Matteo Garrone’s first English-language feature is a strange beast. Based on the seventeenth century Italian poet Giambattista Basile’s collection of fairy tales, it intertwines a trio of weird and wonderful stories concerning the elites of society.
In the first tale, the Queen of Longtrellis (Salma Hayek) is so desperate for a child that she and her husband (John C. Reilly) make a pact with a necromancer (Franco Pistoni), who encourages them to slay a sea monster, have a virgin cook its heart, and then feast on it for an instantaneous birth. Having done so, the Queen finds that both she and her servant give birth to identical sons (Christian Lees and Jonah Lees), who spend far too much time together for her liking.
The second story follows the lecherous King of Strongcliff (Vincent Cassel) as he attempts to slake his insatiable lust. Having heard a peasant with a beautiful singing voice, he is determined to pursue her, not realising that she is in fact an elderly woman who lives with her sister. Charmed by his advances, but fearing the consequences lest she disappoint him, Dora (Hayley Carmichael) enlists the help of her sister Imma (Shirley Henderson) to find a solution to her problem that might be mutually beneficial to her and her king.
The final story concerns the absent-minded King of Highhills (Toby Jones), who is oblivious to his growing daughter Violet’s (Bebe Cave) dreams and desires, instead dispensing his affection on a flea, which he nurtures to an improbable size with his own blood. Eventually, the neglected Violet is married off to an ogre (Guillaume Delauney), and she must rely on her own will and resources to rescue herself and teach her inept father a lesson.
Despite its critical acclaim, unquestionable charm, impressive cast, and beautiful design, it is hard to put an opinion about this film into words. It is, undoubtedly, unlike anything Garrone has attempted before, and there is certainly nothing else like it in cinemas at the moment. It has its flaws, and one does wonder whether it might have served its material better were it in Italian with an Italian cast, but it is an enchanting, sumptuous and thoroughly cinematic spectacle that gently sweeps its audience along with it before they even realise they’re on board.
Yes, there are times when the narrative feels disjointed, the tonal shifts roughly managed, the plot overstuffed, the running time too long, the editing a little clumsy, and the dialogue clunky, but this is an endlessly entertaining and seductive film, full of arresting imagery, swelling emotion, tangible tension, and a deliciously mordant sense of humour.
Not only does Garrone know how to handle his material – following the traditional fairy tale tradition of dramatic tonal gear changes and suddenly sinister twists – but he also manages to guide his actors through it, encouraging and allowing them to skilfully navigate it with incredible sincerity.
Among the strongest performances are Toby Jones, Shirley Henderson, Bebe Cave, Franco Pistoni, and – for the brief time he is on screen – John C. Reilly. Much like his work in Berberian Sound Studio, Jones is able to bring a credibility, humour and emotional intensity to the most surreal of situations, creating a performance that is always mindful of its audience, and yet never loses the internal logic of its story or allows itself to become too self-aware. Similarly, Henderson throws herself into Giambattista’s universe so elegantly it is impossible not to follow her. She brings a quiet tragedy to an understated performance that is refreshingly melancholic when compared to the unashamedly lurid tone of the rest of the picture.
Furthermore, Pistoni and Reilly thoroughly embody the fairy tale roles of necromancer and king in a manner that is entirely befitting with the twisted conventions of Giambattista’s work. Indeed, Pistoni’s appearance and physicality is so odd that it is both amusing and unnervingly uncanny, while Reilly is the traditional fairy tale king in three dimensional form. Cave is simply brilliant, and manages to walk the tightrope between a feistier, more modern interpretation of her character, and the blackly comic, old-fashioned fantasy world that she inhabits. Her performance never jars with the source material and, in fact, it often adds a powerful poignancy and pathos to proceedings that might make the film more palatable to a mainstream audience.
In addition, Garrone tells his tales with stunning visual flare. Aided by cinematographer Peter Suschitzky – whose previous work includes numerous collaborations with David Cronenberg, Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks, and The Empire Strikes Back – he is able to create a world that is rich, beautiful and engaging. Respective sequences involving a light-hearted chase through a maze and an underwater battle serve as particular highlights, underscored by another exceptional and atmospheric score by Alexandre Desplat.
All of this would not be possible, however, without Dimitri Capuani’s exceptional production design and Marco Furbatto, Massimo Pauletto, Gianpaolo Rifino, and Alessia Anfuso’s art direction and set decoration. Their splendid work must be seen on the big screen for its extraordinary scope to be realised and appreciated in full. It is at times breath-taking, and yet never distracts from either the narrative or the actors.
This is a flawed film, yes, but it is an ambitious work of brilliance, by a genius of modern cinema. Moreover, it has plenty of heart and is a great deal of fun, offering its audience a truly fantastic spectacle to enjoy and marvel at in equal measure.
Tale of Tales will be shown at Broadway Cinema until Thursday 30 June 2016.
Tale of Tales Trailer
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