Different movies based on the Pentameron
So, it was about a year ago that I found @adarkrainbow's reviews on Matteo Garrone's Tale of Tales and introduced him to the older adaptation of Basile's work, More than a miracle (aka Cinderella italian style, or Happily ever after). But thinking about it, there are more movies that, while not trying to adapt the whole of the parthenopeian fairytales, do cover singular stories from the Pentameron. I didn't know all of these movies beforehand, so there might be more I haven't found yet, which means this post might get some updates down the road.
1. Tale of Tales (il Racconto dei Racconti), Matteo Garrone, 2015
The movie that wears the original book's title, Tale of Tales is Garrone's first delve into outright fantasy. The themes of dreams and fairytales are something that this director (famous for more realistic films, like the much acclaimed Gomorra) often tried to tackle, since 2002's The embalmer, and which he revisited in 2019's Pinocchio. This adaptation takes three tales from the original collection (the enchanted doe, the flayed old lady, the flea) and retells them straight, without Basile's light-hearted but dark humour. The result is a film that embraces the "grim and gory fairytales" style. Yet Garrone never loses himself entirely to cynisism, there is always wonder and beauty alongside the grotesque.
2. More than a miracle (C'era una volta), Francesco Rosi, 1967
The original adaptation of Basile's work, More than a Miracle is a product of the italian style comedy and rode on the star power of Sophia Loren and Omar Sharif following Doctor Zhivago. In many ways an opposite work to Tale of Tales, this is the first attempt of adapting the Pentameron as a whole. But rather than adapting specific tales from the collection, Rosi takes elements and details from different stories and weaves his own original plot, following a haughty prince falling for a strong-willed peasant woman. The historical and geographical environment that created the book is also an actual setting in this movie, unlike the very fantastic and otherworldly Tale of Tales. Other folk tales and southern traditions also get mixed in, something that Roberto de Simone would also do with his play.
3. La Gatta Cenerentola, Roberto de Simone, Domenico Virgili, 1997
Ok, I'm really stretching the definition of "movie" here, since this is just a recording of de Simone's musical/operetta, first performed in 1976. But it is one of the most notable adaptations of Basile's fairy tales, one that unites the oldest italian version of Cinderella with modern day folk tales, collected by de Simone himself. The resulting piece not only explores the many different forms Cinderella can take, but also depicts neapolitan folk culture, with its traditions, language and music. Naples is just as much of a protagonist as Cinderella is, really one represents the other.
4. Cinderella the Cat (Gatta Cenerentola), Alessandro Rak, 2017
Again I'm bending the rules here, since this movie is arguably more inspired by the play than by the fairy tale, but I think it can still be included. For one thing, Mia and her father are called Basile in this adaptation, so there's a definite awareness of the source material. Also, the King is a proper defined character in this version, unlike de Simone's play where he doesn't even appear. Though its being a jukebox musical, the six stepsisters having a feminiella among them and a plot that has the city of Naples at its heart, lead back to the NCCP's great retelling. The inclusion also of a prince character in Primo Gemito gives away the influence of other retellings too. All in all this movie is its own thing, with well made 3d animations, an interesting relationship between Cinderella, the stepmother and the King, and a clever use of the shoe.
5. The myrtle maiden (O myrtové panně), Svatava Simonová, 1992
I only discovered this movie this year, thanks to @fairytaleslive. Again, this isn't a direct adaptation of Basile's fairy tale, La mortella (the Myrtle), but of Clemens Brentano's retelling, Das Märchen von dem Myrtenfräulein, from his italian fairytales. Unlike previous examples, which were all mostly produced in Italy, this movie come from Czechia, a land with a much richer tradition in fairy tale movies. Nevertheless, this isn't the most outstandig production.
@themousefromfantasyland @ariel-seagull-wings @the-blue-fairie @princesssarisa
