Il fiore delle mille e una notte (1974)

Director:

Pier Paolo Pasolini

Writers:

Pier Paolo Pasolini (writer)
Dacia Maraini (script collaboration)

Release Date:

20 June 1974 (Italy)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Fantasy

Tagline:

Pier Paolo Pasolini's Tales of the Arabian Nights

Plot:

In this film inspired by the ancient erotic and mysterious tales of the Middle East, the main story...

Plot Keywords:

Demon | Love | Slave | Flashback Sequence | Arabia

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Ninetto Davoli	...	Aziz
Franco Citti	...	The Demon
Franco Merli	...	Nur Ed Din
Tessa Bouché	...	Aziza (as Tessa Bouche)
Ines Pellegrini	...	Zumurrud
Margareth Clémenti	...	Aziz's mother (as Margaret Clementi)
Luigina Rocchi	...	Aziz's wife
Alberto Argentino	...	Prince Shahzmah
Francesco Paolo Governale	...	Prince Tagi
Salvatore Sapienza	...	Prince Yunan
Zeudi Biasolo	...	Zeudi
Barbara Grandi
Elisabetta Genovese	...	Munis (as Elisabetta Vito Genovese)
Gioacchino Castellini
Abadit Ghidei	...	Princess Dunya

Also Known As:

A Thousand and One Nights
Arabian Nights (USA)
Flower of the Arabian Nights (International: English title)
Les mille et une nuits (France)

Runtime:

130 min | France:155 min (Cannes Film Festival) (premiere)

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Italy:VM18 | Finland:K-18 (1974) (cut) | Spain:18 | France:-16 | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Canada:R | Hong Kong:III | Norway:16 | Portugal:M/16 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 (video rating) (2001) | UK:X (original rating) (cut) | USA:X (original rating) (1979) | West Germany:12 | USA:NC-17 (re-rating) (1991) | Singapore:(Banned) | Netherlands:16

Filming Locations:

Eritrea

Company:

Produzioni Europee Associati (PEA)

Trivia:

This film is the final entry in director Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Trilogy of Life", following Il Decameron (1971) and I racconti di Canterbury (1972).

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Wie de Waarheid Zegt Moet Dood (1981)

At least it's different...

'Il Fiore delle mille e una notte', or 'Arabian Nights', is Pier Paolo Pasolini's final film from his "trilogy of life" and his second to last film in general. His last of course is 'Salo, or 120 Days of Sodom', the controversial first film from his "trilogy of death".

With 'Arabian Nights' Pasolini combines a couple of stories from the book 'A Thousand and One Nights' into one story, although the film itself still feels very episodic. All parts of the story deal with love, or actually I should say lust, ending in sex. Especially the penis gets enough screen time here, it might as well be the leading character. The sex scenes themselves are, in my opinion, not very sensual or erotic (although they admittedly are when you compare them to such scenes in any other Pasolini film) which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it becomes exactly that when more than half the movie exists out of them.

On the other hand the film is pretty entertaining, mostly for its oddness. That again, is something we see in almost any other Pasolini film. His distant approach adds to that feeling, especially when he shows violent images. One might not expect them in a film that arguably celebrates love and sex. Another factor for the oddness is the terrible acting, especially from the men. Maybe good acting is impossible for them here since Pasolini presents them as a bunch of whiners who would do anything for love. Of course, once again, with love I mean sex. The Italian language in the Eastern setting is another thing that feels pretty weird as well. All these elements add to the oddness which makes the film more entertaining than it probably should have been.

I have to conclude with saying that I sort of admire Pasolini. I think only his 'Il vangelo secundo Matteo' can be considered as a truly great film, mostly since his approach is the distant one. I think that is a good thing when it comes to a religious film like that. that approach in his other films is not always the right one, but it is one aspect of why his films are different, often daring. Even when not much is happening, or when we have no clue what is happening, or when we normally would not care that much, Pasolini keeps it kind of interesting.