could not recommend this movie more. It is quite literally the equivalent of the Sistine Chapel in film form. Don't read anything about it, don't see the trailer and just watch the film. Nothing will prepare you for the sheer spectacle that this 2 hour film will provide. It is, quite literally, a moving Renaissance painting crafted by the most talented of artists. It is nothing short of a work of the highest caliber and deserves as much exposure as it can possible obtain.

But what about...??

[Ketchupboy-383-515455 · 6/10 · 27 September 2018]

Absolutely gorgeous film that makes no sense whatsoever. I wouldn't mind, except right from the start it leads you into thinking that the following events are somehow connected or going to resolve together. But they don't. About two thirds through it becomes honestly quite boring and predictable until we reach the end. Or, that is, if it had an end. It doesn't. It just stops suddenly with little to no resolution and a freaky, unanswered question. Unnecessarily graphic - the gore and on screen sex add absolutely nothing to the production. It could have had a touch of humour or charm to offset the misery and bleakness, but both are in very short supply. Few of the characters have enough dimensions to begin forming a meaningful relationship with the audience.

It's quirky, it's kind of unexpected and very well made. Provokes many thoughts and then instantly crushes them. If you like to leave a film feeling dissatisfied then this is for you.

Glorious failure

[spitfire2356 · 4/10 · 10 June 2016]

We were looking forward to this widely acclaimed movie. The fantastic costumes, gorgeous make-up and fabulous stage sets are awesome. Successive introductions of real-life grotesque characters continually perk our our interest. Unfortunately, however,the story- lines dawdles and shrivel prematurely. Large doses of European cultural Viagral subsidies never really get the movie going. The 3 unconnected surreal 17th century fables by the famed Giambatista Basile (the first European to write down Cindirella and Rapunzel) were sliced and spliced haphazardly by a stoned rookie's so-called attempt at editing. A mini-trilogy sequence would perhaps have been a better choice to address the many facets of the interplay between what men and women desire and how fate thwarts their best plans. This would have spared us the confusion of Kings and Queens ruling over the same kingdom. It would have spared us the expectation that the stories would somehow come together with a clever twist at the end. The fables superficially seem as pointless as a toddler's box of crayons. But they are not moral plays - they just illustrate out human foibles with cartoon like exaggeration. Only one story ends happily ever after. One other ends badly, the other just stops. With professional editing this glorious failure could have been a classic.

Visually interesting adaptation

[amesmonde · 22 June 2016]

A tale about a flea, a queen and two sisters.

Tale of Tales is a screen adaptation based on collections of tales by poet and courtier Giambattista Basile which sowed seeds of the earliest versions of famous fables like Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. It inspired many authors including the Grimm Brothers, Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Perrault so naturally Matteo Garrone juggles some familiar fantasy horror beats.

It's gory, bloody and pulls no punches. The costumes, makeup and practical effects are outstanding. With the bright settings in contrast to the caves, forest and nightmare underwater segments it, has an odd atmosphere. The feel is reminiscent of Terry Gilliam's works, Peter Yates Don Quixote (2000) with hint of Christophe Gans.

Director Garrone, brings the horror fairy tales together in one kingdom, Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel, Toby Jones, and John C Reilly are faultless, along with the quirky supporting cast who add to the surreal situations. Giant fleas, ogre, princesses, witches, sea creatures, albinos and the search for youth each concurrent tale has its own twist of sorts. Especially the queen segment, there's also a bloody shock end where Toby Jones' King inadvertently forces his daughter to marry an Ogre.

While it has a lengthy run time, it's visually interesting and at times creepily haunting. For fans of European fairy-tale horror its a must see addition.