The Canterbury Tales Film Still

The Canterbury Tales

Pier Paolo Pasolini

 
  • Italy
  • 1972
  • 111 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.85:1
  • Italian
  •  
  • Spine #633

Eight of Geoffrey Chaucer’s lusty tales come to life on-screen in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s gutsy and delirious The Canterbury Tales, which was shot in England and offers a remarkably earthy re-creation of the medieval era. From the story of a nobleman struck blind after marrying a much younger and promiscuous bride to a climactic trip to a hell populated by friars and demons (surely one of the most outrageously conceived and realized sequences ever committed to film), this is an endlessly imaginative work of merry blasphemy, framed by Pasolini’s portrayal of Chaucer himself.

Cast

Sir JanuaryHugh Griffith
Wife of BathLaura Betti
PeterkinNinetto Davoli
DevilFranco Citti
MayJosephine Chaplin
Old manAlan Webb
Geoffrey ChaucerPier Paolo Pasolini
CookJ. P. Van Dyne
FranklinVernon Dobtcheff
FighterAdrian Street
Chief witch-hunterOt
PardonerDerek Deadmin
FriarNicholas Smith
Host of the tabardGoerge B. Datch
MerchantPeter McGregor
DamianOscar Fochetti
InformerTony Moore
Simkin, the millerAlbert King
Simkin’s wifeEileen King
Molly, Simkin’s daughterHeather Johnson
AlanPatrick Duffett
JohnEamann Howell
NicholasDan Thomas
John, the carpenterMichael Balfour
AlisonJenny Runacre
AbsalomPeter Cain
Witch-hunterDaniel Buckler
Greedy friarJohn Francis Lane
AngelSettimo Castagna
Lecherous rich manAthol Coats
AliceJudy Stewart-Murray
JenkinTom Baker

Credits

DirectorPier Paolo Pasolini
Produced byAlberto Grimaldi
Assistant directorsSergio Citti and Umberto Angelucci
ScreenplayPier Paolo Pasolini
Based on the stories ofGeoffrey Chaucer
Director of photographyTonino Delli Colli
Supervising editorEnzo Ocone
EditorNino Baragli
Art directorDante Ferretti
CostumesDanilo Donati
Music selections byPier Paolo Pasolini
Music collaboratorEnnio Morricone
ContinuityBeatrice Banfi

Film Essays

Thumbnail_canter_feature_current

The Canterbury Tales: Sex and Death

By Colin MacCabeNovember 13, 2012

Moving to Chaucer’s gray-skied England, Pier Paolo Pasolini pushed his trilogy into darker . . . Read more »

Video


Video


Video

The Canterbury Tales

Pasolini Speaks

November 14, 2012

Watch video »

Play

Photo Galleries

Trilogy of Life Packaging

November 14, 2012


Film Essays

Thumbnail_canter_feature_current

The Canterbury Tales: Sex and Death

By Colin MacCabeNovember 13, 2012

Moving to Chaucer’s gray-skied England, Pier Paolo Pasolini pushed his trilogy into darker . . . Read more »